32 THE SALMON FISHER. 



North America swarmed with various Salmonoid 

 fishes." Accordingly, at the close of this epoch, all 

 the streams and basins which had been subjected to 

 its influence were gouged out and destroyed and 

 their tenants summarily dispossessed. One direct 

 result was to drive the salmon into the sea. 



An English writer has very sagely remarked that 

 " the wider the knowledge possessed of salmon and 

 salmon rivers, tile less inclined the possessor of that 

 knowledge is to dogmatize on the applicability, all 

 round, of any particular fact relating to the habits, 

 the migrations, or the seasonableness of fish." It 

 may well be doubted if any one writer is qualified to 

 speak ex cathedra on the subject along its entire line ; 

 but inability results from a limited sphere of obser- 

 vation rather than the inaccessibility of facts. With- 

 out comparative data, observers are all at sixes and 

 sevens, for there is nothing constant in the life his- 

 tory of the salmon except his alternate visits to the 

 sea and river ; and these are liable to be disturbed 

 by a score of contributory causes, such as sudden 

 changes of temperature, storms, erratic movements 

 of small fish on which they feed, the raids of por- 



