296 ANATOMY OF SALMON. 



of the Derby was Blue Gown, therefore I called my big- 

 fish " Blue Gown." 



I cannot say how exceedingly obliged I am to the fish 

 merchants, not only in England but in Scotland, for 

 their great kindness in letting me know of the arrival 

 of remarkable fish, be they salmon or any other kind. 



ANATOMY OF THE SALMON. 



Anxious to learn something about the anatomy of the 

 salmon, I took for the subject of dissection a fine speci- 

 men of a Rhine salmon. Of course I could not afford 

 to buy the whole fish, so I only had the viscera. 



The fish w^as four feet five inches long, twenty-seven 

 inches in girth, and weighed 48 pounds. The scales 

 were unusually large and prominent. Strange to say, I 

 could not find any sea-lice upon it, and I have never yet 

 seen one of these parasites on a Ehine fish. The milt 

 was about the size of a common cedar pencil, and 

 weighed (the two milts) half-an-ounce only. From these 

 viscera I have made a ver}^ interesting x^i'eparation. 

 Sujoporting the gills and gullet so as to make a funnel- 

 shaped opening, I poured plaster of Paris down into it. 

 It was most interesting to see the stomach gradually 

 extend as the plaster went downwards; it then gradually 

 filled up the duodenum, the ileum, the pyloric appen- 

 dages, and the lower gut. The whole preparation has 

 since been dried, and exhibits many interesting points 

 in the anatomy of the salmon. First, the oesophagal 

 teeth ; these are situated at the entrance of the gullet, 

 and are attached to one of the bones which support tlie 

 gills ; there are nine oesophagal teeth on' the right side, 

 and five on the left, and they work against little islands 

 of teeth on the opposite side of tlie oesophagus. The 

 stomach (which is in fact nothing but a prolongation of 



