64 



BERWICK-ON- 

 TWEED. 



river could stand an extra month's fishing and the killing of kelts. The kelts 

 should be killed at the beginning of the year. Would not change the rod 

 season. 



Had a diseased fish (trout) in 18/4. It had come down with the kelts. It 

 had caught the disease in the river. It was an average specimen. 



The salmon are worse than the trout. The salmon, he thinks, would all die 

 if diseased. 



There have been very few smolts for six or eight years. The spawn is all 

 eaten by bull-trout. 



The Tweed will soon be ruined. 



Never saw diseased smolts. Has seen yellow-fins ; they are fresh-water 

 trout. They had just the same disease as the salmon. Never saw it till last 

 year. 



The smolts are falling off. They go down in April and May. There has 

 been scarcely any for 12 years. There has not been a fourth of the usual 

 number. 



Seagulls seldom eat smolts. 



George Henry List, Chief Constable of Berwickshire and Haddington- 

 shire. — Has had charge of the coast, and of the Tweed from the mouth up 

 to Carham, 17 miles, for nine years. First heard of the disease in March 

 1879. Drew the attention of the Commissioners to it. Examined many fish, 

 and sent specimens to Mr. Buckland and Mr. Stirling. 



There were three different appearances — a white mark on the top of the 

 head, a growth of fungus, and a suppurated sore. Has seen cases where the 

 fungus could be rubbed off and left the skin clean. It does not at first attack 

 the large scales, it attacks the soft skin round the tail and fins. There is no 

 sore beneath the fungus. Some sores were eating into the flesh till it was 

 quite red : others were white. They were cancerous sloughing sores. Cannot 

 say which is the first stage. Did not make experiments, not wishing to make 

 too public the fact of the disease. Proposes experiments this season. It is 

 most important to ascertain the causes. His impression is that the disease is 

 the fungus, which eats into the flesh. Cannot say if it leaves its root in. The 

 fish he has seen have had the skin quite entire, and yet were affected by 

 fungus. It kills when it affects the head and mouth. Has heard of it in the 

 mouth, but has not seen it. 



Has no opinion as to the cause. Thinks overcrowding in certain pools during 

 the frost and ice, not overstocking, may have been a cause. The fish so 

 crowded would be liable to disease. Has seen wounds from fighting. The 

 sores this year are quite different from such wounds. Has never seen it 

 before nor heard of it. Few males died this year. Every year there are many 

 dead males, but fewer this year. 



Received authority to remove all dead and diseased fish. 



\_Ha?ids in a return of salmon, grilse, and sea trout, found dead in the 

 River Tweed between Berivick-upon-Tweed and Carham, and buried above flood 

 mark by the river police in May and June 1879. It is as follows : — ] 



