206 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



THE SALMON. 



Salmo solar : Linn^us. 



This magnificent fish has been the exalted theme of all 

 writers on angling, from the time of "Walton to the present. 

 It is said that two or three varieties of the true Salmon are 

 found on the eastern coast of America, while there are several 

 described as distinct species by Dr. Eichardson, in his 

 " Fauna Boreali- Americana," existing in the Arctic regions, 

 and as many more mentioned by Dr. George Suckley, U. S. A., 

 in his report upon the fishes of the Pacific coast. 



The economic value of the Salmon has been the cause of 

 much legislation in Great Britain and her American colo- 

 nies ; and its habits and manner of breeding, together with 

 the growth of its young, and its wonderful increase in size, 

 caused by periodical visits to the sea, have been the subject 

 of much discussion and voluminous essays amongst natu- 

 ralists and observers. 



As abundant as Salmon once were in the waters of the 

 United States, they are now only found in two or three of the 

 rivers of Maine, and these furnish but a small number to net- 

 fishers in tide- water: a few years more and they will be 

 known amongst us only by tradition and in books. Salmon 

 once abounded in all of our rivers from Maine to New York, 

 but, if we except a few stray Salmon which have been taken 

 in the Delaware, were never found south of the Hudson, not- 

 withstanding Mr. Thackeray, in his book " The Virginians," 

 makes General Braddock, "Washington, and Franklin dine on 

 Shad and Salmon at Lady "WarringtQn's table in lower "Vir- 

 ginia. 



