288 APPENDIX. 



up-stream face of this cage is simply a vertical row of 

 bars, so close together that they are impassable, save to 

 the smallest griles. Formerly the Scotch law insisted 

 that they should be set three inches apart, so that auy 

 fish under 8 lbs. or 10 lbs. in weight could pass through. 

 The old law of England also made fish of 6 lbs. or 7 lbs. 

 in many of the rivers undersized fish, which it was illegal 

 to take. The down-stream face of the cruive, through 

 which the salmon must pass first in its upward progress, 

 is made of two frames of bars, which are set so as to 

 slant inwards until they meet ; one of these frames works 

 loosely upon an upright spindle, so that when the salmon 

 presses against it, it opens and lets him through, but 

 closes behind him by the mere pressure of the stream. 

 The ground-plan of this trap will represent a square or 

 rather oblong figure, with a triangle cut out of the lower 

 face or base of it. 



Once in these traps, there is no escape for the poor 

 salmon : the landing-net and a knock on the head, with a 

 place on the icehouse floor, are his portion. The traps 

 are visited every niorning and evening by men with large 

 landing-nets, with which they are swept, and every fish 

 is lifted out. I have seen from a dozen to thirty fish 

 constantly taken in one of these cages at ordinary seasons, 

 and when there is a great run of salmon on, of course 

 the take is proportionably larger. 



The old laws of Scotland required that a certalln por- 

 tion of the weir in the centre of the river should always 

 be left open to the free passage of the fish. This was 

 called "the king's gap or share." They also enforced 



