BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 187 



attached to it a slender line composed of .six linen threads 13 inches in 

 length from the hook to the place where it is broken, and 2', inches below 

 the fracture is a lead sinker, without perceptible lettering, fastened in the 

 same manner as in Fig. 3, but different from this in being lOg inches (not 

 "a lew" inches) distant from the hook. The salmon here mentioned 

 was caught in a seine along with another of equal size and weight. The 

 fishermen supposed them to be male and female. The salmon therefore 

 extends its migration considerably farther than to the sea about Born- 

 holm. It is worth while to add here besides, as something entirely un- 

 usual, that not a few great salmon have appeared this spring prepared to 

 ascend the Great Belt, all caught in the seines set for herring, which are 

 placed near the coasts, only far enough out to have the head of the net 

 in a depth of from 2£ to 4 fathoms, in the region from Karebaeksminde 

 to Korsor. The great salmon thus accidentally caught had, against 

 their custom, gone into the shallow w T ater, and we would appear to be 

 justified in supposing from this that a larger number may have been in 

 the deep water. Since within the memory of man, extending over a period 

 of more than fifty years, so far as I can learn, a single great salmon is ex- 

 ceptionally caught at intervals of more than ten years in a seine. The 

 greatly increased occurrence of salmon this year is a phenomenon which 

 may possibly be attributed to the unusually mild winter, which kept 

 the larger western portion of the Baltic, with its adjacent sounds and 

 gulfs, free from ice all winter. Of the two salmon, weighing 16 pounds 

 each, caught at Visserup on the last day of April, this year, I had the 

 opportunity of opening one, and found it to be a female with the ovaries 

 developed to a length of o£ inches, while the eggs were as large as 

 mustard seed. In its alimentary canal no trace of food was found, and 

 there was no evidence that it had taken any food for several days be- 

 fore its capture. It was a plump and vigorous fish, which seemed to 

 have a stronger desire to gratify its roaming propensity than a neces- 

 sity for obtaining sustenance. Small salmon appear here, sparingly to !»' 

 be sure, but still far more plentifully than great salmon, and usually in 

 small schools. Thus there were caught at Visserup some years ago 

 thirty-seven individuals at one time, weighing from 2 pounds to 6 pounds 

 each. It appears to me that there is strong ground for attributing this 

 circumstance to the fact that the salmon frequent the great Baltic basin 

 westward of Bornholm much more regularly than is usually supposed : 

 and I believe that the foregoing statement should encourage the fish- 

 ermen of South Seeland and Smaaoerne to attempt salmon fishing along 

 their coasts. When we consider the salableness of this valuable fish at 

 high prices, and the comparatively small outlay for procuring the necc- 

 sary apparatus, we shall see that not much of a return is required to 

 make the fishery remunerative. At all events, the experiment, which 

 so far as I know has not yet been undertaken in this direction, ought to 

 be made. So far as concerns the statement of Malmgren that the sal- 

 mon-fishery during the last ten years has increased considerably at Born- 

 holin and on the North German coast of the Baltic, and his attributing 



