176 THE SEA-TROUT 



the sea, after having descended as smolts, for several years, and I see 

 no reason to suppose that the spawning instinct in the sea-trout should 

 not equally lie dormant for one or more years. The scale repeated 

 here as Fig. 62 indicates at any rate a three years' residence in the sea 

 before the spawning instinct asserted itself, and the fact that, in spite 

 of spawning twice thereafter in successive years, the fish weighed 11 lb. 

 points to a protracted and unbroken early period of rich feeding in the 

 sea. On the other hand I have discovered no scale, out of a not 

 inconsiderable number examined, which indicates that a fish which has 

 once spawned has thereafter passed one or more winters in the sea 

 without spawning. All I would venture to suggest, on admittedly 

 imperfect evidence, is that when the sea-trout has once commenced to 

 spawn it will return each year for that purpose during an indefinite, 

 because unknown, period of sexual activity. 



