12 Appendices to Seventeenth Annual Report 



published report which seems to have attracted the greatest amount of 

 public notice, is that which refers to the habit which the salmon has of 

 ceasing to feed when in fresh water. A certain degree of misconception 

 seems to have arisen on this point, in two ways. Some who have dis- 

 cussed the matter have not understood that the salmon referred to are 

 those which have reached the adult stage, or have at least returned 

 from the sea after feeding heavily there. By others, what may be termed 

 the mere impulse to feed, or to seize objects somewhat similar to natural 

 food, has been confused with the habit of taking nourishment, a habit 

 which amongst salmon in fresh water is, in our country, practised only 

 by parr and smolts, and perhaps by not a few kelts, for we still 

 need much information about kelts, especially mended kelts. If 

 the impulse to seize objects, which by experience are known to be 

 attractive to salmon under certain conditions, were not present, we 

 should have no salmon angling. Many observers have remarked that 

 amongst salmon taken in fresh water none are to be found with food in 

 their stomachs. In 1872, for instance, Professor S. F. Baird, of the U.S. 

 Fish Commission, inserted a note in his report as follows (p. 371): — 

 " According to Dr. A. C. Hamlin, the examination of many hundred 

 salmon in the Bangor (Maine?) market revealed no kind of food, except- 

 ing in a single instance where two small fishes were discovered." The 

 statement, however is very general, inasmuch as we are not told where 

 the salmon were caught, or whether the two small fishes were of marine 

 or fiuviatile species. The thoroughly scientific discussion of the question, 

 both from the physiological and chemical aspects, and the proof that the 

 salmon, when seeking the fresh water with tissues charged with fat, 

 ceases to take nourishment, and speedily undergoes a change in its 

 digestive tract which renders it incapable of absorbing nourishment, 

 places the whole question on a different level. In all probability the 

 migratory salmonidaB of the American Continent have the same peculi- 

 arity ; indeed, the fruitlessness of angling for salmon in some rivers of 

 the Pacific Coast would seem to show that even the impulse to seize food 

 is deficient, but in this connection it is necessary to except the land- 

 locked salmon. This salmon, found also in some Scandinavian inland 

 waters, migrates only from rivers to great lakes, and does so even when 

 the passage to the sea is open to it. The eggs of S. scdar, which the 

 late Sir James Maitland hatched and reared at Howietoun in 1880-1884 

 "{vide Day's British and Irish Salmonida?, p. 102), and which successfully 

 spawned in December of the latter year, and the offspring of which 

 hatched out in February and March of 1885, form examples of artificially 

 fed and land-locked salmon. Yet just as Loch Leven and common 

 trout transported to New Zealand assume a migratory habit, so it would 

 appear that our present migratory species may under certain conditions 

 continue to exist exclusively in fresh water, and to feed there. 

 Marking of The marking of salmon by means of a small silver label attached to 

 Salmon. the dorsal fin has been continued. Labels have been sent or delivered 

 personally to the Spey (George Muirhead, Esq., factor to His Grace the 

 Duke of Richmond and Gordon, Fochabers), the Dee (Clerks to District 

 Board, Aberdeen), the Tay, upper and lower waters (H. W. Johnston, 

 Esq.. Dunros, and Mr. Lumsden, Superintendent of District, Perth), 

 the Brora (Mr. T. Trussler, Brora, through D. M'Lean, Esq., factor to 

 His Grace the Duke of Sutherland). In addition to this, 2000 labels 

 have been sent to E. W. L. Holt, Esq., who, in the interests of the 

 Royal Dublin Society, is working at the migrations of the salmon in 

 Ireland, and who has kindly offered to mark fish and transmit to me the 

 results which he obtains. The extension of the system of marking 

 secured by this arrangement will, it is hoped, benefit the salmon fisheries 

 of both Ireland and Scotland. Since the commencement of the marking 

 operations, 6000 labels have been distributed. 



