Prince. — Why Do Salmon Ascend from the Sea? 133 



says of the migratory courses of birds that they are "sustained by 

 tradition, " but Pacific salmon die yearly after the first visit to the 

 spawning grounds, and cannot hand on any such tradition.* 



Instinct Affords no Explanation. 



To speak of instinct is to beg the question. Instinct by its 

 very nature is regarded as infallible; as certain and unfailing 

 as the law of gravitation or of chemical combination; but salmon 

 are not unerring in their movements. Sometimes a fish makes 

 its way into the wrong river. Restigouche salmon have occurred, 

 though very rarely, in the Miramichi river, New Brunswick, and 

 vice versa. The Miramichi salmon reach ten or twelve pounds 

 weight usually, and have a build and contour quite characteristic; 

 but the Restigouche salmon commonly weigh twenty pounds or 

 more. (John Mowat, p. 10). 



After the planting of Restigouche salmon fry in the Nepisquit 

 river, Mr. De Wolfe Spurr, a well-known angler from St. John, 

 N. B., identified the introduced fish when they reached maturity, 

 and another experienced angler, Colonel Walker, identified Gaspe 

 salmon after these had been planted in the Grand river. (John 

 Mowat, p. 10) . Had the Atlantic salmon, planted in New Zealand, 

 proved a complete success, the unerring character of their migra- 

 tory powers would have been established — but this stocking of 

 Antipodean waters with Salmo salar has been really a failure. 

 Various causes have been suggested, such as lack of suitable food 

 in the sea, or unfavorable conditions of salinity and temperature. 

 But these causes do not apply. I can vouch for the abundance of 

 suitable food, for I have surveyed pretty completely, the inshore 

 and offshore sea-bottoms of New Zealand. Trout of various 

 kinds, Rainbow, English brown, Loch Lomond, etc., have been 

 a marked success. The explanation may be that trout are more 

 restricted in their wanderings in the sea, and find their way 

 back; but the salmon may resort to considerable depths, far from 

 the estuary of the river in which they were hatched, and instead of 

 finding their way back, they wander aimlessly, and perish in the 

 vast expanses of the South Pacific and Tasman seas. 



* "The Study of Animal Life," by J. Arthur Thomson. Murray, 

 London, 1892. 



