SALMON— LAND-LOCKED RACES. 90 



have been enumerated, that an exemption is mailo in favoui- of any person who 

 takes or is in possession of such fish for artificial propagation. Mr. Paterson, 

 in his woi-k on The Fishery Laws of the United Kiiujdum, 18G3, pointed out,_ wlien 

 commenting on this section, that the joint consent of the owners or occupiers of 

 the fishery and of the Board of Conservators " always is necessary when a third 

 party takes unclean fish. There is no such exemjjtion as to fish tliat are clean. 

 Accordingly we must conclude that the Act includes nnspawncd fish in the term 

 ' nnclean," or else that the only legal means of carrying on ' artificial propagation' 

 is by the capture of kelts." 



Among questions of practical moment among those relating to the breeding of 

 salmon, as well as bearing on the races of so-called " land-locked salmon," is 

 whether Salmo salar can be permanently retained in fresh water* without ever 

 descending to the sea ? And if so whether, under such conditions, it would 

 continue its race ? A great obstacle in coming to a conclusion on this point has 

 been that it seemed occasionally to be doubtful whether in the recorded instances 

 of such having been successfully accomplished the observer referred to Salvio salar 

 or to a sea trout ? 



Some authors have held that could salmon migrate from rivers into large 

 fresh-water lakes where a sufficiency of suitable food existed, they would be 

 able to return to the streams where they had been reared as well-developed 

 salmon. But doubtless the generally accepted opinion has been that salmon, if 

 retained in freshwater and unable to migrate to the sea, do not increase in weight 

 but die without continuing their race.f This however I shall be able to show is 

 not, under favourable circumstances, a necessary result, as has been proved by 

 experiments at Howietoun,^ where smelts or grilse have given ova without 

 descending to the sea, and from which par have already been reared. 



* Dr. Giintlier (Catal. vi, p. 108) observed, " We have no evidence whatever that a migratory 

 species has ever been changed into a non-migratory one; and persons who bring forward 

 instances of such changes having taken place in the course of a few years, must first prove that 

 they have correctly determined the species of the specimens experimented upon." 



t In 1653 Izaak Wahon published the first edition of his Compleat Angler, whereni the 

 opinions of tlie most reliable authors of previous or contemporary times on salmon-breedmg were 

 condensed. He remarked that it " is said to breed or cast its spawn in most rivers m the month 

 of August : some say they dig a hole or grave in a safe place in the gravel and there place then- 

 eggs or spawn, after the milter has done his natural office, and then hide it most cunningly and 

 cover it over with gravel and stones. ' Kippers ' have bony gristle growing out of their lower 

 jaws, and may live one year from the sea, but pine and die the second year. Little salmons 

 called ' skeggers,' which abound in many rivers, are bred by such sick salmons that might not go 

 to the sea, and though they abound they never thrive to any considerable bigness." 



Willoughby {De Historia Piscium, 1686), quoting a communication to Gesner, tells us that 

 generally about the end of November salmon ascend for breeding purposes up rivers to their 

 affluents, where the eggs are deposited and the young born; these latter are termed " samlets, 

 while the old fish descend to the sea. ... 



Eay (Synopsis Methodica Piscium, 1713, p. 63) observed that sahnon are born m the rivers, 

 from which they descend to the sea. , , , ^ t-,t-ii 1 1 



Pontoppidan (Natural History of Norway, 1755, chap, vi, p. 131) remarked that Willoughby 

 " also confutes Gesner's opinion concernmg the salmon's breeding in the sea : he thinks that it is 

 done in fresh water, from whence they afterwards go to the sea ; but in this he is certainly 

 mistaken. The salmon unquestionably breeds in the sea, though it is not entirely to be denied 

 but that they may sometimes breed in rivers also, for they are found in the midst of Germany, 

 and upper parts of the Rhine, about Basel ; but we are very well assured that the salmon chiefly 

 ejects its roe at the mouth of rivers, where they empty themselves into the sea, or a little way 

 beyond, in the salt water, in this manner : they bend themselves crooked, in order to eject the 

 roe at an aperture under the belly, and in the meantime they stick their heads down in the 

 sand, that they may have the more strength. The male comes presently after, to keep off 

 other fish from devouring the roe, and he then bends his head towards the tail, and ejects his 

 sperm upon the roe." . . , 



1 Passing over the various authors who have mostly reproduced the opinions of those who have 

 preceded them, we come toYarrell, British Fishes (Edition 2) ii, p. 17, who tells us that about the 

 end of 1830 water was first turned into a certain pond, three or four acres in extent, situated 

 in Scotland, and in April, 1831, one or two dozens of small salmon fry, 3 in. or 4 in. long, were 

 taken out of the river and turned in. In 1833 the first fishing was allowed, and several salmon 

 were taken with the fly from 2 lb. to 3 lb. in weight ; all were perfectly well shaped and filled up, 



7 * 



