180 ANOTHER VIEW 



is that this particular salmon had been some little 

 time in fresh water; that either during that time or 

 after it left salt water it had swallowed a parr, which when 

 hooked it had endeavoured to discharge ; but, owing 

 to the fact that its jaws were firmly held together by 

 the triangle, the parr could not pass between them 

 altogether a remarkably strong argument in favour 

 of the assumption that salmon do at times take food, 

 swallow it, and partly digest it, while in fresh water. 



ANOTHER VIEW OF THIS EVIDENCE 



On the other hand, it may be argued that all fresh-run 

 salmon do not have lice on them ; that owing to a spate 

 on which the salmon may have "run " this parr may 

 have been taken near, if not in, salt water ; and that, 

 owing to the entrance of the salmon into fresh water im- 

 mediately afterwards, the gastric glands of the stomach 

 had begun to cease their work, and consequently the 

 parr was still in an undigested state when the salmon 

 was caught by Mr. Naylor, forty miles from the mouth 

 of the river. In " Fishing," which is a beautifully illus- 

 trated work published by Country Life, and edited by 

 Horace C. Hutchinson, Dr. Kingston Barton asserts that 

 " he has conclusively proved that the digestive organs 

 of salmon taken by rod and line, and examined by 

 himself, are in their normal condition." This is un- 

 doubtedly most interesting evidence, but there is a very 

 prevalent opinion among fishing men that the intes- 

 tines, the entrance to and the stomach itself contract, 



