AGGRESSIVENESS OF SALMON 171 



kelts do feed in fresh water, but not for some time after 

 spawning. 



A salmon when in fresh water appears to pursue and 

 take in its mouth any moving or novel object which 

 it sees, unless the object be too big, or the salmon be 

 frightened or warned by some previous unhappy 

 experience. What is the reason for this action ? 

 Some, ignoring the physical changes in the alimentary 

 regions, declare that the salmon takes the food into 

 the stomach, but that directly it is hooked, or finds 

 itself in a net, it discharges the entire contents of the 

 stomach. 



REJECTION OF FOOD WHEN CAPTURED 



Mr. H. Cholmondeley-Pennell advances, as a possible 

 solution of the empty condition of the salmon's 

 stomach when caught in fresh water, this theory of 

 the rejection of all food, and instances a case where 

 716 salmon caught in a net in salt water were seen 

 to discharge quantities of small eels as the net ap- 

 proached the shore. This, however, only affects the 

 fish in salt water and when their stomachs are in the 

 normal food-absorbing condition, and therefore this 

 evidence of Mr. PennelPs does not help matters. 



AGGRESSIVENESS OF SALMON 



Salmon in fresh water do not appear to be hungry, 

 but rather savage, and their attitude is more aggressive 

 than voracious. The leaf floating on the surface of 



