THE ELUSIVE QUARRY 47 



close of season 1905, the rivers have been rather 

 low for more than a month, and the fish have not 

 been moving much ; yet, as usual, the baskets of the 

 final three weeks were the heaviest of the year. How 

 is that to be explained away ? Does the irritability of 

 the salmon wax as the time of spawning approaches ? 

 It may ; but one feels it more natural to believe that 

 the activity of the fish is attributable to hunger 

 following the gradual consumption of the stored-up 

 sustenance of which Mr. Huxley speaks. Trout also 

 rise particularly well just before the close of the 

 season, and it is never supposed that in their case the 

 impulse is other than that of sharpened appetite 

 arising from increasing need of nourishment. 



In all the writings of the men of science I have 

 not found the slightest reference to a consideration 

 that is of more importance than all the pros and cons 

 we have surveyed. Although the origin of the salmon 

 is not definitely known, it is generally believed that 

 the fish has always been native to fresh water, and 

 that at the early times of the species it lived in that 

 water exclusively. If that be so, the salmon must 

 originally have found all its food in lakes and streams. 

 It feeds now, we know, in the sea, and its habits may 

 have become modified; but is it unreasonable to 

 believe that it may feed in the rivers and the lakes as 

 well ? To believe this seems more than reasonable. 

 It seems imperative. One of the most prominent 

 doctrines of modern natural science is, that it is as 

 difficult to be quit of a hereditary instinct as it is to 

 acquire a character novel to the race. Is it not, then, 



