of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
19 
follows : — Fochabers, one man ; beat — Speymouth to Boat of Brig. Rothes, 
one man ; beat— Boat of Brig to Craigellachie. Dufftown, one man ; beat — 
Piddich from Newton to top, and the Dullan stream. Aberlour, one man and 
Superintendent; beat — Spey from Bridge of Callie to Craigellachie, and Fiddich 
to Bridge of Newton. Ad vie, one man; beat- -Spey from Bridge of Callie to 
Dalvey, and Lower Avon to Tonmiore. Glenlivet, one man; beat— Livet and 
centre of Avon. Lynagarrie, one man; beat — Upper Avon, Conglass, and 
Lochy. Grantown, the Inspector; beat— Spey from Dalvey to Dulnain. 
Duthil, one man; beat — Dulnain, Nethy, and Spey from Dulnain mouth to 
Aviemore. Kingussie, one man; beat — Spey about and beyond Newtonmore, 
Fcsbie, and Tromie. Crathie, Lagan, one man; beat— Truim, and Spey from 
Ti'uim mouth to Loch Spey. Twelve dozen of printed notices, cautioning 
persons against taking or killing smolts or the young of salmon, were posted 
up at conspicuous places along the sides of the Spey and tributaries over the 
whole district. The constable at Fochabers was an extra man to the usual 
force. This district was formerly left unwatched, and large numbers of smolts 
were being killed by anglers. The time that the smolt watchers were on duty 
was six weeks, nine of them going on duty on 22nd April, and leaving off duty 
on 1st June ; two of them going on duty on 29th April, and coming off duty on 
8th June. 
There was a good appearance of descending smolts over the whole district, 
and there were no difficulties met with on the part of the bailiffs in getting 
anglers to use caution against killing the smolts. 
V. — Disease among Fish. 
With the exception of the Fiddich, there was not more than the usual 
amount of fungoid disease observable among the salmon during the winter or 
late spawning season. On the Fiddich, however, the disease was very preva- 
lent, and from the said stream there was a very heavy ' death rate.' From 8th 
December 1888 till 8th February 1889 (two months), between the mouth of 
Fiddich and Dufftown, 4J miles, no fewer than 134 dead fungoid diseased 
salmon were removed from the water and buried by the bailiffs. Some of 
these fish had not even commenced to spawn, others were half spawned, and 
some — the most part — were fully spawned. The disease generally commences 
to show itself about the middle of December among the late spawning fish, and 
is more confined to large, heavy old fish which remain about old spawning beds 
for a considerable time after their having spawned, than in young salmon and 
grilse. The first appearance or symptom of the disease on the affected fish is 
the appearance of one or more small white spots along the back. The spots 
grow more numerous and larger in size as the disease advances, and they begin 
to lie in still ebb water at the edge of the river, and become very timid. 
When they are in this stage it is sometimes the case that their head and eyes 
are covered with the spots, making them blind on one eye, and sometimes upon 
both eyes, and they will be found lying in so shallow ebb water that little 
more than their noses are below water, and they will allow you to go up to 
them and carry them out of the water. They are certain to die in a few clays 
when they are thus far gone with the disease, and instead of allowing them to 
lie in the water in this state and attract public attention, the bailiffs are in- 
structed to remove, kill, and bury them. Ninety per cent, of the fish that 
take the disease are males. The white spots that appear on their bodies are of 
a soft adhesive nature, and vary in size, beginning about the size of a three- 
penny piece, and extending to that of a penny piece. It will rub off quite 
easily with the point of the finger, andwhen off does not seem to have pene- 
trated much further than the depth of the skin. It is, however, when the 
disease enters the gills of the fish that the fatal effect takes place. As soon as 
this organ shows signs of disease it becomes a disordered mass, causing death 
in a very short period. Concerning the disease on the Fiddich last year, as 
mentioned above, the disease spread very rapidly, and many of the fish found 
dead had (with the exception of the gills) scarcely any spots or marks of the 
disease over their bodies, and in some cases died on their spawning beds, which 
proved that it could not have been more than from one to three days previous 
that they had pushed their way up the stream from the Spey healthy fish. 
The Fiddich during last spawning season remained very small in size, coupled 
with this being the fact that the water of the stream runs through and over a 
