SALMONID^E. 75 



The best adapted rod, the reel, the line, and more especially the description of flies 

 employed, differ in different waters, and as the last resemble nothing that is 

 to be found in the air, earth, or silvery streams, the would-be-angier had best con- 

 sult local adepts in the gentle craft and cunning books on this engrossing subject. 

 Breeding. The number of eggs which each female salmon produces has been 

 estimated at about 900 for every pound weight of the parent fish, but they may 

 exceed these, thus one weighing 201b. contained 27,850 eggs. The period of 

 spawning varies to a certain extent with the locality, seasonableness or the reverse 

 of the weather, and several other circumstances, but is usually considered as 

 extending from the commencement of September until the middle of January. 

 At Stormontfield on the Tay netting for spawning salmon usually commences 

 about Martinmass (November 11th), but in 1881 no fish were ripe until December 

 22nd or 23rd. The time during which a salmon is in a river for spawning 

 purposes can rarely be less than three months, but such must be regulated by 

 many causes as distance to be traversed, accessibility, temperature, etc. But 

 there are certain fishes in which abnormal development occurs, and fresh run 

 salmon with developing ova have been captured at unusual seasons of the year, 

 thus in the Field of April 30th, 1881, one 15 lb. weight, with ova the size of number 

 six shot, was recorded as having been lately captured in the Severn above 

 Shrewsbury. In July this year I saw a male salmon from the Severn in its full 

 breeding livery. 



It has been pointed out that clean salmon ascend rivers late in the winter 

 or in the early spring, but as they swim deeper than spawners they are less 

 likely to ascend fish passes. While netting the Teith on December 23rd, 1881, 

 five were taken (Land and Water, January 28th, 1882) : these fish could not have 

 been ascending to spawn, so must have passed the winter in the sea, showing that 

 it is not an invariable rule that they breed every year. On the other hand, Buist 

 saw a grilse spawned at the Tay fishery which was carefully marked and returned 

 to the water, the following year at the same spot it was captured as a salmon full 

 of ova. After a certain age they cease propagation and overgrown ones are found 

 to be barren, while male parr are mature at seven or eight inches in length. 



Late fish when forming their redds frequently rout up those which were 

 existing in the same spot and consequently many ova are carried away down 

 stream. It has been remarked that this procedure permits of any diseased eggs 

 being carried away and not left to contaminate the good ones : but it does not 

 seem improbable that such treatment is worse than the disease. In some seasons 

 when the water in the rivers is too low for breeding fish to ascend they deposit 

 their ova at the mouths or in the sea, occasioning the loss of the year's 

 supply of eggs. For when the ova are ripe for extrusion the female has no power 

 to retain them, and even the muscular exertion of swimming might cause their 

 expulsion as she possesses no sphincter muscle to assist in their retention. It is 

 different in the male which is furnished with a duct for the ejection of the milt. 



I have already observed (p. 65) upon salt water or impurities proving 

 destructive to the eggs of the salmon, while muddy or deep rivers would be 

 equally inappropriate for forming redds in. These fish consequently push up to 

 ay here the water is clear and form their nests in the main stream or one of its 

 tributaries. Mr. Jackson has made some interesting observations upon whether 

 the male salmon impregnates the whole stream, which has an important bearing 

 upon the question of hybrids. He found that on placing the spermatozoa under 

 the microscope no two touched one another ; they all moved slowly about, and 

 kept constantly at or near the same distance apart as possible. On being further 

 diluted with water, the same result was produced, the distance being enlarged, 

 and it was not until the water was supplied to such a degree that it was 

 impossible to suppose they could fill it and yet preserve communication with one 

 another that the regularity of the pattern disappeared, and even then they kept 

 far away from one another. It appeared as if the phenomena observed were 

 intended to distribute the milt in such a manner that no egg could possibly miss 

 getting hit if it came within range, which led him to conclude that the whole 

 water of a salmon river, or at least of the small tributaries in which they 



