QUESTIONABLE THEORY. 105 



proved unfaithful. He says, it is true, that from his observa- 

 tory he could distinctly watch all her movements in the 

 interval, and that she never came in contact with any male. 

 But with the best of eyes, and though the position of the 

 observer may have been ever so favourable, any one might be 

 deceived at sixty or eighty paces distance, more particularly 

 when looking at an object pretty deep perhaps in the water. 



He suggests two causes for her taking these trips : first, 

 that she may drop her ova here, there, and everywhere in 

 the river as a provision against casualties ; secondly, the 

 requirement of rest from her labours. But these suggestions 

 are unsupported by any kind of proof. In answer to the 

 first, I say, why should not Nature have prevented her 

 from taking up a bad position in the first instance ? To the 

 second, is it not quite as reasonable to suppose that her 

 excursions are made in search of food, or that if she were 

 exhausted with spawning, and required rest, she would lie 

 still? 



Neither does it appear to me that my friend's theory as to 

 the male salmon stationing himself a little in the rear of the 

 female, for the purpose of impregnating her eggs as they 

 drift past him, quite holds good ; for, by his own account, the 

 male is himself often absent from his post in chase of rivals, 

 during which time, so far as the ova from his particular 

 female are concerned, his milt is altogether wasted. When, 

 on the contrary, she in her turn is on the move, her ova 

 have little chance of impregnation, at least from him. 



But under any circumstances, and in spite of her lunges, a 

 large portion of the ova must of necessity be deposited 

 amongst the stones and gravel immediately behind the 

 spawning-bed, and prior to reaching the male, so that, 



