THE SCALES OF THE SALMON ID^E 263 



sea. Fish become discoloured in the estuary and while 

 waiting for a chance to run up stream. They become dis- 

 coloured when they have run up stream, and from whence 

 they often drop back to the estuary or to the sea itself, 

 and both the discoloured fish which have dropped back to 

 the estuary water or to the sea, and those which have 

 acquired their discoloration only in the estuary water will 

 take the first, and very often the same opportunity of 

 running up their river as will the fresh run fish coming in 

 directly from the sea. 



I am afraid that it really comes to this that a salmon, 

 however little it may be discoloured when taken on a 

 coast line, or even at some distance from fresh water, 

 cannot clear itself from the suspicion of having previously 

 been philandering up some of the adjacent rivers, and of 

 having become discoloured in these waters. 



In addition to scale evidence, the ventral organs the 

 porus genitalis will within a certain period, after the ova 

 has been shed, bear evidence as to the shedding, but not as 

 to the circumstances connected with the occurrence. 



Scale markings will undoubtedly be more or less defined 

 in proportion to the time the fish has been in fresh water, 

 and therefore it is not likely that any two salmon would 

 exhibit the same amount of decrepitation. 



Decrepitation will, to a very great extent, occur after 

 spawning or the passing of the ova has actually taken 

 place, as the fish certainly do not perish at once, and sub- 

 sequently frequently exist for some time in the river, in a 

 weak and emaciated condition ; therefore the decrepitation 

 of their scales would naturally still be going on. 



This important fact cannot be disproved, but unfor- 

 tunately it again weakens the contention of those who 

 maintain that there is a distinct spawning mark always 

 recognizable on fish which have spawned and by spawning 



