72 



EDI NBUR GH. The fungus was dead sporadically, but alive vegetatively, on all the fish, with 

 one exception, he has received. 



The overcrowding of fish in pools would not, he thinks, cause the fungus. 

 Overcrowding and hunger would tend to indisposition. But water is always 

 passing over them. It is not as if they were confined in a room, and over- 

 crowding in a stream would not predispose the fish to disease. 



The fungus would break out whether there was overcrowding or not. 



The evidence as to British Columbia does not show that the prevention of 

 overcrowding would prevent disease. 



The fish should have free access up and down the rivers. They should be 

 enabled to change their ground, and get to the sea if necessary. 



The burial of dead fish would be an advantage, by reducing the disease by 

 the extent to which it exists on these fish. 



When fishing the Tweed on 14th August 1877, he saw salmon lying in the 

 water covered with fungus, looking like a sheep's back covered with wool. Could 

 not examine them because he was afraid of the law. The fish were completely 

 covered. Thought the fish were logs of wood. The fish were dead, and rotting 

 in the water. They must have been a source of pollution. Would let the 

 diseased fish get to the sea. The fish themselves would not know what was the 

 matter with them, and so would not go instinctively to the sea. 



A fresh supply of water might wash away the fungus. Cannot think it 

 would kill it. Thinks female fish will wound each other, but the male fish 

 could not. A' spore falling on a wound might infect the fish, but it would 

 not grow any faster on the raw flesh than on the mucus of the skin. 

 wT^Z. \_Pa>' r produced taken in the Tummel and supposed to be diseased^] 



Sees no evidence of disease on it. It is a healthy well-fed fish. 



There are other fungi fastening on fish. 



The ordinary fungus in aquaria is a confervoid, and belongs to a distinct 

 family. Has tried to grow Saprolegnia ferax on the house fly. The fungus 

 he has seen on the house fly is not S. ferax. S. ferax is a water fungus. 

 There are analogous fungi, green in colour, while the S. ferax is white. 



The minnows referred to by Major Dickens must be attacked by some other 

 fungus. 



Has tried to grow 5. ferax on minnows. Put in a piece of fish covered with 

 mass of fungus. The minnows ate the fungus and remained in perfect health. 



Thinks the disease will die out. 

 [Gold fish produced attacked with a fungus, taken from some ponds near 



Dumfries.^ 



The confervoid fungus grows on the edges of the fins. The fungus on the 

 gold fish is not saprolegnia. 



A fish out of health would take a fever more easily than a healthy fish, but 

 the mechanical action of S. ferax does not require unhealthy fish. A kelt is 

 healthy, but in an abnormal condition. Unhealthy fish crowded together 

 would get still more weak. 



Has spawned fish artificially occasionally. Does not know that a fish can 

 retain her eggs for five minutes. 



The eggs in the specimen produced were out of the ovaries and loose in the 

 abdominal cavity. The eggs he took had no white speck on them. They were 

 not '-'blind" eggs. The eggs produced were all in the fish, which was about 

 8 lbs in weight. The next year's eggs were appearing. The fish was stated 

 in the return to be a spawned fish. 



The female cannot retain her ova after dehiscence. A female will shed all 

 her ova in a day. A male fish can, he thinks, retain the milt. The eggs fall 

 simply into the abdomen when ripe, and the fish having no sphincter muscle 

 cannot retain them ; every motion extrudes the eggs. The spores would take 

 effect on fish crowded in a small space more readily than on scattered fish. 

 The rivers should be opened up. Pollution should be kept out. Fish do not 

 like dirt, but fish will live in a very dirty river. Salmon pass up the Broomielaw 

 at Glasgow, and get up to the Falls of Clyde. Has seen pailsful of descending 

 smolts picked up dead notwithstanding. 



The Tweed contains pollutions. It is blue from indigo, and a great deal of 

 town sewage goes into it, and wool refuse also from the mills. The wool is 



