SALMON. 
189 
ascend again into the river; and there appears reason for sup- 
posing that they differ in this respect according to the state of 
the weather, especially its tendency to wet; the particular habit 
of the variety of each district, whether early or late; but more 
particularly according to the bulk or stoutness they have acquired; 
which latter particular so operates on their condition and feelings, 
as to urge them on to the fresh water as a relief; while those 
which are not so well fed are disposed to remain longer where 
they are. 
But that some of these young ones whieh left their native 
stream when only four or five inches in length, with a weight 
not exceeding an ounce and a half, have retmmed soon with 
an almost incredible advance in size has been proved by manifold 
observation. Mr. Brown, in his account of the experiments at 
the ponds at Stormontfield, informs us that a young Salmon 
carefully marked, which weighed a little less than two ounces, 
went down to the sea on the 24th. of May, and was taken on 
its return on the 7th. of July, when its weight was three pounds; 
and another of the same brood that was caught July the 31st., 
weighed nine pounds and a half. According to some experiments 
by Daniel Ellis, Esq., reported in Jameson’s “Philosophical 
Journal” for 1828, some young fish were carefully marked in 
April, as they were piissing downward, and five months after- 
ward, when they returned, the weight of each was eight pounds. 
And although the growth is less rapid after this time, it was 
shewn that in thirty-three months of their life the advance had 
been nearly at the rate of one pound and an ounce for each 
month. In the “Zoologist” we have an account of some which 
were hatched from the egg in sixty days, and going down the 
river in May, when some of them weighed an ounce, and others 
only half that weight; after two months one of them that had 
been carefully marked measured twenty-four inches in length, 
with a weight of five pounds and a half; and others were of 
the weight of eight pounds. 
Amidst a sufficiency of other evidence to the same purpose. 
We add only that of Sir William Jar dine, whose authority on 
this subject is beyond dispute. He says it has always been a 
subject of doubt whether the fry returned to the same river 
as Grilse in the same season in which they descended. “I 
have had no doubt of this for several years, but it was very 
