THE NEW ART OF BREEDING FISH. 163 



they are somewhat discolored, from which it is to be 

 inferred they have been lying either in brackish 

 water or in the deep pools below." In the British 

 rivers, generally speaking, the same thing occurs. 

 The small summer salmon are with us, for the most 

 part, grilse. What will Mr. A. Young, " Salmo," 

 Mr. Stoddart, my Worcester friends, Messrs. Allies, 

 George, and Flinn, and the scientific Grottlieb Boc- 

 cius say to the following mode of breeding ? I am 

 all agape as I copy it : — " Salmon commence spawn- 

 ing in the Save the first days in November, and con- 

 tinue through the month. The female deposits her 

 eggs in comparatively still, shoal water, from six to 

 eighteen inches in depth, immediately above a rapid. 

 She selects such a situation for the following rea^ 

 sons : Comparatively still water in preference to a 

 current, because otherwise the exertion of retaining 

 her position, and spawning combined, would be too 

 much for her powers ; a shallow, instead of a pool, 

 that she may be secure from the sea-trout and other 

 fish, which, if in deep water, would congregate about 

 her to prey upon her eggs ; and lastly, that her ova, 

 in dispersion, may be carried by the gentle stream 

 to a secure resting-place amongst the stones below." 

 In this country the choice of shallow water, by 

 breeding salmon, is attributed to a far difierent in- 

 stinct, viz., that the ova, or rather the water in 

 which they are, may be subjected to the influence 

 of atmosphere and light, and be more oxygenated 

 than they would be if deposited in still water. A 



