496 
TUBE-BLA D DERED GR O UP. 
Tay of 62 lbs. in 1891; a third of 63 lbs. from the Esk in 1890; another of 68 lbs. 
from the Tay in 1893; and a fifth from the same river taken in 1870, which 
weighed a fraction under 70 lbs. There is an earlier record of a British salmon 
of 83 lbs. weight, while a Russian is stated to have scaled upwards of 93 lbs. 
For the following brief sketch of the life-history of th<? salmon, we are 
indebted to a paper by Mr. G. Rooper, from which the following extracts, with 
some verbal alterations, are taken. After mentioning the well-known periodical 
migration of salmon, the writer observes that the eggs are deposited by the female 
“ some time during the winter months, in beds of gravel over which a rapid stream 
flows, principally in the upper reaches of the river, where the water is more 
aerated and free from pollutions of any sort—since clay, earth, or any extraneous 
substance would choke and destroy the embryo fish. Indeed, from the time 
of entering the river, the object of the fish seems to be to arrive at its source. 
Until they have spawned they never descend, but, resting at times in favourite 
pools, continually struggle upwards. Only the late fish spawn in the lower 
waters. To such as have only seen the salmon in prime condition, the appearance 
of the fish when on the eve of spawning would come as a surprise. The female 
is then dark in colour, almost black, and her shape sadly altered for the worse 
from that which she presented when in condition. As for the male, he is about 
as hideous as can well be imagined, his general colour being a dirty red, blotched 
with orange and dark spots. His jaws are elongated, and the lower one furnished 
with a huge beak, as thick, and nearly as long as a man’s middle finger : while his 
teeth are sharp and numerous, and his head, from the shrinking of the shoulders, 
appears disproportionally large. His skin also is slimy and disagreeable to 
handle, and, in fact, scarcely a more repulsive creature in appearance exists. 
Arrived on the spawning-ground the female, then called a baggit, alone proceeds 
to form the nest, or ‘ redd ’ as it is termed. This she effects by a sort of wriggling 
motion of the lower part of her body working on the loose gravel. Many authors 
state that this is effected by the action of the tail, but I think the convex 
formation of the body at that period would prevent the tail touching the gravel, 
unless the fish stood at an angle of 45°, in which case the stream would carry 
her down. The redd, a deep trench, being formed, the female proceeds, attended 
by the male fish—frequently by two kippers, as they are then called—to deposit 
her eggs. This she does, not all at once, but in small quantities at intervals, 
frequently returning to the redd for the purpose. The eggs are at once fecundated 
by the milt of the kipper; this process going on for two or three days, the fish 
sinking down occasionally into the pool below to rest and recover their strength. 
The effect of the fertilisation of the ova is to add greatly to their specific gravity; 
the eggs sink, and are at once covered with gravel by a similar motion on the 
part of the baggit to that used in the formation of the redd. Here, the process 
being completed, the eggs remain during a period of from one hundred and twenty 
to one hundred and forty days, according to the temperature of the water. At 
the expiration of that time, the little fish come into existence, and, after a few days, 
wriggle out of their gravelly, bed and seek refuge under an adjacent rock or 
stone, where they remain in safety for some twelve or fourteen days longer. 
The appearance of the young fish at that time gives little promise of the beautiful 
