SALMON. 5 
interest did the proceeding excite, that for a 
time the two were left unmolested. The spawn 
was then taken, hatched on a grill, and large, 
healthy fry was the result. 
Here the normal life-history of the salmon 
_ must be recurred to. After a brief period spent 
upon the spawning-beds, the breeding-fish return 
to salt water. At this time they are in a 
wretchedly poor condition—lean and lank, the 
flesh loose and “flabby.” The spawned fish are 
known as “kelts.” Once, however, in the food- 
abounding sea, they quickly recover condition, 
feeding now, for the most part, on shrimps. 
And here, for a time, we may leave them, 
whilst we return to the river. The eggs are 
hatched, the fry have absorbed their yolk-sacs, 
and the tiny things are scattered over the higher 
river reaches. As the warm days develop the 
soft-winged ephemere, the fry begin to forage 
for themselves, and soon comes a crisis in their 
life-history. Some day a brown spate comes 
from the hills, the water is turgid, and in shoals 
the silvery samlets rush down to the sea to 
explore its wide world of waters. They usually 
travel with the first floods of April and May, 
and having by this time assumed the migratory 
dress, are termed “smolts.” At one time it was 
supposed that the young of salmon left their 
