104 ' SALMONSALMON FISHERY. 



of giving strong electric shocks ; it appears that the seat of this 

 faculty is in a peculiar tissue, situate between the muscles and 

 the skin, and having the appearance of a fatty cellular structure. 

 This tish which inhabits the Senegal as well as the Nile, is 

 eighteen or twenty inches in length. The Arabs call it raasch, 

 which signifies thunder. 



22. The FAMILY OF SALMONIDES, of which the Salmons are the 

 type, are characterised by a scaly body, and a first dorsal fin 

 with soft rays, followed by a second which is small and adipose, 

 that is, formed of a fold of skin filled with fat, and without rays. 



23. The most interesting genus of this family, is that of the 

 Salmons, Sal-mo, which have the mouth more completely 

 armed with teeth than any other fish ; they are naturally 

 voracious, and ascend very far up rivers to deposit their eggs ; 

 their body is almost always spotted, and their flesh is much 

 esteemed 



24. The Common Salmon, Sahno salar is the largest species 

 of the genus ; its flesh is red, its body elongated, and flattened 

 laterally, and it often attains six feet in length. It is found in 

 great numbers in all the Arctic seas, whence it ascends rivers in 

 large shoals every spring. It swims with great rapidity, and can 

 clear at a leap, obstacles in its passage, twelve or fifteen feet in 

 height. When they fall in with a cave, or some other place 

 favourable for spawning, they deposit their eggs in a. hole in the 

 sand, and then permit themselves to be carried by the current to 

 the sea, where they go, to acquire strength to return again the 

 following year. Young salmons are therefore born in the rivers, 

 but their growth is rapid, and when they attain the size of about 

 twelve inches, they descend to the sea like the adults. 



25. The salmon fishery, in many countries, forms a very im- 

 portant branch of industry. In Norway, as many as 300 of these 

 fishes have been caught at a single cast of the net ; and in the 

 river Tweed as many as 700 ; the time selected for catching 

 them is when they ascend rivers to spawn, for after they have 

 deposited their eggs and are on their way to the sea, they are 

 lean, and their flesh is of little value. In general, this fishery is 

 conducted with nets stretched across the river, and so arranged, 

 that the salmons are caught in the meshes : but sometimes, in 

 Scotland, for example, they are taken with a spear or harpoon. 

 They are also caught with a hook and line. 



22. What are the characters of the family of Salmonides? 



23. What are the general characters of tlie genus of Salmons ? 



24. What are the characters of the common Salmon? What are its habits ? 



25. What is the mode of catching Salmon ? 



