INTRODUCTION. 



Perhaps it is unnecessary for me to offer any elaborate 

 excuse for coming forward with another book 

 about salmon. Of all the fish that fall victims to 

 our skill, salmon are the most interesting by reason 

 of their size, strength, and gameness, the difficulty 

 of their capture, and the romantic scenery of the 

 districts in which, during their periodical returns to 

 fresh water, we have to seek them. Nor, in view 

 of its gastronomic excellence, its rapid growth and 

 great fertility, will the economist cease to remind us 

 that the salmon is an important article of food, and 

 of great commercial value. Yet angler and economist 

 alike may fairly doubt whether our present salmon- 

 laws are " within measurable distance of" what they 



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