2 THE SPORTING FISH 



hausted salmon rivers, and the increase of a 

 valuable article of the national food-supply. 



I may perhaps be permitted to refer with some 

 satisfaction to my own small share in bringing 

 about the legislative reforms to which the present 

 material prosperity of our fisheries is of course 

 primarily attributable. It is now some years, since, 

 in an article on this subject in the Saturday Revieiv, 

 it was stated, " Mr. Pennell, Mr. Buckland, and a 

 few others, have worked hard in the cause of the 

 Salmon, in spite of territorial apathy, and if we are 

 ever again to have this fish as plentiful as it was 

 in the days of the mythical apprentices, it will be 

 mainly owing to their exertions." 



The following sketch, which I originally pub- 

 lished in the Times, gives in a summarised form the 

 history of the Salmon as it was then known. It 

 cannot, I think, be said that subsequent experi- 

 ments and investigations have in any material 

 point added to or taken from it. 



Proved Facts in the History of the Salmon. 



1 . Salmon and Grilse invariably spawn in fresh 

 water if possible, — both the eggs, and the young 

 fry whilst in the Parr state, being destroyed by 

 contact with salt water. 



2. The eggs are usually deposited on gravelly 

 shallows, wliere they hatch in from So to 140 days. 



