THE SCALES OF THE SALMON ID^E 279 



No information is given in Mr. Menzies' report as to the 

 part of the river in which the fifty-five salmon were caught 

 in 1913, but we may assume they were taken at the mouth 

 of the river. There is absolutely no evidence that a single 

 one of these fish had ever spawned in a natural manner, 

 that is during sexual excitement, and there is not even any 

 evidence that any one of them had ascended the more rapid 

 portion of the river to their spawning beds, and though we 

 know that every season some salmon must be successful in 

 ascending and spawning, there is no evidence to prove that 

 any of them were among those whose scales were examined 

 by Mr. Menzies, i.e., that any of those which were successful 

 survived the act of spawning. 



In answer to a question of mine, Mr. Gathorne-Hardy 

 has been kind enough to supplement the extract just given 

 as follows : 



" But I know that the fish run up to the rapids at 

 the top, and to the tributary, to spawn, and that 

 they ascend during a spate. They do not spawn in 

 the sluggish part." 



Such a report, however, as that made by Mr. Menzies, 

 tends to confirm the supposition that salmon repeat the 

 operation of spawning, and is used for this purpose by those 

 who believe that salmon spawn two or three times. 



There has not been, so far as I can gather up to the 

 present, any definite and conclusive proof that salmon do 

 spawn more than once, and until such evidence is produced, 

 I consider it safer to believe that the repetition of these 

 so-called " spawning marks " found more or less on the scales 

 of salmon will depend to a considerable extent on the 

 characteristics of the rivers themselves, and that where the 

 river partakes of the nature of the Add the spawning 

 marks will be found to be frequently recurrent. My reasons 

 for thinking this are as follows : 



