NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONW^E. 131 



milt over them. Whether these furrows are made conjointly 

 by both spawners, or by the female fish only, and whether the 

 snout or the tail is the organ used in the delving process, 

 have been disputed points amongst naturalists. From the con- 

 current testimony, however, of those who have had the best 

 opportunities of observation, it now appears certain that the 

 trenches are made by the tail of the female fish only, and that 

 the male takes no share whatever in the more laborious parts 

 of the domestic arrangements. The only extra-matrimonial 

 function that he performs consists in exerting an unwearied 

 vigilance to protect his seraglio from the invasion of rival males, 

 all of whom he assiduously endeavours to expel living, in 

 fact, in a perpetual state of active hostilities. 



These conflicts are incessant ; and it sometimes happens, 

 when a rival is either very fond or very fierce, that the domestic 

 supremacy is only to be maintained at the cost of a prolonged 

 and desperate fight. 



The weapon of attack in all these battles appears to be the 

 cartilaginous bone or excrescence on the point of the lower 

 jaw, which is used as a sort of battering ram, the fish, as de- 

 scribed by Mr. Walsh, rushing on open mouthed, and turning 

 on his side in striking. In the case of the male fish being 

 captured or killed, the female retires to the nearest large pool 

 in search of a fresh mate, with whom she returns and completes 

 the process of depositing her eggs. This she will repeat several 

 times if her partner ba removed ; and it is mentioned as a fact 

 by Mr. Young, in his evidence before a Committee of the House 

 of Commons, that nine male salmon in succession have thus 

 been killed from the side of a single female, who then brought 

 back with her, as companion, a large yellow trout. 



In consequence, we may suppose, of the arduous nature of 

 his military duties and reddish colour at this period, the term 

 'old soldier' is frequently used to designate the male salmon 

 after spawning ; and I recently examined an old soldier in 

 which the whole of the back and head was one mass of scars 

 and wounds. 



