34 KENDALL: NEW ENGLAND SALMONS. 



the previous day from the tidal portion of the Severn. The stomach was very distended, 

 and on being removed from the fish was found to measure seven inches in length and 

 contained 22 quite fresh entire sprats {Clupea sprattus), the smallest being 2.6 inches 

 and the largest 4}-^ inches long. Hind (1880, p. 126) said that on approaching the coast 

 in the spring, the salmon feed ravenously upon capelin, sand eels, and young herring, 

 which were also at the same time nearing the shore. At this season adult salmon first 

 follow the capeUn from the depths, and are caught with capehn in their stomachs. 



Calderwood (1907, p. 113-114) refers to investigations concerning salmon fresh run 

 from the sea, giving a table taken from the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Fishery 

 Board for Scotland, part II, no. 2. The table shows that the greatest number with food 

 was taken during the months of March, April, May, and June, when the monthly per- 

 centage of the number of fish ranged as follows: March, 43.4; April, 36.9; May, 16.7; 

 June, 13.1. He states that the food consisted largely of herring, while other contents 

 observed were sand eels, whiting, and haddock. Some, however, contained crustaceans 

 and marine worms, and as 'curious oddments' he mentions a caterpillar, four feathers, 

 a leaf of a beech tree, moss, blades of grass, and spikelets of sedge, which he regarded as 

 interesting when we recollect the nature of the salmon fly. The crustaceans observed 

 were mostly amphipods which were thought to have been first ingested by herring which 

 the salmon afterwards swallowed. 



The Norwegian investigator, Knut Dahl (1918, p. 15) states that in the year 1909, 

 between June 30 and July 2, he opened and examined the stomachs of 46 grilse, caught 

 between Trondhjem and Finmarken. In 26 cases the stomachs were empty or contained 

 indefinable pulp. In 17 fish he found herring up to 20 centimeters in length, and in 

 some cases the stomachs were absolutely crammed with these fish. In three cases the 

 contents consisted of capeUn {Mallotus villosus). In two cases the stomachs were full 

 of Euphausidae, partly mixed with pelagic amphipods (Parathemisto ohlivia). 



The foregoing are a few concrete examples of the many scattered references to the 

 food found in the stomachs of salmon fresh from the sea. The present writer has ex- 

 amined the stomachs of many fish, particularly from the weirs of the Penobscot River 

 and from the St. John River in New Brunswick. In most instances the stomachs were 

 empty but in some Penobscot fish smelts were found and in a few of the St. John River 

 fish medium-sized alewives were observed. From these notes it is quite evident, that, as 

 suggested by a previously referred-to observer, the salmon are not very discriminating 

 in the pursuit of food. The fact that a comparatively small percentage of the fish taken 

 in their approach to the rivers contain food, does not necessarily indicate that they 

 have ceased to take food. It would seem, rather, that the empty stomachs may be 

 accounted for in some such way as suggested by Jordan and Evermann (1902, p. 165- 

 166), 'The assumption that salmon do not feed after entering fresh water is founded 

 upon the fact that seldom is anything found in their stomachs when caught in traps or 

 by hooks. In traps and weirs it is the habit of most fishes either to disgorge the food 

 from fright or, if not immediately removed, to digest it.' The present writer has opened 

 scores of the notoriously voracious dogfish {Squalus acanthias) and found a large majority 



