THE SALMON FISHEK. 49 



tinually, but capriciously here a little and there a 

 little pettish, fastidious, ravenous and indisposed 

 by turns, while the soft and pulpy character of their 

 food enables them to digest it almost as soon as 

 swallowed. It would be inexplicable, indeed, if sal- 

 mon alone of all creatures, were not required by 

 nature to fortify and strengthen themselves for the 

 supremest act of physical existence. Physiology 

 "will easily explain why the distended ovaries, press- 

 ing upon the stomach and intestines, will not permit 

 the introduction of food except in very limited quan- 

 tities, and the most delicate kinds at that. In this 

 crisis the sandworm becomes a most important factor 

 in the economy of the seashore and salmon river. 

 His pulpy body dissolves in the stomach of the sal- 

 mon like starch or glucose. Dr. P. Pancritius, of 

 Germany, has described the chemistry of digestion 

 in fishes in the most intelligent way, in Bulletin No. 

 10 of the U. S. Fish Commission. 



Keferring again to the important part which anne- 

 lids or sandworms bear in ichthyc economy, it may 

 be stated that salmon are more apt to feed at night 

 than in the daytime, because the annelids are in the 



