10 



Appendices to Fifteenth Annual Report 



(c) Bacteriology of the stomach and intestine. By Dr Gillespie. 



(d) Changes in the weight, weight of muscle, ovary, and testes. By 

 Drs Noel Paton and Dunlop. 



Second. Chemical changes in the organs of salmon throughout the 

 season. 



(a) Changes in the solids. By Dr Noel Paton. 



(b) Changes in the albuminous constituents. By Dr Dunlop. 



(b*) Nature of these constituents. By Drs Boyd, Noel Paton, and 

 Greig. 



(c) Changes in the fats and allied bodies — 



1. Chemical. By Dr Noel Paton. 



2. Microscopic. By Mr Mahalanobis. 



(d) Changes in the phosphorus compounds. By Drs Johnston and 



Noel Paton. 



(e) Changes in the iron. By Dr Greig. 



(/) Pigments of the salmon. By Miss Newbiggin. 



These investigations, it may be mentioned, form part of a series which 

 are being conducted with a view of ascertaining the value for breeding 

 purposes of salmon entering the rivers at different seasons of the year. 

 The results obtained from the completed portion of Dr Noel Paton's in- 

 vestigations, some of which I have had the pleasure of discussing with 

 him, seem to be of the greatest interest, and will throw much additional 

 light on this important problem. 



The investigations already recorded in the Appendices to Part II. of 

 the previous Reports of the Board establish the following points : — 



1st. That some salmon spawn annually, although there is strong 

 negative evidence that all do not do so (Eleventh Annual Report, p. 68). 



2nd. That the growth of the ovaries has already begun in so-called 

 ' spring' salmon which ascend some rivers in the earliest months of the 

 year, and that it proceeds with almost mathematical regularity until 

 maturity is reached (Fourteenth Annual Report, p. 15). 



3rd. That the growth of the ovaries of female grilse begins at a later 

 date than that of female salmon, but that both arrive at the sexually ripe 

 condition at about the same time (Fourteenth Annual Report, p. 21). 



4th. That the weight of the genitalia bears approximately the same 

 proportion to the weight of the body in large as in small female salmon 

 (Fourteenth Annual Report, p. 11). 



5th. That salmon which remain in the sea to the end of August con- 

 tinue to feed : this is shown by the presence of food in the stomachs of 

 some salmon, and by an absence up to that time of any diminution in 

 weight of the remaining organs of the body, notwithstanding the growth 

 of the ovaries (Fourteenth Annual Report, p. 29). 



Evidence with regard to the growth and migration of salmon is still 

 very incomplete, but, as far as it has been collected, it shows (1) that a 

 grilse may become a salmon of 25 to 30 lbs. in three and a half years 

 (Eleventh Annual Report, p. 69) ; and (2) that salmon are caught on the 

 sea coast at a considerable distance from rivers where they were marked 

 (Eleventh Annual Report, p. 70). 



With regard to salmon disease it has been shown that, in the earlier 

 months of the epidemic, males succumb in greater numbers than females 

 (Eleventh Annual Report, p. 74). 

 Royal In 1895 a Royal Commission was appointed ' to inquire into the salmon 



Commission ' and fresh water fisheries of the river and mouth or entrance of the river 

 Tweed and < rp weec ^ including the tributaries of that river, and all the portion of 

 ' the sea comprised within the area of the present Tweed Acts, and the 



