SINGULAR STATEMENTS BY MR. SHAW. 175 



ing " implement employed," and others write that 

 the bed-trenches are du"' across the stream. These 



by throwing herself at intervals of a few minutes upon her 

 side, and while in that position, by the rapid action of the 

 tail [the emphatic italics are Mr. Shaw's], she digs a re- 

 ceptacle in the ground for her ova, a portion of which she 

 deposits, and, again, turning upon her side, she covers it 

 up by a renewed action of the tail, — thus alternately dig- 

 ging, depositing, and covering the ova, until the process is 

 completed by the laying of the whole mass, an operation 

 which generally occupies three or four days. In the course 

 of these experiments, it has been ascertained that the milt 

 of a single male parr, whose entire weight may not exceed 

 one and a half ounce, is capable, when confined in a small 

 stream, of effectually impregnating all the ova of a very 

 large female salmon." Not satisfied' with the assertions 

 contained in the above extract, IVIr. Shaw appends a note 

 to it, in which he puts forth one fact with great positive - 

 ness. " I am aware," he says, " it has been a matter of 

 dispute amongst observers as to which of the two extremi- 

 ties of the fish is employed in the formation of the spawn- 

 ing-bed. However, from late opportunities of observation, 

 which rarely occur, owing to the turbid state of the river in 

 the spawning season, I am now satisfied that it is by the 

 action of the caudal extremity alone that the gravel is re- 

 moved." Salmon rivers are by no means always in a " tur- 

 bid state " during spawning time. They are frequently quite 

 limpid then, in the fine weather of September, or in the 

 clear frosty weather of October, November, or December. 

 Mr. Young has over and over again seen salmon excavating, 

 in the way described in the text, not only in limpid water, 

 but in water so shallow that the dorsal fins of the fish could 

 be seen at the surface. No turbidness of water, there- 



