Essays in Natural History and Agriculture | Page 5

spawn of the Salmon
remains five months in the gravel before hatching; he examined the
spawn in April, and found the young fry alive in the eggs, and Ingham,
another angler, took some home and kept one of the Smolts two or
three months. I have subsequently seen Ingham, and he has given me
the same account. All the fishermen here are of opinion that the female
Smolts remain one year, and the males two years, before they go down
to the sea. The Bramblings are supposed to be Smolts which remain a
year longer than the usual time; they are few in number, and are
generally taken with the May fly. I have no doubt that the above
opinions are correct, for we have now three distinct sizes of Smolts in
the river exclusive of Bramblings, the largest of which are nearly four
ounces in weight, and are all males, as they contain milt in October and
November. The next are the females of the present year: I have had one
since the receipt of your letter, which weighed half an ounce and
measured five inches in length; this was a real blue Smolt; the third are
the males of the same age, and are much smaller; these are occasionally
taken with the worm, and will rise at the fly all the next summer."
"We were for several years, but I do not know the dates, entirely
without Salmon, and of course without Smolts; and we invariably
found that the Smolts made their appearance the year after the Salmon,
but were very small till the second year, when we had what we call blue
Smolts, which disappeared in May or June; and what you called Pinks,

which remained till the following year; and Brambling Smolts, which
remained another year. The fishermen here are also of opinion that
neither Salmon nor Trout spawn every year. Robinson says that one
day lately (the letter is dated December 13th) he caught seven Trouts,
six of which were in good season; and he brought me two the other day,
one of which contained roe, and the other was in excellent condition."
My friend states, in a subsequent communication, that one of the
fishermen had told him that he had caught the male Smolt (Par) more
abundantly on the Salmon spawning beds than elsewhere, and my
friend adds that the opinion there is, that if a female Salmon gets up to
the spawning beds, and if no male accompanies her, yet her eggs are
fecundated by the male Smolts; and they allege, in support of this
opinion, that a female got up one season and spawned, and though no
male was seen near her her eggs were prolific. I mention this, although
I apprehend it is evidence which the unbeliever will consider
inadmissible, for though no male was seen, still there may have been
one, or admitting that one did spawn, without being accompanied by a
male, yet another, which contrived to bring her mate along with her,
may have spawned in the same place the same season; yet,
notwithstanding its liability to these objections, I have no doubt myself
that if a female were to come alone her eggs would be impregnated by
the Par. It is an excellent maxim, that Nature makes no useless
provisions; yet, if we admit that Par are young Salmon, for what
purpose is the milt if not to impregnate Salmon roe? and if we deny this
to be the fact, we must endeavour to show that there are female Par, but
in all my examinations, I have never been able to meet with one that
contained roe. That the Grilse are Salmon is proved I think sufficiently
by the evidence given before the House of Commons. Mr. Wm.
Stephens states (see Rep., p. 52) that he has known Grilse kept in a
salt-water pond until they became Salmon, and that fry that had been
marked came back that year as Grilse, and the year after as Salmon;
and Mr. George Hogarth states that he has often seen a Salmon and a
Grilse working together on the spawning beds, as two Salmon, or two
Grilse; and Mr. Mackenzie states (page 21) that he, in March, 1823,
marked a Grilse Kelt with brass wire, and caught it again in March,
1824, a Salmon of seven pounds weight. The testimony of the
witnesses from the Ness, the Severn, the Lee, and some other rivers, is

too positive and too well supported to admit of any doubt as to the
excellent condition of many of the fish ascending those rivers in
November, December, and January--a period when they are out of
season, and full of spawn generally, and even when many fish are
caught in those rivers in the same unseasonable condition. The