THE SALMON FAMILY. 287 



Of the habits and food of the Salmon in its various 

 stages whilst in the sea we know little. In his evidence 

 before the Select Committee of the House of Lords in 

 I860, Professor Quekett stated it as his opinion that Sal- 

 mon travel some distance along the coasts, and probably 

 into deep water, in search of the ova of the Echinus or Sea 

 Urchin a species commonly inhabiting a depth of not 

 less than from 6 to 20 fathoms. Professor Huxley dis- 

 agreed with this view as regards the nature of the food, 

 and believed that it consisted chiefly of a numerous class 

 of small creatures* found in semisolid masses upon the 

 surface frequently of deep water in fact, that the Salmon 

 swims in a species of animal-soup, in which it has merely 

 to open its mouth and swallow what enters it. Dr. Knox 

 was of opinion that the food consisted of the ova of various 

 kinds of Echinodermata (Star- fish, Sea Urchins, Encrinites, 

 &c.) and some of the Crustacea (Crab and Lobster family). 

 Faber, in his ' Natural History of the Fish of Ireland/ says, 

 " The common Salmon feeds on small fishes and various 

 small marine animals." Dr. Fleming and several other 

 naturalists have observed upon their partiality for the 

 Sand-eel or Sand-launce a fact which is confirmed by Sir 

 John Richardson, who states that he has himself taken 

 this fish from their stomach. Sir William Jardine also 

 says that in the north of Sutherland a mode of salmon- 

 fishing is successfully practised in the firths with Sand-eels 

 attached to a buoy or bladder and allowed to float with 

 * Entomostracous Crustacea. 



