FUNGUS DISEASE AFFECTING SALMON. 527 



with scales. On the sides of the fish, where small patches of the fungus 

 were situated on the scales (and no rubbing had taken place), uo sore 

 could be detected, and the fungus was easily wiped off with the finger. 



I may also mention that all the fish which I received from the Eden 

 Kiver, both trout and salmon, were infested with tape-worms of a large 

 size, the worms being about two yards in length and three-sixteenths of 

 an inch in l)readth. One of the salmon had from GO to 80 yards of tbose 

 worms in the pyloric portion of the gut. Another salmon had three 

 varieties of worms in various parts of its alimentary canal — first, in the 

 stomach were many round worms, about 4 inches in length, tapering to 

 each end, and as thick as ordinary whip-cord in the thickest part of the 

 body; many of those worms were entangled among the gill-rays, it being 

 their habit to crawl there when the fish dies, and from their presence in 

 this situation they are called gill- worms by the fishermen; second, a 

 ismall spiral worm, which attaches itself by burrowing in the outer walls 

 of the intestine, in the fat and i>yloric api)endages ; third, tape-worms 

 seated within the pylorus and intestine. 



On May 30th I received from Sir Robert Christison a large salmon 

 from the Nith. This fish was believed to have been to the sea after 

 being attacked with fungus, and was captured on its return. The speci- 

 men was a female, and had the roe about one-fourth grown ; the viscera 

 were very healthy, and no entozoa were found in it. The head of this 

 female is peculiar in having a kij) on the under jaw, and a cavity in the 

 upper jaw to receive it, as in the male fish of the species. The right 

 side of the head, including the eyes and nose, was very deeply rubbed 

 and the bones injured, but no fungus adhered to the injured part. The 

 pectoral fin on the same side had no membrane, the rays being bare, 

 broken, and separate from the muscles at their roots. There were sev- 

 i^ral patches on both sides of the fish, fi'om which the scales were rubbed 

 off, but no fungus adhered t» the rubbed i)arts. In several of those 

 rubbed parts, although the skin was unbroken, a portion of the muscle, 

 ■corresponding in breadth to the external injury, and half an inch in 

 depth, was in a pulpy condition ; beneath other rubbed spots the muscle 

 was quite sound. The dorsal, ventral, caudal, and anal fins were all 

 more or less injured by rubbing. N"o fungus adhered to any of the fins 

 except the anal, the rays here being reduced to stumps of an inch or 

 half an inch in length, on which a thickly matted covering of fungus is 

 seated. The branchiostegal rays are very slightly rubbed, and are the 

 only other part of the fish on which the fungus remains. In my report to 

 the fishery commissioners in April last I stated that the fish did not die 

 of the fungus, but of the injuries they inflict by rubbing, in trying to 

 rid themselves of the pest. As some objection was taken in regard to 

 this statement, I quote, in corroboration of my views, from a letter pub- 

 lished in the Field of May 25th last. The letter was written by Com- 

 mander Duncan Stewart, R. IST. He says : 



" In regard to the disease from which salmon are suffering in some of 



