THE SALMON AND SEWIN. 191 
ous stages of growth, for the purpose of ascertaining 
the period at which the teeth begin to disappear 
from the vomer and the order in which they are 
shed. Specimens weighing from two to five pounds, 
taken in the months of June and July, had from three 
to seven teeth on the anterior part of the vomer, the 
number, allowing for the difference in condition, 
being almost always inversely as the weight; and 
individuals of a larger size, captured at the same 
time, usually retained one or two teeth only, situated 
quite at its anterior extremity. Other specimens, 
weighing from half a pound to a pound, taken in the 
month of August, were found to have the vomer 
well supplied with teeth, except at its posterior part, 
from which some had been lost invariably. The 
situation which the lost teeth have occupied is 
distinctly marked by dark spots in small Salmon, 
but as they increase in size these spots become more 
obscure and ultimately are obliterated. — 
As the teeth disappear from the vomer gradually 
and nearly in regular succession, those at the pos. 
terior part being shed first, it follows that the 
youngest fish, generally speaking, will have lost the 
fewest ; consequently, the small Salmon which ascend 
the Conway in August may be safely regarded as 
identical with the Smolts which descended the same 
river in the preceding spring. 
Having attempted to show that the growth of the 
Salmon during its first visit to the sea is not so rapid 
