THE ATLANTIC SALMON. 491 



ary and the first of June, mostly in April and May. These were, with- 

 out exception, poorer than when turned out. They had evidently not 

 been to their feeding-grounds, and had not even left the river. Twelve 

 of them were caught above Bucksport, and nine of them at Veazie, 

 above Bangor, 25 miles above Bucksport, at the head of the tide, and at 

 the foot of the first dam, which alone, it seems, had prevented their 

 ascending the river still higher. Only four out of the twenty had lost 

 the tags, and these retained the wire. Of nine that were weighed, one 

 had lost only eight ounces since November ; the others had lost from one 

 to two pounds. The males still retained the hook on the lower jaw, but it 

 was smaller than in the autumn ; the red spots on their sides, and the 

 oculated spots on their backs were a good deal faded, but still distinctly 

 visible; in their spermaries appeared to be the remains of last year's 

 milt. The females were almost as bright and silvery as when in prime 

 condition ; in almost every case, they carried in their abdomens a few 

 remaining eggs of the last litter, and in their ovaries appeared the germs 

 of the next litter already well established, though exceedingly small. 

 No food could be found in the stomachs of either sex. 



In the autumn of 1S74, no salmon were marked. In the spring of 1875, 

 the offers of reward for the return of marked salmon were renewed. 

 Any that could be returned at this time would have been absent for a 

 year and a half. We were partially successful. Eight salmon were 

 brought in and examined. They weighed from 16 to 24^ pounds, and 

 were from 34i to 40J inches long. There were four females, two males, 

 and two not determined. All were in prime condition. One of the fe- 

 males was placed alive in the pond, and yielded in the fall about 11,500 

 eggs. As explained above, the tag itself had fallen off, so that we could 

 not trace the individual salmon back to the record of liberation, but the 

 wire was still there, and proved beyond doubt that these were the sal- 

 mon liberated in November, 1873. In addition to these eight, there was 

 a large male, weighing 24 pounds, found among the salmon in the pond 

 at the spawning-season, making the whole number known to have been 

 caught nine. There were reports of others having been taken and sent 

 to market; and from the fact that a very close scrutiny was necessary 

 to detect the presence of the wire, I am quite confident that a good 

 many more were actually taken and escaped notice. However, enough 

 were caught to establish the fact of their return this season, the second 

 season since their liberation ; and as none did return in prime condition 

 or in breeding condition the first season, we may consider it pretty well 

 established that the Penobscot salmon enter the river to breed only 

 once in two years. 



This experiment will be renewed with the substitution of a platinum 

 tag for that of aluminum. 



