138 THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



identified as one that had been marked when 

 young, we could then say with some truth what 

 the age of this actual fish was. But we know that 

 there is a great disparity as regards the rate at 

 which salmon grow. Some rivers, such as the 

 Tay, in which salmon of 40 lbs. weight are not un- 

 common, breed fish which have been known to 

 scale as high as 70 lbs., whilst very few salmon 

 in many rivers would attain the weight of 40 lbs., if 

 they lived to the age of Methuselah. The following 

 remarks on '' Salmon," given by Mr. Cholmondeley 

 Pennell, in the Badminton Library, page 141, in 

 reference to the smolts that were marked at the 

 Stormontfield ponds on their way to sea, and 

 captured on their return to fresh w^ater as grilse the 

 same year, illustrate the disparity in regard to the 

 rate at which the salmon of the same river grow : — 



