NATURAL HISTORY 9 



which shows him to be kipper, wears away, or is cast 

 off as the eagle is said to cast his bill, and he recovers 

 his strength and comes next summer to the same 

 river.' This is, after all, a fairly accurate statement, 

 and although the hook, which is formed of connective 

 tissue, is absorbed and cannot be shed, much later 

 observers than the father of angling make mistakes 

 upon this point. A writer in the 'Field' in 1884, 

 quoted by Day in a note, states, that ' when the fish has 

 reached a certain stage in the kelt state, the hook 

 gradually loosens at what seems, on examination, to 

 be a kind of joint just where the point of the nose 

 should be in the fish ; a slight tap when it has arrived 

 at this stage, or slight pressure on the gravel will dis- 

 lodge it.' Although this excrescence is usually dis- 

 tinctive of the male, small knobs frequently, and large 

 ones occasionally, are found even in gravid females. It 

 is still a moot point whether salmon breed annually, 

 or every second or third year opinions differ 

 and no definite conclusion can safely be arrived at. 



To revert to our author, he next quaintly observes 

 that the salmon, having recovered his strength, comes 

 next summer to the same river, if it be possible, to 

 enjoy the former pleasures that there possessed him : 

 ' for, as one has wittily observed, he has- like some 

 persons of honour and riches, which have both their 



