THE FAUNA OF GLENCAIRN. III. Tue FIsHEs. 33 
mode of removing the bait without being hooked, and tangling 
the tackle when landed by the twisting and turning of its slimy 
body. They do not grow to any great size, although one was 
taken in the Dardarroch portion of the Cairn within recollection 
that weighed several pounds, and was fully two inches in diameter 
and over three feet long. Their mode of propagation was a 
much discussed subject among naturalists for many years, but it 
is now generally believed that they migrate to the sea for the 
purpose of spawning, the young alone returning, while the old 
ones die. The Eel is not much prized as food, at least in this 
district, though when denuded of its skin and well cooked it is 
not at all unpalatable. Skinned eel tails make good bait for 
catching pike. I have known of a tame eel fed by a person 
daily in a burn on curds. It came regularly for its meal. 
Often when drains are cleaned out in marshy land eels are 
found in great abundance imbedded in the mud. They may be 
hybernating or at least fasting. 
10.—Lamprey (Petromyzon fluviatilis) 
does not occur above the Falls of Cluden in this district. 
I have already brought a specimen before the Society and shortly 
described it-—-caught at Cluden Rocks, 18th October, 1901; 22 
inches in length, and evidently a female. 
11.—SaLmon (Sa/mo salar). 
This king of British river fishes is not so plentiful in the 
Cairn or its tributaries as it used to be, owing to the many 
obstacles which it has to encounter on its annual journey from 
the sea, for the purpose of spawning. Few, if any, find their 
way to the higher reaches of the river before the month of July, 
and these of moderate weight—the largest I ever heard of being 
taken weighed about 15 Ibs. The general run is from 3 to 10 lbs., 
fish of the latter weight being scarce. It quickly loses its bril- 
lant silver sheen in the clear waters of the Cairn, and although 
it gives good sport in the autumn, the flesh of fish caught then is 
generally soft and without flavour, as it is almost impossible to 
secure a fish that has been less than a week out of the sea, owing 
to some of the rocks it has to surmount being impassible, except 
during a heavy flood. They may consequently have been in the 
river for a month before reaching the higher portions of the 
