178 CONTRADICTIONS 



be taken as proof that the salmon swallows food, but 

 only that he would like to, and apparently makes the 

 attempt while in fresh water. Now, if the salmon's 

 stomach was in the normal feeding condition this 

 small trout should have been completely swallowed 

 by the huge kelt, even as the rat was swallowed by the 

 small salmon ; in which case not the head only, but the 

 whole of the trout would have entered the stomach 

 of the salmon, and would have been reduced to pulp. 

 Salmon have repeatedly been found with full-sized 

 herrings in their stomachs. If they are capable of 

 swallowing full-sized herrings, it is obvious that a huge 

 kelt would have no difficulty at all in swallowing a 

 J-pound trout. The rat, however, found completely in 

 the stomach was uninjured. These contradictions may 

 be taken as samples of the proofs (sic) and arguments 

 advanced to show that not only do clean salmon eat 

 and swallow food, but that this is the aim and object of 

 their onslaught on all living and moving life in fresh 

 water. Two totally dissimilar results of swallowing, or 

 attempting to swallow, food are advanced to prove this 

 theory, in neither case achieving the desired result. 



A fish will often seize another which is too large for 

 it to swallow. A fish so seized enters the throat of 

 its captor head first, and apparently sticks in that 

 position ; fish have been at times caught on a lure 

 in these circumstances. The head and shoulders 

 of the smaller fish, when it is removed from the larger 

 one, are either more or less reduced to a pulpy con- 

 dition, or at least show signs of decomposition, and it 



