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tongue there are six or eight bent backwards. The palate 
is smooth. The forehead is black, as well as the back of 
the head and the cheeks, only the cheeks have a small mix¬ 
ture of blue. The eyes are small, pupil black. The back 
is black; the sides bluish above the line, silvery below, 
sometimes with black spots; but Jonston says, these black 
spots go off when they come to live in fresh water, and are 
only found in those caught in the sea. The belly and throat 
are of a yellowish red; the ground-colour of the pectoral 
fins the same, edged with blue; the ventral and anal fins are 
yellow, and there is an appendage above the former. The tail- 
fin is forked, and blue; the adipous fin isblack, and the dorsal 
spotted and grey. The scales are middle-sized, and easily rub 
off. The lateral line is black, and goes straight towards the 
tail. 
Salmons form the connexion between sea and river fish. 
They come into being in fresh water, grow in the sea, pass 
the summer in rivers, and return in winter to the sea; so 
that salt water and fresh have equal pretensions to claim this 
fish. It is common in the northern ocean, which it quits at 
spawning-time for the rivers that run into it; so that it is not 
only found in those parts of Europe which communicate 
with the ocean by means of rivers, but also at Kamtschatka, 
in thp Caspian sea, in Greenland, New Holland, and 
North America. In Kamtschatka, particularly, they are in 
great plenty ; Pennant says, that, during great floods, such 
quantities of them come up the rivers, that, when the waters 
retire, numbers are left to die, so as to infect the air, and 
occasion contagious disorders. 
This fish forms a strong example of the instinct whereby 
animals are led to the propagation of their species; for it 
quits the ocean were it finds food in abundance, to gain the 
streams where man destroys its, tries every stratagem to 
escape the net, overcomes a thousand obstacles in the course 
of its long journey, and all this to find a convenient place 
to deposit its spawn. The time of spawning, which last 
six or eight days, is in May in southern countries, as Bri- 
tanny; in tire north, as in Sweden, it is not till July. One 
very remarkable thing is, that the salmon finds out again 
the place where she has spawned, as the swallow knows 
again the house where she has made her nest: De la Lande 
made the experiment by marking some salmons, as has been 
done to the swallows: he bought 12 of these fish of a fish¬ 
erman of Chateaulin, (a little town in Lower Britanny, where 
sometimes they catch 4000 salmons in a year,) and to their 
tails he fastened a copper ring, and then set them at liberty : 
the fishermen assured him, that the next year they caught 
five of these very fish, the second year three, and three also 
the third. The princes of the east, who are fond of fishing, 
sometimes put rings of gold or silver upon the salmons, and 
then throw them back into the water; and by afterwards taking 
these fish, it is said, that the communication of the Caspian 
Sea with the Black Sea and Persian Gulph was disco¬ 
vered. 
Towards the spring, when the ice begins to melt on the 
borders, the salmon seeks the fresh water; they are conse¬ 
quently found in greatest plenty in those streams whose 
mouth is narrow, because their waters go farther on into 
the sea; they commonly move from the ocean in spring 
with that strong tide and wind which fishermen call a salmon- 
wind, and seek the rivers. 
The salmons commonly enter the rivers in shoals* and in 
two lines which form the sides of a triangle, in such order, 
that the females generally go first; then the largest males; 
and the smallest bring up the rear • so that, when the fish¬ 
ermen have taken the smallest males, they know they shall 
have no more of that shoal. Sometimes the shoals are so 
numerous, that, uniting their strength, they tear the nets, and 
escape. When the salmon swims, he keeps in the middle 
of the stream, and near the surface of ihe water. He makes 
much noise in his progress. When the weather is stormy, 
or very hot, these fish keep at the bottom of the water, and 
thus pass on without being perceived. The reason why they 
keep in the middle of the stream and near the surface of the 
water, is, because they delight in a rapid current; and, ac¬ 
cording to the observations of Mariott, rivers run more 
swiftly in the middle than near the banks, and near the 
surface than at the bottom. 
The salmon, as we have observed, makes very long 
journeys; for instance, he goes from the North Sea into the 
Elbe, and into Bohemia by the Moulde, and into Switzerland 
by the Rhine. If any dikes or cascades oppose his passage, 
he leaps to a most astonishing height. Raising himself to the 
surface of the water, he bends his tail until it meets his 
mouth, thus forming a circle; then, quickly taking his 
usual form, he strikes the water with force, and rises five or 
six feet from the surface with great ease; when near the sea, 
where his strength is greater, he will rise to the height of 
fourteen feet. 
If the salmons, at the outset of their journey, meet with 
two rivers, the one rapid, the other a smooth stream, 
they prefer the first; but when they have travelled some 
distance, they will prefer the latter. They also love rivers 
whose banks are furnished with trees, as they delight in 
coolness and shade; but they avoid such as have buildings 
near them; neither do they like shallow waters. Floating 
wood and weeds frighten them much, and they return back 
if they see boards or planks floating. According to the ob¬ 
servations of Giefler, the salmon advances but one mile in 
four-and-twenty hours, and only half so much when the 
sun shines, because then they amuse themselves with playing 
on the surface of the water; this appears almost incredible, 
considering the long journeys they have to make in the course 
of a month or six weeks. Their course, however, is cer¬ 
tainly not rapid, because in the Kuddo, into which they go 
immediately out of the Netze, it is much later before they 
fish for them. 
When the salmons wishes to repose, he seeks for a large 
stone, against which he rests his tail, turning his head against 
the stream; if driven away by any noise, he returns to the 
same posture when he supposes the danger past; which is a 
direction to the Swedish fishermen in taking them. 
Forster says, that, when tire salmon first enter the rivers, 
they are covered with lice; in their progress these diminish; 
and at their return they have none at all. Some naturalists 
suppose that the object of their voyages is to rid themselves 
of these insects; but, as they soon leave them, it would 
not be necessary to go up to the smallest rivers: besides all 
salmon have not these insects, and many other fish are 
migratory without any such motive. 
The salmon feeds on smaller fish, on insects, and on 
w’orms; this kind of nourishment contributes so much to 
their growth, that at the age of five or six years, they will 
weigh ten or twelve pounds; and they soon reach a much 
more considerable'growth. Bloch gives a drawing of one 
taken in the Wesel which weighed 401bs. In Scotland they 
weigh 701bs.; in Sweden SOlbs.; and it is said there are some 
in New France more than six feet long. 
They are very greedy, and will devour even the stickle¬ 
back, which the voracious pike will not touch: Muller 
affirms that he found forty-five of these in the stomach of. 
one salmon; though fishermen in general say that no food 
whatever is ever found in the stomach of this fish. Perhaps 
this may be owing to a temporary neglect of food about the 
season of spawning or fecundation. It is well known that 
the angler takes them successfully with the fly, the worm, 
or small fish, an evident proof that these are the animals on 
which they feed. 
The salmon fishery makes a very considerable article of 
commerce in many countries, particularly in England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, in the rivers, and sea-coasts adjoin¬ 
ing to the river-mouths. The most distinguished for salmon 
in Scotland are, the river Tweed, the Clyde, the Tay, the 
Dee, the Don, the Spey, the Ness, the Bewly, &c., in most 
of which it is very common, about the height of summer, 
especially when ihe weather happens to be very hot, to catch 
four or five score salmon at a draught. The chief rivers in 
England for salmon are, the Tyne, the Trent, and the 
Severn, 
