American Fisheries Society 75 



pagation of rainbow trout, claiming that his Avater is not cold 

 enough to successfully rear speckled trout. 



The Salmon Question in France. 

 (From the London Field, Dec. 30, 1905.) 



In old times salmon were plentiful in Normandy, Brittany, 

 in all the streams of the basins of the Loire, Gironde, Adour, 

 except, strange to say, in the Ehone and its tributaries, where 

 the fish, so far as historical record goes, seems never to have ex- 

 isted. So late as the end of the fifteenth century salmon was 

 sold daily in the markets, fresh as well as smoked, and up to the 

 end of the eighteenth Fl-ench laborers stipulated (Just as, it has 

 been shown, apprentices in England did) that is should not be 

 given them for their dinner more than thrice a week. 



Unfortunately, these halcyon days are long gone by, and it 

 would be difficult to imagine anything more desperate than the 

 present destitution of these waters, which were formerly so 

 rich. Their decline is, no doubt, in part to be attributed to many 

 of the same causes that operate in the United Kingdom, and 

 among them may be mentioned the increase of the population, 

 the development of communications, and the progress of agricul- 

 ture and industry. There are, however, two other causes, special 

 to France onh' — the Inscription Maritime and the indifference 

 or neglect of Government and public powers. 



The Inscription Maritime is nothing more or less than the 

 national reserve of France for its combative and merchant navy. 

 It was established by Colbert in the time of Louis XIV, in order 

 to supply the fleets of his country with an adequate number of 

 sailors, and as the population of the coasts was not sufficient, 

 then, for the purpose, the astute minister conceived the idea of 

 adding a number of fresh-water fishermen to the regular seamen 

 of the littoral, men who lived not only on the estuaries, but also 

 on the banks of the rivers themselves, sometimes even a very long 

 distance inland. The system has been carefully maintained and 

 kept working ever since, especially under Napoleon I, and though 

 there is at present so great a surplus of "inscrits" that about 

 60,000 of them are never wanted, there is no likelihood that the 

 Government will ever think of suppressing or changing the meas- 



