176 APPENDIX. 



gravel, or, for anything the poor creature knew, against a stone. 

 Had a salmon a snout like a pig, with joints in its neck, we 

 might then come to the conclusion that those necessaries were 

 provided by Nature for the purpose of digging. In the second 

 place, the cartilage of the nose is so tender that it could not, 

 with any degree of comfort to the possessor, be applied to such 

 violent shocks without disturbing its equanimity, and dis- 

 gusting it with its work, however amusing it might be to 

 lookers-on from the bank of the river. Besides, the gravel 

 disturbed by the snout would enter the fish's mouth, and either 

 choke it or destroy its gills. Instead, however, of setting 

 about its work in such a violent manner, the salmon moves 

 through the water, and performs its duties quietly and unos- 

 tentatiously ; the fish sustaining no injury beyond the slight 

 abrasions on the tail, the fins, and cheeks, necessarily pro- 

 duced by coming in frequent contact with the gravel. 



M. Do all salmon and grilse come to the rivers for the pur- 

 pose of spawning ? 



H. We see that salmon and grilse come to the rivers for 

 the purpose of spawning, and as the laws of Nature are perfect, 

 we must conclude that they all come for that purpose, as 

 they are charged either with roe or milt. Some people 

 assert, without having produced any facts to substantiate their 

 conclusions, that salmon spawn in the sea. I should like to 

 put a few cross-questions to any one maintaining this notion, 

 and ask him Was it at high- water mark, or at low-water 

 mark, or during the spring-tides, or neap-tides, you saw the 

 fish spawning in the sea ? or did you have yourself let down 

 in a patent diving-bell to quietly contemplate the mysteries of 

 the deep en philosophe, with sixty fathoms of water overhead ? 

 I might, with equal assurance, assert that herrings and cod-fish 

 spawn partly in the sea and partly in the rivers ; but my 

 assertion would make me appear ridiculous, because the fact 

 that they did not do so is so notoriously known to be contrary 

 to fact and Nature. So also does the same imputation apply 

 to those who attempt to separate the nature and habits of 

 salmon, and give them two instincts, to suit their own theories, 

 and with an eye to their interests, no doubt. 



