INTRODUCTORY xvii 



Lord Elgin's Commission in 1901 I heard the asser- 

 tion made that salmon spawn in the sea as well as 

 in fresh waters, and I have met more than one 

 tacksman of salmon fishings who insisted that a 

 grilse was a different species of fish from a salmon. 

 These views die hard, especially when there seems 

 to be some commercial advantage in holding them. 



Since the great development of rapid transit by 

 which fish can be sent to market, the use of ice, 

 and especially since the sharpening of competition 

 amongst salmon fishers and the consequent great 

 improvement in methods of fishing, a more exact 

 knowledge of the life of the salmon has become more 

 and more necessary. We not only require to know 

 when the fish breeds, and that it can only reproduce 

 its species in our rivers, but we want to know how 

 often the fish breeds in its lifetime or, perhaps one 

 should say, how seldom it breeds ; at what age it 

 begins to breed and at what age it ceases to breed. 

 We also want to know its habits of migration to and 

 from fresh water, and how much time it spends in 

 the sea ; whether fish migrate from one river to 

 another, and where salmon go in the sea, what the 

 salmon's food is and when it is in best condition. 

 More than this, for the better regulation of the 

 fisheries we want to know the conditions which 

 govern fish in ascending rivers and tributaries a 

 subject of value to netsmen and anglers alike. 



These are definite points of practical importance 

 nowadays, for on a thorough knowledge of the life 

 history of the fish itself can sound regulative treat- 

 ment alone rest. 



b 



