12 THE HABITS AND HAUNTS OF FISH. 



that salmon are to be annually seen for weeks and 

 even months vainly trying to ascend an obstruction, 

 known to be an effectual bar to their upward progress, 

 until finally they deposit their spawn at the point 

 where the passage is arrested, whether suitable or not 

 Salmon leap to a great height to surmount a cascade 

 or perpendicular fall, but the long slanting weirs are 

 not to be stemmed when they exceed a given length 

 and angle. 



But to return. * The Tame is now polluted to 

 such an extent that even pike fail of late to flourish 

 in it. The main river, too, is now also polluted so 

 as to admit only of the presence of fresh run migra- 

 tory fish when flooded by its tributaries. Thus, out 

 of 575 miles of water only a very few can be acces- 

 sible to the salmon as spawning ground. It will, 

 therefore be seen that, taking the noble Trent 

 as a type, salmon in English waters, unless more 

 urgently looked to by the district conservators and 

 other responsible bodies, will soon be a thing of the 

 past. 



The fungoid disease, named as the third cause of 

 the falling off of the product of salmon in our 

 largest and most important rivers, is most disastrous 

 in its results, and when it attacks the fish in the spring 

 or early summer months its depredations are great. 

 Owing to the circumstance of its being unknown to 

 salt water, the gradual growth of fungus over the 

 fish is speedily arrested, and finally cleansed away 



* This has been corroborated by the evidence given at a recent 

 inquiry instigated by the Trent Fishery Board of Conservators. 



