172 WORMS AS LURES FOR SALMON 



the stream is seized, bitten, and rejected ; the lure 

 of the fisherman is seized, and, so far as my experience 

 goes, is never swallowed. I have never hooked a 

 clean salmon, even when spinning with the natural 

 minnow, save in the mouth, and generally in the 

 tongue or jaws ; and I have never heard of the triangle 

 being found embedded save in the mouth or upper 

 part of the throat of a clean salmon. It is certain 

 that when a salmon is feeding it neither masticates 

 nor attempts to masticate its food ; indeed, its teeth 

 are unfitted for such a process, and directly the prey 

 is seized it is swallowed. This alone should dispel any 

 belief in the theory that a clean fish feeds in fresh 

 water ; for if it did so, the bait, when it was seized, 

 would be immediately swallowed, and innumerable 

 cases would occur in which the salmon would have 

 to be cut open in order to liberate the hooks attached 

 to the lure. One powerful argument which has to be 

 met is, that salmon are frequently caught with worms 

 as bait, and if the hooks to which these worms are 

 attached were found in the stomach of the salmon, an 

 even stronger case would have to be answered ; but 

 as far as my information goes, these hooks are not 

 found in the stomach. Eels, worms, and larvae are 

 as great a source of danger to the salmon ova and 

 alevin as any other denizen of fresh water, and thus 

 their destruction by the salmon might be as natural 

 as that of small fry. The salmon, when entering 

 a river, attacks the larger-sized objects, which are 

 seized and lacerated by its teeth, and as it approaches 



