OUR INLAND FISHERIES. 25 



which the roe of one female contains are con- 

 sidered, 1 that the produce of a very few pairs of 

 salmon would be sufficient to stock a river, and 

 doubtless they would be if a fair share of the eggs 

 were hatched, and their contents reached maturity ; 

 but throughout its life the salmon has to battle with 

 deadly foes, from the egg to the fishmonger's shop — 

 from the cradle to the grave it has to run the 

 gauntlet of one constant succession of remorseless 



enemies. 



> 



In the river, fish, birds, insects, and vermin assail 

 the egg. Even whilst it is being dropped from the 

 parent fish, shoals of small fry, dace, trout, and 

 many other fish, lie in wait to secure and devour 

 it. Water-rats and vermin of all kinds attack it 

 after it is deposited in the gravel. Other coarse 

 fish, and particularly eels, are supposed to rout 

 up the beds, and commit the most serious devas- 

 tation. 2 



i 



It is calculated that the salmon produces 1000 eggs for every 

 pound of its own weight ; thus, a 101b. salmon produces 10,000 



eggs. 



2 I have seen the small river lamprey hard at work on trout 

 spawning beds ; and the process is instructive. In groups of a 

 score or so they search the beds and remove the stones. Fixing 

 its sucker on a small gravel stone, the fish wrenches it from its bed, 

 casts the fragment aside, and burrows into the hole it has made 

 after the spawn. If the stone be too large for one to remove, 



