SALMON. The salmon, as a fish for artificial breeding, has of late years attracted much atten tion, and they have been successfully trans ferred to many of our deep and larger waters. The author of American Fish Culture gives full information in relation to the habits of this cele brated fish from which we extract Salmon commence to make in toward the rivers from which they migrated at rather a later period than shad. Of course those of a more southern latitude are earlier corners. On the Bay of Fundy, for instance, at St. John, N.-B. some are taken in May, in June they are abundant. If they are introduced in the Hudson and Connecticut they might, doubtless, be taken in Long Island Sound and in the lower bay in April. They continue to come in schools and ascend the rivers all sum mer, the earlier corners being the'earlier spawn ers, while the late spawners frequently remain in the river all winter, and go to sea in the spring. The latter, as has been ascertained in Scotland, may not spawn the ensuing fall, a period of two years expiring before they reproduce. From the information gained in the British Provinces, I am of opinion that there is only one, and that an annual, migration of the same fish to and from sea on this side of the Atlantic. This is neces sarily the case, as most of the rivers are rigidly closed with ice for some months, and many of them for half of the year. On the coast of Great Britain, where the rivers are always open, their migrations occur nearly every month; still there is a throng time when the greater number enter fresh waters. Smolts and grilse have fre quently been marked and have gone to sea and returned in six or eight weeks. In Ireland there are fresh run fish in January and fair fly-fishing in February. In the rivers of the British Provinces north of us there is also what may be termed a throng time. This is generally when the first schools come in. In some rivers they are found at the lower rapids within a week (earlier or later) of the middle of June, and in others, even of the same latitude or district of country some what later. There are different runs up to the middle of September; the schools being influenced by easterly storms to enter the bay, and by a rise in the river to ascend. Unlike the shad, which are deterred or driven back by a freshet,•salmon seem to delight in a heavy rise, after which, there is always good fishing as the water clears. When a school of salmon, coming from sea, reaches a bay or the mouth of a river entering the sea, some weeks are occupied in working up toward the head of tide,.the fish in the meanwhile under going a change of system which fits them for their habitation while in the fresh water. Dur
ing this time they feed on smelts, sparlings, and other small fish as well as crustacea. After entering fresh water no food is to be found in their stomachs; notwithstanding, they will rise occasionally at a natural or artificial fly, and will sometimes take a worm bait. In their jour ney,upwards they generally linger on the way, at the foot of many a rapid or just above, until they reach their native spawning-grounds, or go beyond. They lose the silvery brightness which they bring from sea, and continue to grow darker and fall off as the summer advances. A fish that was a twenty-pounder, when fresh run, in three weeks will be one of seventeen pounds, and so on to the time of spawning,' eaten they have lost half of their weight and are scarcely fit for food. If their native water is some inconsiderable brook, which is frequently the case, they will wait for a rise, or wriggle over shallows scarcely the depth of their bodies. When the young, salmon frees itself from the shell it is about three-fourths of an inch'long, and has the same umbilical sac which we observe in the fry of brook trout. This it carries for about six weeks, during this time it refuses all food. As soon, however, as this sac is absorbed, its predaceous instinct is observed, rising eagerly at the smallest insect or atone, and seizing am malculie beneath the surface. In pisciculture the food of the fry is much the same as those of the trout. Although the incubation of salmon ova is similar to that of the trout in breeding them artificially, the manipulation of the fish is different on account of the large size and vigor of the salmon, requiring two and sometimes three persons to performs the operation. If the fish is held pendent by the head, the ova, if mature, will distend the lower portion of the abdomen, and some of it flow without pressure; and this, from all we can learn, is the position in which the salmon is generally held when it is being operated on. The young of the salmon, as long as it retains what are known as the finger-marks on its sides, is called a parr. When these marks are no longer visible, and it assumes a silvery coat, it is a smolt, and is sufficiently advanced for its first migratidn to sea. On its return, which may be after six or eight weeks, or not until the following sumnier, it is a grilse, its average weight being about four pounds. After its second visit to its marine feeding: grounds, it is a salmon, weighing from eight to fifteen pounds. Immediately after spawning it is called a kelt, or a black fish; the latter appel lation is given to a fish that has spawned and remains in the river for any length of time, which generally occurs in the winter months,