50 Life and Love. 



So great is the fatigue of the salmon that go long 

 distances, and so destructive the changes under- 

 gone by the too powerfully affected male, that few 

 of the latter survive the ordeal. 



Like certain of the insects, a brief season of in- 

 tense love is followed by speedy death. 



The salmon that stay near the sea survive the 

 reproductive act, though they are much depleted 

 by it, and both sexes are for a time rendered unfit 

 for food, so great is the loss they imdergo. 



The spawning season over, if they survive the 

 crisis, the fish regain appetite, and in time are 

 plump and oily again, — a condition which vora- 

 cious man renders almost as fatal to them as is that 

 of the breeding season. 



The depletion of the fish is chiefly due to the 

 vast amount of reproductive material it elaborates. 

 Its condition in life is such that there is great 

 waste of this material, only a comparatively small 

 portion living and developing to maturity. 



The fish drops her eggs into the water, the male 

 covers them with the fertilizing fluid, and they arc 

 left, tender atoms of life, to meet and overcome 

 incredible perils. 



Unprotected, the eggs, and even the young fish, 

 fall a prey to other creatures, for very few fishes 

 protect their offspring. 



Some do; the graceful stickleback, for instance, 

 builds a dainty and elaborate nest, but most fishes 

 pay no attention to the eggs after having laid them 



