248 Br HOOK AND BY CBOOK. 



existed now appear sunken below the natural level, and 

 are of a red colour, — but healthy wounds. 



It is unfortunate that the application of a rough 

 cloth will readily remove from the scales all trace of 

 the growth, but should the flesh be boiled its deep red 

 colour will reveal the late seat of disease. 



During the first stages of the malady, when the spots 

 are no larger than a crown piece, a proportion of the 

 sufferers will take the artificial fly or minnow, but when 

 further advanced nothing will tempt them. 



In addition to the injury to sport, a river thus affected 

 affords a distressing spectacle to the angler and admirer 

 of the salmon, which, instead of selecting the aerated 

 rushing streams, lies skulking under the banks, whose 

 upper surfaces have already been converted into one long 

 cemetery for others of his species, the frequent patches 

 of freshly laid turf bearing evidence of the work of 

 the gravedigger — the watcher, while the occasional 

 dead carcasses lying at the bottom or edge of the water 

 pollute the stream and atmosphere. 



Kelts are also affected by the disease and die in vast 

 numbers, but those caught towards the end of March 

 and later are mostly free from it, although captured in 

 pools which teem with diseased fresh-run fish ; and as 

 these well-mended kelts have undoubtedly dropped 

 down from the uppermost waters, it clearly indicates 

 that in those parts the conditions are healthier, as they 

 are less densely inhabited. 



It is a fact that an exceptionally heavy run of fish, 



