50 



KELSO. 



" bites from the males. I should say there are 20 males for one female, and 

 " very seldom spawned. 



" Smith. — Have observed most dead fish in January and February, mostly 

 " males, — caused principally by inflammation of the milt bed. They are 

 " mostly half spawned. 



" Small. — Yes, in early spring. The cause is partly from exhaustion in 

 " connexion with procreation. They are almost entirely male fish. 



" Dickins. — In spring, male fish frequently found on river side dead. I attri- 

 " bute the cause to their not being able to meet a female fish, and so get rid of 

 " their milt, which congeals and becomes hard. These are termed locally 

 " ' swooning kippers.' 



" Rochester. — The spring. Dead male fish frequently found. I mean dead 

 " from disease. Dead females never. The deaths of the males are attributed 

 " to their not meeting with females on the spawning grounds. Not being able 

 " to discharge their milts without the assistance of the females, it congeals in 

 " their bellies, forming a hard substance. These fish are named by Tweed 

 " fishermen ' swooning kippers.' Females by titilating their bellies upon a 

 " rock or hard gravel can discharge their ova without the assistance of males, 

 " hence we have no dead females." 



The following answers were given to the Question " What is the food, if any, 

 " on which salmon subsist whilst in the river?" 



" Stoddart. — Adult salmon and grilses, except in the kelted state, rarely 

 " incline to feed in fresh water. Food in a tangible state, it would appear, 

 " is not essential to their existence in that medium. 



" Small. — They eat none that I am aware of. 



" Prlnyle. — I have never heard of any food being found by dissection of river 

 " salmon. I have never seen them feeding through the day. 



" Dr. John Davy. — That salmon grow and fatten rapidly in the sea is an 

 " established fact. They deteriorate as soon as they leave the sea for fresh 

 " water, and diminish in size, owing to taking little food and to the expen- 

 " diture of their fat or oil. This is most noteworthy during the growth of the 

 " ova and milt preparatory to spawning. Fish in the spring, when returning to 

 " the sea, have last their peculiar colour (that of their muscles), with the loss of 

 " their fat, which has been absorbed, and is a substitute (it may be inferred) 

 " for food." 



The Questions with the answers were published in a book by the Com- 

 missioners in 1867- 



This year the superintendent noticed, among the dead and diseased fish, 

 numbers of female fish unspawned. This large proportion of females is shown 

 in his returns of the number of fish removed and buried in the spring of 

 1879, first in May, and second in June. (The following are the returns.-—) 



" Return of Fish Removed and Buried in May 1S/9. 



