2872 THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



aerated and free from pollutions of any sort since clay, earth, or any extraneous 

 substance would choke and destroy the embryo fish. Indeed, from the time 

 of entering the river, the object of the fish seems to be to arrive at its source. 

 Until they have spawned they never descend, but, resting at times in favorite 

 pools, continually struggle upward. Only the late fish spawn in the lower 

 waters. To such as have only seen the salmon in prime condition, the appearance 

 of the fish when on the eve of spawning would come as a surprise. The female 

 is then dark in color, almost black, and her shape sadly altered for the worse 

 from that which she presented when in condition. As for the male, he is about 

 as hideous as can well be imagined, his general color being a dirty red, blotched 

 with orange and dark spots. His jaws are elongated, and the lower one furnished 

 with a huge beak, as thick, and nearly as long as a man's middle finger; while his 

 teeth are sharp and numerous, and his head, from the shrinking of the shoulders, 

 appears disproportionally large. His skin also is slimy and disagreeable to 

 handle, and, in fact, scarcely a more repulsive creature in appearance exists. 

 Arrived on the spawning ground the female, then called a baggit, alone proceeds 

 to form the nest, or ' redd ' as it is termed. This she effects by a sort of wriggling 

 motion of the lower part of her body working on the loose gravel. Many authors 

 state that this is effected by the action of the tail, but I think the convex 

 formation of the body at that period would prevent the tail touching the gravel, 

 unless the fish stood at an angle of 45, in which case the stream would carry 

 her down. The redd, a deep trench, being formed, the female proceeds, attended 

 by the male fish frequently by two kippers, as they are then called to deposit 

 her eggs. This she does, not all at once, but in small quantities at intervals, 

 frequently returning to the redd for the purpose. The eggs are at once fecundated 

 by the milt of the kipper; this process going on for two or three days, the fish 

 sinking down occasionally into the pool below to rest and recover their strength. 

 The effect of the fertilization of the ova is to add greatly to their specific gravity ; 

 the eggs sink, and are at once covered with gravel by a similar motion on the 

 part of the baggit to that used in the formation of the redd. Here, the process 

 being completed, the eggs remain during a period of from one hundred and twenty 

 to one hundred and forty days, according to the temperature of the water. At 

 the expiration of that time, the little fish come into existence, and, after a few days, 

 wriggle out of their gravelly bed and seek refuge under an adjacent rock or 

 stone, where they remain in safety for some twelve or fourteen days longer. 

 The appearance of the young fish at that time gives little promise of the beautiful 

 form to which they subsequently attain. They are indeed shapeless little monsters, 

 more like tadpoles than fish, each furnished with a little bag of nutriment forming 

 a portion of the abdomen. On this, for two or three weeks, they subsist, until it is 

 absorbed, when they take the form of fishes. They are then about one inch in 

 length, and are known as salmon fry or samlets. A portion of the eggs are washed 

 down the stream during the process of spawning, and become the prey of trout and 

 other fish which attend the redds for the purpose of feeding on them. In this they 

 do no harm whatever, for these eggs, being uncovered and unfecundated, could 

 never arrive at maturity. The kippers, when not actually engaged in the spawning 



