FISHES. 37'J' 



lateral spines with such fatal effect that I have seen one 

 during a battle absolutely rip his opponent quite open, so 

 that he sank to the bottom and died/' When a fish is con- 

 quered, ^' his gallant bearing forsakes him; his gay colors 

 fade away; and he hides his disgrace among his peaceable 

 companions, but is for some time the constant object of his 

 conqueror's persecution.'' 



The male salmon is as pugnacious as the little stickle- 

 back; and so is the male trout, as I hear from Dr. Giinther. 

 Mr. Shaw saw a violent contest between two male salmon 

 which lasted the whole day; and Mr. R. Buist, Superin- 

 tendent of Fisheries, informs me that he has often watched 

 from the bridge at Perth the males driving away their 

 rivals while the females were spawning. The males ^'^are 

 constantly fighting and tearing each other on the spawning- 

 beds, and many so injure each other as to cause the death 

 of numbers, many being seen swimming near the banks of 

 the river in a state of exhaustion, and apparently in a 

 dying state." * Mr. Buist informs me that in June, 1868, 

 the keeper of the Stormontfield Breeding-Ponds visited the 

 northern Tyne and found about 300 dead salmon, all of 

 which with one exception were males; and he was convinced 

 that they had lost their lives by fighting. 



The most curious point about the male salmon is that 

 during the breeding-season, besides a light change in color, 

 "the lower jaw elongates, and a cartilaginous pro- 

 jection turns upward from the point, which, when the 

 jaws are closed, occupies a deep cavity between the inter- 

 maxillary bones of the upper jaw."t (Figs. 27 and 28.) 

 In our salmon this change of structure lasts only during 

 the breeding-season; but in the Salmo lycaodon of North- 

 western America the change, as Mr. J. K. Lord | believes, 

 is permanent and best marked in the older males which have 

 previously ascended the rivers. In these old males the 

 jaw becomes developed into an immense hook-like projec- 

 tion and the teeth grow into regular fangs, often more than 



*"The Field," June 29, 1867. For Mr. Shaw's statement, see 

 " Edinburgh Review," 1843. Another experienced observer (Scrope's 

 "Days of Salmon Fishing," p. 60) remarks that like the stag, the 

 male would, if he could, keep all other males away. 



f Yarrell, "History of British Fishes," vol. ii, 1836, p. 10. 



% ' The Naturalist in Vancouver's Island," vol. i, 1866, p. 54. 



