*9 



MIGRATION OF THE SALMONIDiE. 

 Part I. 



NOTES ON 'EARLY' AND * LATE ' SALMON RIVERS. 



By FRANCIS DAY, CLE., F.L.S., &c, 



President Cheltenham Nattiral Science Society; Author of a ''History of the Fishes 

 of Great Britain and I related,' &>c. 



Among the many problems respecting salmon and their fisheries, 

 there is none which exceeds in importance how to legislate for the 

 different classes of rivers. For, as is well known, certain of these are 

 termed 'early' and others 'late,' while these terms are employed in 

 two somewhat different senses, one alluding to the ascent of the fish 

 in relationship to the time of year, the other to their ascent for breeding 

 or the period of their spawning. I propose offering a few remarks 

 on this question, leaving the subject of ' migrations ' to a further 

 communication. 



Early rivers are those in which clean-run salmon, fit for the market, 

 ascend during the first months of the year, as in February, or even 

 in January; while these ascents are deferred much later in other, and 

 occasionally even in contiguous, streams. Thus, as observed by Russel, 

 ' there are great differences between rivers regarding the periods in 

 late winter or early spring at which they contain clean fish in 

 quantities sufficient to render fishing profitable, and have got rid in 

 any considerable degree of the foul fish, spawned and unspawned.' 

 He suggested terming the rivers 'short seasoned' and 'long seasoned,' 

 as he was not of opinion that there is much difference between rivers 

 at the end of the season — the season at which a greater or less propor- 

 tion of the fish begin to get gravid and out of condition. Likewise, 

 it has been considered that breeding commences somewhat earlier, 

 or that the fish complete their spawning operations in a shorter time 

 in some rivers than in others; in either of which cases they would 

 return earlier into condition than in localities where reproduction was 

 deferreduntil late, or extended overalonger period. The Commissioners 

 appointed in 1861 to investigate the Salmon Fisheries of England 

 and Wales came to the conclusion that 'the great breeding season in 

 England and Wales of all fish of the salmon kind is in the months of 

 November, December, and January . . . and believe it will not 

 vary more than a fortnight in any river ... in some seasons it 

 may commence a little earlier, or be continued a little later, but the 

 principal breeding operations are performed chiefly in the three 

 months mentioned.' 



Professor Huxley suggests that ' we may call the interval between 

 the ascent of the earliest and that of the latest fish in any given river 



Jan. 1886. 



