CHAPTER I 



SMOLTS 



Early ideas concerning smolts Rearing of smolts in 

 captivity Marine versus fresh water origin of the salmon 

 Hatching fry from smolt eggs British smolts descend 

 when two years old Marking of smolts Habits in migrating 

 to sea Autumn migrations Development of smolts in sea 

 Herr Dahl's capture of smolts in the sea off Norway 



THE Stormontfield experiments on the Tay, although 

 they at first gave new vigour to those who dis- 

 believed Shaw, ultimately, after the long dispute 

 described by Russel in his book on the salmon, be- 

 came a vindication of the Drumlaririg results and 

 a source of much additional information on the 

 growth and migrations of parr and smolts. Many 

 anglers of renown in the present day are puzzled to 

 tell a parr from a young trout. Yet, curiously 

 enough, the dispute never dragged the trout into its 

 vortex. The parr was either a young salmon or 

 a distinct species. Professor Grassi of Rome slew 

 the leptocephalus* idea without question. People did 



* Leptocephalus was long known as an interesting semi-transparent 

 little fish not uncommon in the Mediterranean. The investigations 

 of Professor Grassi into the deep-water fauna of the Straits of 

 Messina led to the discovery that this little fish was simply the 

 larval or post-larval stage of the common eel. 



A 



