SALMON. 15 



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 ex- 

 cavate 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. 



When the female first commences making her spawn- 

 ing bed, she generally comes after sunset, and goes off 

 in the morning : she works up the gravel with her snout, 

 her head pointing against the stream, as my fisherman 

 has clearly and unequivocally witnessed, and she arranges 

 the position of the loose gravel with her tail. When this 

 is done, the male makes his appearance in the evenings, 

 according to the usage of the female : he then remains 

 close by her, on the side on which the water is deepest. 

 WTien the female is in the act of emitting her ova, she 

 turns upon her side, with her face to the male, who never 

 moves. The female runs her snout into the gravel, and 

 forces herself under it as much as she possibly can, when 

 an attentive observer may see the red spawn coming 

 from her. The male in his turn lets his milt go over 

 the spawn ; and this process goes on for some days, more 



