212 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



jaw in the male fish, which closes into a cavity in the snout ; 

 it becomes harder and longer, and has more of an inward 

 curve, as the time of spawning approaches : it is supposed by 

 some persons, that it is used by the fish in removing the 

 gravel when preparing the spawning-bed in autumn. The 

 eye is one-third distant between the snout and posterior 

 margin of the opercle. There are sharp but short incurved 

 teeth on the palate, maxillaries, pharynx, and tongue, but 

 none that I could discover on the vomer. 



The artificial propagation of Salmon has been resorted to 

 in Scotland and Ireland, and nurseries for this purpose have 

 been successfully established on rivers which had been depleted 

 of the vast numbers they once produced. As the reader will 

 find a chapter on Pisciculture in a subsequent part of this 

 work, I will make no further mention here of that mode of 

 producing them — or rather of assisting, or stimulating their 

 production ; but would remark, that if the waters of Great 

 Britain are ever restored to their former fecundity, or our 

 own restocked, it must be one of the means employed. 



The Natural Process of Propagation. — To give a 

 lucid description of the manner of generation with the 

 Salmon, it is necessary to advert to one of its specific 

 peculiarities, which is, that it is anadromous. This term is 

 commonly applied to fish which inhabit the sea the greater 

 part of the year, but enter fresh rivers to spawn ; a residence 

 of a certain length of time in fresh water being necessary to 

 mature the spawn and milt. Salmon, as a general thing, 

 begin to ascend the rivers on the north-eastern coast of 

 America the latter part of June, and there will be an occa- 

 sional run of fish from the sea until the middle of September, 

 each school being influenced to some extent in their migra- 

 tion by easterly gales or a rise in the rivers they enter. The 

 first run of Grilse does not occur until a month later, and the 



