TREATISE ON FLY-FISHING. 81 



be effected by the floods. These are the broad 

 parts of the river, where the water runs swift 

 and shallow, and has a free passage over an 

 even bed. Here they either select an old 

 old spawning place, or form a fresh one, which is 

 made by the female. Some fancy, that the elonga- 

 tion of the lower jaw in the male, which is somewhat 

 in the form of a crook, is designed by nature to 

 enable him to excavate the spawning trough; 

 certainly it is difficult to divine what may be the 

 use of this very ugly excrescence, but observation 

 has proved that this idea is a fallacy, and that the 

 male never assists in making the spawning place* 

 When the female first commences making her 

 spawning bed, she generally comes after sun set, 

 and goes off in the morning": she works up the 

 gravel with her snout, her head pointing against 

 the stream, and she arranges the position of the 

 loose gravel with her tail. When this is done, 

 the male makes his appearance in the evenings, 

 according to the usage of the female ; he then 



