118 
THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON. 
as they are killed long before they attain to this weight. 
They have been caught 40 lbs., 50 lbs., 60 lbs. ; and one of 
the enormous weight of 83 lbs. is recorded. 
The Salmo fario ausonii, or large brown trout, grows to 
about six inches in length in twelve months, and specimens 
of seven or eight inches long may be produced in that time 
by high feeding. In two years they will measure about 
fourteen inches, and weigh a pound ; in three years, 
about three to four pounds ; in four years, about four to 
five pounds ; and in five years they will weigh six or seven 
pounds ; and I have caught two of that age at Ercildoune, 
which weighed eleven pounds each. Their growth is 
influenced greatly by the space they have to roam over, 
and the quantity of food which is available. Heat stimu- 
lates their growth, and warm water will produce larger 
fish than cold. A large pond will also produce larger fish 
than a small one. Fish artificially fed, and well cared for, 
will grow much faster than those that have to seek their 
food in the natural way. The largest trout that there is 
any record of having been caught in Victoria is one of 
about fifteen and a half pounds, which came out of Lake 
Learmonth, but in Tasmania brown trout of over twenty 
pounds have been taken. 
Salmon and trout that are well fed will usually spawn at 
about the age of twenty-two months ; but some trout will 
spawn when they are only about a year old. 
The hybridisation of the different species of salmonoids 
has been tried successfully, and the hybrids are found to 
be fertile in every case where they have been observed. 
In a paper read before the Societe d\ Acclimatation of 
France, in September, 1877, by M\ Rico, director of the 
establishment of pisciculture of Ruisseau (Seine-et-Qise), 
details are given of a remarkable experiment, in which the 
eggs of the ombre-chevalier — a salmonoid inhabiting several 
