10 



ANNAN. The disease is contagious, and fish touching each other become infected. 



The fungus is an effect of the disease, and the fungus will not convey the 



disease to fish. Has eaten diseased fish and found them very good. The 

 flesh near the white spot is not affected. Has seen no black mark under the 

 scab. The head is generally cut off. The disease begins at the head, and 

 near the eyes, and on the top of the tail and back fin. Has seen fish with 

 the eyes almost out of them. 



Captain Yorston {recalled). — Any person found in possession of unclean 

 fish is liable to all sorts of pains and penalties. Has seen numbers of dead 

 fish in the shallow water, and it would be imprudent for a farmer to bury such 

 fish, as he might have the water-bailiffs after him, but there should be a 

 power to enable the fish to be buried. 



R. C. McQueen (recalled). — The fish can be picked up and buried under 

 the "scientific purposes" clause, and people are entitled to do it under the 

 Sanitary Laws. In the Eden the living fish were killed and buried, and they 

 were not entitled to do this. 



The disease is confined to the fresh water. Has seen the clean fish with 

 new skin forming under the scab, and the sea perfectly heals them. 



David Aitchison, fisherman. — Fishes the Burgh of Annan stake nets. 

 Has heard the evidence. The cause of the disease is overstocking. Came 

 to this opinion from the quantity of fish that came up in 1877, about 

 this time of the year. There are more than twice as many fish as usual. 

 Cannot say where they came from. They were crowded on the spawning 

 beds, and that was the cause of the disease. Saw an old kelt very bad, and he 

 cut it up and found the liver very rotten. BeHeves the disease comes from 

 the inside of the fish. 



It would be a good thing in one sense to extend the open season, as the fish 

 do not spawn this time of year — not for two or three months. 



Has seen fish marked with wounds, but always thought it was due to fight- 

 ing. Took no notice till 1877- Thinks there is a close connection between the 

 great run of fish and the appearance of the disease. The fish are not fit for 

 market when they are diseased. They are in good condition in September if 

 not diseased. Every fish now (September) is worth 11., and they are not had 

 at any other season of the year. They are very large and heavy in the autumn. 



The dead fish are better out of the way, on sanitary grounds as well as for 

 the sake of the fish. 



Remembers the great death of fish ten years ago. But there was no sign of 

 disease. The fish were dying up as far as Rockcliffe in the Eden. Saw them 

 then wobbling about with a slight motion, but apparently quite healthy. 

 Many people thought the heat of the sands and water must have caused it. 

 Saw no marks on the fish. They died with their mouths wide open. 



County Buildings, Kirkcudbright, Thursday, 

 25th September 1879. 



Present : 



Frank Buckland, Spencer Walpole, and Archibald Young, 



Esquires. 



William Martin, Kirkcudbright, tacksman of the Dee fishings. — Has 

 known the Dee for 50 years, and has never seen anything like the fungus dis- 

 ease [specimen produced]. 



Eighteen or 20 years ago there was a disease with a brown spot, chiefly 

 behind the head. This caused very great mortality. The stock of fish was 

 much decreased. The fish were very uneasy. Went one day to Tongueland, 

 and in a cavity he found a fish, weighing 6 lbs., with its head down and tail 

 up, quite dead. It was a well-grown fish. It had a brown spot on its head, 

 no spot on its fins or tail. 



