33 
pulverized remains of several insects and larve. The 
salmon eggs came, of course, from the hook that caught 
it, but the insects it had doubtless picked up from the 
water in its usual manner of feeding. I must admit 
therefore that it is undeniable that food is taken by 
salmon in fresh water. It will be found on examination, 
however, in every instance where anything is discovered 
in the stomach of a salmon caught much above tide 
water, that the food is in very small quantities and com- 
posed of very small objects, such as would easily slip 
down a very smallthroat and enter a very small stomach, 
and satisfy only a very small appetite—not enough by 
any means to disprove the fact that the salmon might, 
if necessary, have lived without it, but enough never- 
theless to prove the fact that salmon do actually feed in 
fresh water. 
The truth is that the evidence compels us to admit 
both of these apparently conflicting facts, namely, that 
salmon can and do live for months in fresh water with- 
out food, and that they can and do feed during some of 
the time that they are in fresh water. These two facts © 
are not necessarily conflicting, however, though they 
may seem so at first. The writer’s own theory is that 
as soon as the salmon, coming from the sea, strike fresh 
water, their appetite begins to weaken, their throats 
begin to narrow, and their stomachs begin to shrink. 
This does not at first, however, entirely prevent them 
from feeding, but it changes them enough to enable 
them to overcome the temptation to return to their 
well-stocked feeding grounds in the salt ocean, and the 
longer they remain in fresh water the greater the changes 
become, and the temptation to turn back for food 
correspondingly less. There is probably no one specifi- 
ed time when an abrupt change comes which deprives 
them in an instant of their ability and their desire to 
feed, but in the writer’s opinion, the transformation 
comes on gradually, increasing constantly day by day 
