THE SCALES OF THE SALMONIM) 265 



expected in any after season to again attempt to carry out 

 their life's work. If salmon were intended for a recurrent 

 act of spawning, I take it that in those rivers easy of access 

 such as the Wye, more so-called double and treble spawners 

 would be taken. But it will be found that it is on 

 the scales of the salmon belonging to the rivers which are 

 the most difficult to ascend that the greater number of the 

 so-called spawning marks will found to be recurrent. 

 (See Mr. Menzie's report on the Add Salmon, see p. 275-1:76.) 



THE RESPECTIVE INFLUENCES OF SALT AND FRESH 

 WATER ON SALMON 



At no time in its life is the salmon in such good condition 

 as during its sojourn in salt water, but this condition begins 

 to alter directly it enters the estuary or the waters of the 

 river up which it wishes to run, and the longer its stay there 

 the greater will be the attendant change in its appearance. 

 It neither feeds nor grows, neither retains nor recovers its best 

 condition while in fresh water. It is not in every river that 

 any number of so-called well mended kelts are to be found. 



If it were possible for salmon to remain in fresh water, 

 their scales would possibly lose their resiliency, and, becom- 

 ing more pliable, would be absorbed in the epidermis, and 

 the colouring of the fish would gradually assume character- 

 istic markings such as those which are common to the skin 

 of fish like the Ouananiche,* the Huchen, etc. 



The bodies of salmon parr and trout are wanting in cal- 

 careous substance, more so perhaps than any other forms 

 of the teleostei, and it is not until the salmon reaches the 

 sea that Nature provides calcareous matter in sufficient 



* This fish is supposed to be descended from land-locked salmon, but it has 

 not yet been proved that a true salmon will continue to breed if prevented 

 from visiting salt water. Like the Huchen of Eastern Europe, it is possible 

 that these fish are descendants of a hybrid between a salmon and some other 

 fish. It has been proved that certain of the hybrids of salmon can live, 

 flourish and breed without a visit to salt water. 



