CHAPTEE VI. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



The Salmon our 'best-lcno-wii Fish. — Controversies and Anomalies — Food of 

 Salmon — The Parr Controversy — Experiments by Shaw, Young, and 

 Hogg — Grilse : its Rate of Growth — Do Salmon make Two Voy^es 

 to the Sea in each Year? — The Best Way Of Marking Young 

 Salmon. 



So many books have been written about this beautiful and valu- 

 able animal that I do not require to occupy a very large portion 

 of my work with either its natural or economic history ; for 

 of the two hundred and fifty kinds of fish which inhabit the 

 rivers and seas of Britain, the salmon (Salmo solar) is the one 

 about which we know more than any other, and chiefly for these 

 reasons : — It is of greater value as property than any other fish ; 

 its large size better admits of observation than smaller members 

 of the fish tribe ; and, in consequence of its migratory instinct, 

 we have access to it at those seasons of its life when to observe 

 its habits is the certain road to information. And yet, with 

 all these advantages, or rather in consequence of them, there 

 has been a vast amount of controversy, oral and written, as to 

 the birth, breeding, and growth of the salmon. There have been 

 controversies as to the impregnation of its eggs, as to the growth 

 of the fish from the parr to the smolt stage ; also as to the kind 

 of food it eats, how long it remains in the salt water, and whether 

 it makes one or two voyages to the sea per annum. There has 

 likewise been a grilse controversy, as well as a rate-of-growth 

 quarrel. These scientific and literary combats have been fought 

 at intervals, and, to speak generally, have exhibited the temper 

 and the learning of the combatants in about equal proportions. 

 The dates of these controversies are not so easily fixed as might 



