282 OUT OF DOORS. 



dwindling process which generally happens when the 

 ' in and in ' system is adopted may be obviated, and a 

 fine and healthy offspring be the result. 



Some experimentalists have mooted another ques- 

 tion, namely, the possibility of crossing the salmon with 

 some other fish, so that the offspring may retain the 

 size, flavour, and beauty of the salmon, while the 

 migrating instinct may be eradicated. I do not think, 

 however, that any such attempt can be successful. In 

 all the history of cross breeding the results prove that 

 it is always possible to introduce an instinct, but that 

 to eradicate one is a task almost if not quite impossible. 

 The outward form may be alterable to any extent, but 

 the inward character will remain. 



In the greyhound, for example, when the breed was 

 found to gain speed at the expense of courage and 

 endurance, relinquishing the quarry at the first check, 

 a cross of the bulldog was introduced. In a few gene- 

 rations the clumsy head and short limbs of the bulldog 

 were eradicated, but the indomitable courage and tire- 

 less perseverance have remained, and the result is the 

 present breed of greyhounds, which will not only run 

 like the wind, but are marvellously enduring, and when 

 they have once been set on the track will continue the 

 chase until they drop from fatigue, or even die on the 

 spot. Taking these and other similar examples into 

 consideration, I cannot but think that the result of 

 crossing the migratory salmon with some stationary 

 species would have precisely the opposite effect to the 



