STE-DAT SEiriyiSCE2fCE8. 197 



impaired state of health require partial restoration to 

 enable them to face descent to the sea, the salt water 

 itself, and their enemies it contains. 



Now this process of partial restoration is quickly 

 performed, as everyone knows who is familiar with the 

 well-mended kelt, who naturally selects what he can 

 easiest get — ^viz., the smolt. 



It is more than probable that after spawning opera- 

 tions a fish must be partially restored to health and 

 strength to enable him to undertake the journey down 

 and face the sea, and those affected by disease are so 

 averse to encounter these dangers that they evince the 

 greatest reluctance to quit the pools, but prefer to 

 frequent the eddies and log-holes, in which they get 

 weaker and weaker until overcome by death. 



We have from day to day watched diseased fish lying 

 close beside the bank, paying little or no attention to 

 the passer-by, unless actually roused, and many we 

 have taken out and buried. 



There is no more gruesome spectacle than a badly 

 diseased salmon. White as a leper from head to tail, 

 he is repulsive to the eye and hand, producing an in- 

 voluntary shudder; yet the fungus can easily be 

 removed from the exterior with a piece of sacking, 

 making the fish appear healthy ; but if he be boiled, 

 the flesh under the parts of the skin affected will be 

 of a deep red colour. We have never eaten one, so 

 cannot say how they taste. 



Some fish get slightly touched with the disease. 



