BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 41 
Food of the Salmonidhs at sea,— A n article with this heading 
was published by Mr. W. Anderson Smith, in No. 1, Yol. I (January 15, 
1887) of the Journal of the National Fish Culture Association of En- 
gland, from which the following abstract is made: 
Most fishermen and naturalists know that salmon, while coming up 
the rivers of Great Britain for the purpose of spawning, do not as a rule 
seem to take food, while it is well known that the spawned fish are very 
voracious and do great injury among the young salmonoids which are 1 
struggling for existence. It would seem, therefore, that for such large 
and strong fish to recover after their return to the sea from their period 
of fasting and exertion they must reach feeding grounds of exceptional 
richness and extent. The Salmonidce cannot, as a class, be called insec- 
tivorous fish, like the herring or mackerel, and their onslaughts on the 
floating life of the sea of an invertebrate class are only makeshifts, in the 
absence of the more important food to which they must in reality mainly 
look. Now, careful observation and the gathering of facts indicate 
clearly that herring and their young are the food of salmon at sea. 
One of the most experienced fish-curers of Lewis (the largest island of 
the Hebrides) declares that in his experience salmon at sea feed upon 
young herring. Maclaine, of Lochbuy (Isle of Mull), says that once off 
Colonsay (one of the Hebrides) he came upon large fish leaping out of 
the water in their eagerness to seize their prey, and that these were 
found to be salmon chasing herring. On the west of Mull, salmon 
taken in the fresh water direct from the sea were found to be full to the 
mouth with young herring. Mr. John Anderson, of Denham Green 
(Edinburgh), after sixty years 7 experience in an extensive fish trade, 
says that the principal food of salmon is the herring and its fry, and 
that frequently several herring and a score of fry are found in a sal- 
mon’s stomach along with crustaceans. These and many other obser- 
vations go to corroborate the suggestion that herring are the great 
ocean food-supply of the salmon, and lead the Salmonidce to follow them 
to their haunts. It is certain, however, that a voracious fish will not 
confine itself to any single species of food; so it seems that salmon 
feed on sea-mice {Aphrodite) and various kinds of crustaceans. 
Sea-trout are somewhat different in character from the salmon. They 
feed voraciously, not only when coming in shore, but even in fresh 
water. These fish also are frequently taken with their stomachs full of 
young herring, while they are fond of sand-eels. It is also known that 
they eat cephalopods freely, as well as crustaceans and annelids. 
Use of boracic acid in the English fish TRADE.—The use of 
boracic acid seems to be bringing about a foreign competition in the 
fish trade that will make itself felt in the English markets. By its use 
Norwegian herring can be sold with profit in the English market as Yar- 
mouth or Scotch fish. Indeed, the tables of fish landed that the Board of 
Trade publish are made up to some extent by foreign fish. The present 
effect of Norwegian consignments has been so to reduce the price of 
