III. 



THE NATURAL HISTOllY OF THE SALMON. . 

 By Geoege Roofer, F.Z.S. 



Read at Watford, 20th March, 1894. 



Shakespeare tells us that there are " Seven Ages " of man. 

 There are, too, seven ages of the salmon. The first is the egg. 

 The eggs are deposited, some time in the winter months, in beds of 

 gravel over which a rapid stream flows, principally in the upper 

 reaches of the river, where the water is more aerated than it is 

 lower down, and free from pollutions of any sort ; for clay, earth, 

 or any extraneous substance would choke and destroy the embryo 

 fish. Indeed, from the time of entering the river, the object of 

 the fish seems to be to arrive at its source. Until they have 

 spawned they never descend, but, resting at times in favourite 

 pools, continually struggle upwards. Only the late fish spawn in 

 the lower waters. 



To such as have only seen the salmon in prime condition, the 

 appearance of the fish when on the eve of spawning would indeed 

 be a surprise. The female is dark in colour, almost black, and her 

 shape sadly altered for the worse from that which she presented 

 when in condition. As for the male, he is about as hideous a beast 

 as can well be imagined. His general colour is a dirty red, 

 blotched with orange and dark spots. His jaws are elongated, and 

 the lower one is furnished with a huge " beak," as thick and 

 nearly as long as my middle finger ; his teeth are sharp and 

 numerous ; and his head, from the shrinking of his shoulders, 

 appears disproportionately large. His skin is slimy and disagree- 

 able to handle. In fact a more repulsive creature in appearance 

 does not exist. 



Arrived on the spawning ground, the female, then called a 

 baggitt, alone proceeds to form the nest — the "redd" it is termed. 

 This she effects by a sort of wriggling motion of the lower part of 

 her body working on the loose gravel. Many authors state that 

 this is effected by the action of the tail, but I do not think so ; the 

 convex formation of the body at that period would prevent the tail 

 from touching the gravel unless the fish stood at an angle of 45°, 

 in which case the stream would carry her down. The "redd," a 

 deep trench, being formed, she proceeds, attended by the male fish, 

 frequently by two "kippers," as they are called, to deposit her 

 eggs. This she does, not all at once, but in small quantities at 

 intervals, frequently returning to the redd for the purpose. The 

 eggs are at once fecundated by the milt of the kipper. This 

 process goes on for two or three days, the fish sinking down 

 occasionally into the pool below to rest and recover their strength. 

 The effect of the fertilization of the ova is to add greatly to their 

 specific gravity ; the eggs sink, and are at once covered with gravel 

 by a similar motion on the part of the baggitt to that used in the 



VOL. YIII. — PART I. 2 



