BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 
L 
SALMON. 
WirH all our practical and scientific means of in- 
vestigation, it is strange how much remains to be 
known about the salmon. There are certain phases 
of its life-history which are as yet a mystery, and 
which the closest scrutiny has not enabled us to 
unravel. Its food, its migrations, its spawning, 
its very appearance vary in different rivers, though 
peculiar local conditions doubtless account for 
much of the confusion which now exists. There 
is one fact in connection with the species which 
is placed outside the range of controversy, and 
which ought to prove valuable in the future. 
It is now definitely known that in the great 
majority of cases salmon return to spawn in the 
river where they were bred. What it is that 
enables a fresh-run fish to do this is not clearly 
~ known, though Buckland in his life was strongly 
B 
