237 
of Edinburgh, Session 1878 - 79 . 
be free of disease on 20th January was a female, and was frozen 
over for twelve days — from 20th January to 2d February — during 
which period she had been attacked by the fungus, which had 
spread over her from head to tail. It is also worthy of remark that 
this fish had spawned while under the ice. Some of the ripe ova 
were found loose in the abdomen when I opened her for examina- 
tion, and from the fact that one of the males frozen over along with 
her was in a condition to impregnate the ova, thousands of them 
may have been fertilised. 
The fourth theory, that the kelts are diseased, and in conse- 
quence are first attacked by the fungus, and communicate it to the 
clean fish, I conceive to be no better founded than the theories 
of pollution, overcrowding, and absence of frost. In support of 
this opinion I quote from Mr Buckland’s report, page 11, a state- 
ment by Inspector John Nicholson of the Eden district, in which he 
says — “That the total number of fish buried by the police since the 
1st of March last is 1451. Between Armathwaite and Sandsfield 
there were buried 1271 salmon, 40 brandlings or parr, and 140 
fresh water trout ( Scdmo fario ), and in tidal waters of the river 
100 salmon. The greater part of the 1271 above mentioned salmon 
were clean fish, having every appearance of having died of the dis- 
ease so prevalent in the Eden at the time ; about 50 were found at 
the river side in a dying state, which were killed and buried. About 
200 were unclean salmon or kelts, which showed no symptoms of 
the disease ; the brandlings and trout were all diseased.” We have 
in this report evidence, and that on a large scale, that of the salmon 
buried by the police in the Carlisle district about 1000 affected with 
fungus disease were clean fish ; the 200 kelts were not affected by 
the disease. Again, since I began to investigate the fungus disease, 
I have received, either from the Tweed or the rivers draining into 
the Solway, 16 salmon, 9 of which were clean fish. The addled 
ova suggestion is scarcely worthy of notice. There is no evidence 
that a salmon redd has ever been seen in any river in a state of 
fungoid growth, or that the fungus, if so grown, is the Scijprolegnia 
ferax. Further, there is no evidence that the fungus which grows 
upon the carcases of dead kelts, which hitherto have been allowed 
to rot in the river, is the Scijprolegnia ferax. The statement that 
this form of disease has been known in the Tweed for fifty years, 
