THE FEEDING OF SALMON os 111 
with his important physiological investigations, and 
found food in only two male kelts. The food was 
believed to be, in the one case, the remains of a 
roach, and in the other the scales of a cyprinoid 
fish. In our country and also on the Atlantic 
coast of America, hundreds of salmon have been from 
time to time examined, and always with the same 
result. It is needless to dwell on this or to give 
references in detail, for several writers have already 
done so in recent publications. For details of the 
examination of the intestinal tract of such salmon, 
reference may be made to the report by Dr. Noél 
Paton and others, published by the Fishery Board 
for Scotland,* and to the writings of Dr. Kingston 
Barton. In the investigation of the stomach and 
intestine of salmon from fresh water, made by one 
of Dr. Noél Paton’s collaborators, a mistake was no 
doubt made owing to post-mortem changes having 
affected the tissues examined. From the patho- 
logical condition, thus unhappily accepted as normal, 
the inference was drawn that salmon were unable, 
when in fresh water, to absorb nourishment if any 
food were taken. Mr. W. Earl Hodgson in his book 
on “Salmon Fishing” says that the Fishery Board 
are committed to this desquamative catarrh theory. 
This is a little hard on the Fishery Board, and, 
moreover, is not quite accurate, since, after the 
error had been pointed out by Dr. Kingston Barton, 
sufficient acknowledgment was surely made in ask- 
ing the critic to continue the investigation and to 
* Report of Investigations on the Life History of the Salmon. 
1898, 
