436 Anniversary 



For myself, gentlemen — but with the distinct proviso that 

 I do not commit the members of our Club, either individually 

 or collectively, — for myself I do not hesitate to declare that 

 I confidently anticipate the speedy advent of the day when 

 those who now, so to speak, range about in the semi-ape-like 

 nudity of differentiated Man will be found "sitting at the 

 feet of Moses, clothed, and in their right mind !" 



THE SALMON DISEASE. 



An allusion to salmon, and to still unsolved problems in 

 local ichthyology in relation to the sea-going Salmonidce, 

 requires, I am sure, no apology in an address from a Presi- 

 dent of this Club. I can readily indicate, though I have not 

 time to eularge upon several points which arrest the curios- 

 ity of, and court investigation from the naturalist aa well as 

 the angler, and which have a commercial bearing also. For 

 instance, are grilse young salmon, or a distinct species ; how 

 long does it take for a salmon to arrive at maturity ; how 

 long do smolts stay in the sea ; what, exactly, are black- 

 tails — are they, as some allege, a separate species, if not, how 

 many sorts of fish do they represent, and specially, are there 

 any salmon blacktail among them ? 



Why salmon, instanced by the clean fish which in spring 

 afford sport'to the angler at Carham, Floors, and other well 

 known waters, quit the sea and ascend the river months 

 before they want to spawn, and whether they eat anything, 

 or subsist on their own fat only, until they have spawned ? 



But all such questions, on which much difference of opin- 

 ion prevails, sink into insignificance in view of the great 

 ichthyological problem of the day — the Salmon Disease — 

 which is so imperfectly understood, which has assumed such 

 alarming proportions, which is as bad or worse than ever in 

 the Tweed, and which is extending its baneful influence to 

 other waters besides our own. 



The salmon-disease, it is well-known, is produced by the 

 germination of the microscopic spores of the fungus, Sapro- 

 legnia ferax upon various parts of the fish, and their rapid 

 increase into a leprous-like fungoid growth, which gradually 



