22 FISH CULTURE. 



reliable confirmation of it, as I state it but on 

 hearsay. 



But we must return to the eggs deposited by the 

 salmon. These, after remaining in the gravel for 

 a period varying from 60 to 120 days, according to 

 the temperature of the water, are at length hatched ; 

 but they do not come from the egg perfectly formed 

 fish, nor do they entirely disengage themselves from 

 the egg ; for, having cast off the shell, the egg still 

 remains attached to the fish in the form of an enor- 

 mous umbilical bladder or sac. So cumbrous is this 

 appendage, that the young fish moves but little more 

 than is required to burrow under some stone of 

 gravel at first, increasing in activity as the sac 

 decreases. During this time it requires no food, 

 being sustained by the nourishment contained in 

 the sac. This, however, gradually grows less and 

 less, as its contents are slowly absorbed into the 

 young fish, and it finally disappears in about five 

 or six weeks, when the fish is a well-shaped little 

 creature of about an inch in length, and is capable 

 of ranging about to look for food. At six months 

 it is a lively, active fish about three or four inches 

 in length. At the age of twelve months, when it 

 is from four to five inches in length, a singular 

 change takes place. The fish, hitherto marked with 



