64 Proceedings. 



in our rivers. With regard to their taking flies, he held that 

 they did so merely as a habit, and never attempted to swallow 

 them ; and this accounted for their preferring tinsel and 

 bright colours, for no one would contend that a Balmon-fly 

 resembled anything in Nature. I have also caught Pike in 

 the Isis with the established Pike-fly made of two eyes of 

 Peacock-feathers, and certainly unlike anything a Pike has 

 ever seen. Mr. Tom Stoddart, the author of the ' Angler's 

 Companion,' agrees with Mr. Blackwell on this point. Mr. 

 Blackwell, who was a great Salmon-fisher, said that when 

 Salmon were in a rising, or as he said playful, mood, they 

 rose freely at falling leaves, or in fact anything that attracted 

 their notice. I asked him what he thought of their taking 

 worms, and he said that though they took, they would not 

 swallow them. The old male Salmon are very troublesome 

 on this account to Salmon-fishers, for the under jaw termi- 

 nates in a hook, which prevents the closing of the mouth at 

 the sides ; and when they take the fly, as they do not pretend 

 to swallow it, it slips out at the side, and they often rise 

 several times without being hooked. This abstention from 

 food would of course lower the vitality, and would conduce to 

 liability to disease. This is not altogether satisfactory as an 

 explanation, as the female fish should be equally affected, and 

 they are not. 



Mr. Stirling says : — " Regarding the cause of the disease, 

 I can offer no opinion further than that some functional 

 condition of the fish seems necessary for the propagation of 

 the fungus. The germs of Saprolerjna must exist at all times 

 and in many places, and, if so, there must be a reason why 

 fish are not constantly affected by the fungus, and in every 

 river. I am persuaded that the condition of the fish is in 

 some way either suitable or unsuitable for the propagation 

 and growth of the fungus. [It has also been said that a salt 

 solution destroys the fungus, which is said to melt in the 

 solution like sugar in water. On the contrary, salt and water 

 is an excellent preservative of Sapvolegna, Masses of it before 

 me as I write have been in a salt solution for two months and 

 remain unaltered. Further, the Salmon captured in the 



