46 ANGLING 



and the salmo is the full-grown fish. A recent writer 

 on the subject says — 



" It is pretty certain that the ancients knew some members of 

 the salmon family ; as to that prince of river fish, however, 

 salmon — the glory and representative of this large fanuly — the 

 Greeks have left us no extant proof that they were at all ac- 

 quainted with it; and though we know that many of their treatises 

 on fish, wherein mention of the salmon might have occurred, 

 have not come down to us, we can hardly imagine such a noble 

 species, if at all known in Greece, should by any possibility have 

 escaped alike the notice of Aristotle, and of the host of 

 diepnosaphist fish fanciers, quoted in Athenseus. Among the 

 Latins, Pliny is the only author who makes a cursory mention of 

 the salar, and he does not speak of it as an Italian fish, but as 

 frequenting the rivers Dordogne and Garonne, in Aquitaine. It 

 was thus, before the days of ' Kippes,' plainly out of the reach of 

 the luxurious Romans, whatever favourable reports they may 

 have received of its merits from passing tourists." ' 



The natural history of the salmon is still wrapped in 

 considerable mystery, though successful attempts have, 

 within the last ten years, been made in clearing up 

 some important facts connected with their migratory 

 habits, modes of propagation, and ratio of growth. 

 They resemble in their movements some of the feathered 

 creation, such as the swallow, for example. Salmon 

 have a strong inclination to return to their last year's 

 quarters, but are often diverted from their course by 

 any slight alterations in the course of the river, or any 

 new obstacle, as buildings, dams, etc., placed across 

 their path. In the history of the salmon-fisheries in 

 Great Britain, many curious facts are recorded about 

 them as to these particulars. Although a northern fish, 

 and abounding in high latitudes in great profusion, yet 

 naturalists tell us that they are not partial to a very 

 cold stream, but prefer that one whose waters are 

 warmer, and where the rays of the sun have free access 

 to it. 



"There are two rivers in Sutherlandshire," says Sir WUliam 

 Jardine, "one, the Oikel, rising in a small Alpine lake; the 

 other, the Shin, a tributary about five miles from its mouth, 

 coming out of Loch Shin, a large and deep lake connected with 



' Fraser's Magazine, December 1852. 



