224 SALMON, THREE, FOUR, FIVE MONTHS OLD.

The 3rd figure on the plate represents the two months old salmon-fry. In length it is 17 inches. Its shape is perfect, and its fins are well defined. The transverse bars, beginning at the lateral line, are visible; but not so brilliant and large as they afterwards by degrees become.

The 4th figure is that of a salmon-fry four months' old, or a day or two more or less, and 21 inches in length, The transverse bars, commencing above the lateral line, have increased in size and depth of colour; and little spots are visible on the back. The fins are very large in proportion to the size of the fry, showing that it is the young of salmon, and not of any small species of salmonida. The fins of a trout of the same size would be much smaller.

The 5th figure is that of a young salmon, at the age of six months. The drawing is that of a specimen more perfect in shape and colour than ordinarily. It is 33 inches in length; its colours are deepening, and the transverse bars are more largely developed. Its fins are disproportionably large in respect to the size of the body. Hitherto its growth has been rapid; but at its present age it, generally speaking, enters the cold months, and during four of them, its growth, chiefly from want of insects for food, is very slow.