ITS MARINE FOOD. 175 



hap-hazard affirmations, to throw light upon the still 

 unsettled question with respect to the food of salmon. 



Having thus briefly treated of the leading peculi- 

 arities which distinguish this fish, namely, its adapta- 

 tion equally to fresh and salt water, and the high 

 colour that characterises its fleshy particles, I may 

 now venture to unfold my own views on so speculative 

 a subject as the food of salmon. That it has, like many 

 other fishes, including even the vast and unwieldy 

 whale, the power of sustaining existence upon very 

 minute particles of food, I have no intention of ques- 

 tioning ; nay, that it is very possible for it to acquire 

 its bulk and delicate richness from aliment, to our 

 ideas so scant and precarious as marine animalculse, 

 cannot be denied ; still, before positively deciding the 

 matter, and leaping to a conclusion, the sole basis of 

 which is vague and fictitious, there can be no harm in 

 demanding one moment's investigation of those parts 

 in the structure of the fish, which are adapted by Pro- 

 vidence for the seizure and engulfment of its prey. 



The salmon, as is well known, is furnished with 

 strong jaws or mandibles a mouth somewhat capa- 

 cious, and armed, as well as the tongue, with sharp 

 teeth. It possesses moreover a broad gullet, capable of 

 passing at one gulp no inconsiderable quantity of 

 food. Provided with these powers and functions, it is 

 at least reasonable to suppose that the inclination to 

 use them is not withheld from their possessor. Were 

 it otherwise, there is evidently a flaw in the works of 

 Nature a breaking up of the harmony hitherto found 

 so consistent and universal throughout her multifarious 

 arrangements. To affirm that the powerful jaws, the 

 firm-set teeth, and the expansive throat of the salmon, 

 are, one and all, allotted it without the will to exercise 



