34 



Corn Exchange, Melrose, Tuesday, September 30th, 1879. 



Present : 



Frank Buckland, Spencer Walpole, and Archibald Young, 



Esquires. 



M ELRO SE. Col. Alexander Learmonth, M.P., Dean.— Is tenant of the Dryburgh 

 fishings. Has known the Tweed 20 years. The fishing depends on the 

 season ; on the whole the river is much the same as when he first knew it. 

 The stock of fish is not so large ; that of spawning fish is slightly smaller. 

 It is not an overstocked river. Fishes late in November, and sees spawning 

 fish in the river. Is here a good deal in the spring. 



Does not call bull-trout " salmon " or " fish." Taking bull-trout and salmon 

 together, the Tweed is hardly as fully stocked as 20 years ago. 



Dryburgh is a few miles below Melrose. The water is affected by the 

 pollutions of the Gala and Ettrick. The Gala comes in a few miles above . 

 Melrose, and the Ettrick a mile above it on the other bank. The Ettrick 

 is not so polluted as the Gala. 



Has seen disease in the fish after the spawning season, in the spring and 

 towards the end of the winter. Attributes it to fighting among the kippers. 

 The fish had lacerated wounds with a growth upon the side and all over 

 them. Has seen an excrescence from a badly healed wound, not a fungus. 

 "When a kelt has been a long time in the water it gets very weak, and loses 

 flesh, and has a mossy or hairy growth upon it. Has seen such fish every j 

 year. The kelts die in great numbers here as elsewhere. Has seen no fungus j 

 on such fish when dead. Has seen " the " disease in specimens which have \ 

 been sent to London, but has not seen such fish in the river. The worst he 1 

 saw was affected on the head. From the eyes to the gills it was corroded 1 

 almost to the bone with an angry appearance and fluffy exterior. It eats away I 

 the flesh like cancer in man. It is very analogous to cancer, and has a can- J 

 cerous appearance. 



The fungus, he thinks, is a growth supervening on the disease. It is an J 

 aftergrowth and not the disease itself. 



Diseased fish were first seen, he believes, early in the spring of 1879. It was ] 

 very cold, and the river was quite full of " snow brew " from the end of November 

 to very late in the spring. There was a good deal of ice, but not so much as 1 

 in former years. This would keep the fish off the spawning beds, but would 1 

 not injure them. The river was frozen over 10 years ago, and he heard of no 1 

 disease then. Has heard of fish having been seen simultaneously in all parts I 

 of the river from Coldstream to Melrose and above Gala-mouth. 



Has heard from his fisherman that he saw a fish diseased, a grilse, 10 j 

 days ago. It was not dead. Thinks it was landed with the rod. A diseased I 

 fish will take a fly. The disease apparently disappears in the summer. 



Thinks the disease did not originate in the sea; it is a river disease. It will, j 

 he thinks, die out like cholera or typhus, but under similar circumstances it ] 

 will break out again. Cannot suggest a theory as to the circumstances which j 

 favoured its outbreak. One idea was the chemical action in the water of snow- 1 

 water, together with pollutions, at a time when there were many kelts waiting to 1 

 get down, that these circumstances produced the fungus, which is conta- 1 

 gious, and that the fish, touching each other, would contract and spread the 1 

 disease. _ Against this is the fact that the river is usually full of snow-water ] 

 in the winter. But last winter was a most unusually long winter, with much X 

 snow-water. Does not think this theory is worth much. It is a visitation J 

 which cannot be fully explained ; it is like the rabbit disease or cholera. | 

 Unfavourable circumstances may exist, and the infection may be brought in I 

 some way, and so the outbreak becomes more serious. 



Heard of outbreaks in the Eden and Nith in 1877-8 ; that winter was 1 

 different and opposite to the winter of 18/8-9. It is the fact that the disease 1 

 is confined to the Border Counties, and to the rivers flowing east and west. 1 

 The rivers have no communication with each other, but the head waters are j 

 very close to each other. The Clyde and Nith are very close. 



