APPENDIX. 107 



FOOD OF SALMON. 



"The salmon, as is well known, is furnished with 

 strong jaws or mandibles, a mouth somewhat capacious 

 and armed, as well as the tongue, with sharp teeth ; it pos- 

 sesses 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 sup- 

 pose that the inclination to use them is not withheld from 

 their possessor. The fact, however, and it is certainly a 

 singular one, that in few instances on record food of a 

 corresponding description has been discovered in the sto- 

 mach of the salmon proper, has led to the conviction on 

 the part of several naturalists, that it subsists almost en- 

 tirely on marine insects and ova, too minute for the naked 

 eye to distinguish. To get rid of this difficulty it has 

 been affirmed by some that the stomach of the fish acts 

 upon the food absorbed with a rapidity resembling that of 

 fire. Others again assert that the salmon is wont when 

 in danger of being captured with net or rod to disgorge 

 what it has swallowed, relieving itself by this process of 

 whatever might help to impair its speed or paralyse its 

 energies. I am not, however, I confess, disinclined to be- 

 lieve that a fish which engages discussion by the contra- 

 dictory appearances it presents, namely, that of being fur- 

 nished with voracious jaws and teeth, as well as an 

 expansive gullet, while the stomach is almost on every 

 occasion found void and inactive, must be possessed of 

 extraordinary resources ; nor am I altogether incredulous 

 in respect to what has been related of the power of the 

 digestive organs in some fishes, and the celerity with which 

 these consume the food entrusted to them. I have in my 

 possession two hooks, one an Irish tempered bait hook, 

 taken from the inside of a small trout ; the other a large 

 double gorge hook extracted from the stomach of a pike ; 

 both of which present the appearance of their having been 

 subjected to some powerful corrosion ; the state of the smaller 

 one along the shank has actually been reduced into a black 

 substance, which betwixt the pressure of finger and thumb 

 crumbles into powder, whereas the larger piece of wire 



