THE SALMON 15 



Tweed, it is sometimes called a "soldier." The 

 under jaw also becomes longer, and a cartilaginous 

 substance grows from the point of it, and extends 

 upwards till it buries itself in the nose above. In 

 this state the fish is very thin in the back, and 

 altogether much wasted ; but its flesh is sometimes 

 eatable, and at any rate infinitely superior to that of 

 a fish which has newly spawned. The female, when 

 ready to spawn, is dark in colour, and her flesh is 

 soft and worthless. 



Salmon are led by instinct to select such places 

 for depositing their spawn as are the least likely to 

 be affected by the floods. These are the broad 

 parts of the river, where the water runs swift and 

 shallow, and has a free passage over an even bed. 

 Here they either select an old spawning place, a 

 sort of trough left in the channel, or form a 

 fresh one. They are not fond of working in new 

 loose channels, which would be liable to be 

 removed by a slight flood, to the. destruction of 

 their spawn. The spawning bed is made by the 

 female. Some have fancied that the elongation 

 of the lower jaw in the male, which is somewhat 

 in the form of a crook, is designed by nature to 

 enable him to excavate the spawning trough. 

 Certainly it is difficult to divine what may be the 

 use of this very ugly excrescence ; but observation 

 has proved that this idea is a fallacy, and that the 

 male never assists in making the spawning place ; 

 and indeed, if he did so, he could not possibly 

 make use of the elongation in question for that 

 purpose, which springs from the lower jaw, and 

 bends inwards towards the throat. 



