ON THE ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OP SALMON. 455 



being turned into the river ; fixed on a place in the river where the smolts 

 can be intercepted for tiie purpose of being taken out and marked. They 

 showed a decided tendency to go out, and from 28th April to the 24th of 

 May, the shoals went off daily from the ponds." 



It is supposed, as a fair estimate, that about 120,000 fry in all have left 

 the ponds in May 1856, and of those 1435 have been marked, being 300 

 with silver rings, and 11 35 by having the lower lobe of the tail cut diagonally 

 off. The return of some of those marked fish was anxiously watched for, and on 

 the 30th of July Mr. Buist writes to me, — " There has been a very large catch 

 of grilses, indeed in such numbers, that the people don't take care to examine 

 them. On 12th July we had a grilse of 3^ lbs. weight, with the lower fork 

 cut off the tail, such as we marked in April and May, and several who were 

 present at the marking of the smolts considered that it was one of them ; 

 another with the same mark was reported, but not produced to me." On the 7th 

 of August Mr, Buist again writes, — " Several grilse with cut tails have been 

 taken within the last week." Up to the time of the reading of this Report, 

 no fish marked with rings had been taken, but when the small number marked 

 is considered, this is not remarkable. The experiment of the first hatching 

 may now be said to be completed. The results have been satisfactory in two 

 waj's. In showing the practicability of hatching, rearing, and maintaining 

 in health a very large number of young fish for a period of two years, and 

 not reckoning the original expense of the ponds at a comparatively small cost; 

 it may be worthy of consideration, whether the " large catch " mentioned 

 by Mr. Buist as taking place this yeai', may not have been, in part at least, 

 due to the numbers that have been lately turned out. It has also been again 

 proved, we think without dispute, that the young fish turned out as smolts 

 return as grilses within a period of from five to ten weeks. Not so many 

 marked fish have been taken as could have been wished ; at the same time 

 there have been sufficient to establish this fact. 



We now come to the experiments of the present year, which have been 

 conducted as carefully as possible, and we hope to be able to report what 

 the final results may be at your next meeting ; and if there is a partial 

 migration before that time, or if a certain number of the fish now in confine- 

 ment take upon them the migratory dress, then we may assume that a similar 

 process takes place in the rivers, and that a, portion of the broods do seek the 

 sea, at the age of from twelve to fourteen months after they are hatched. In 

 conducting experiments of this kind, there are always attendant circumstances 

 not quite natural that we shall have to contend with ; and it may now be 

 urged, that the regular feeding during winter might bring the young fish 

 sooner to maturity, or on the other side of the question, that the confinement 

 of so many within a small compass might retard their growth. But on com- 

 paring the fish of the ponds with those in the rivers, we find a remarkable 

 similarity and agreement of the different stages, so far as we can judge of the 

 age of those in the rivers. If, on the other hand, we can by care, with good 

 and regular feeding during winter,^rce 07i, as it were, the young, or some por- 

 tion of them, to be in a fit state to migrate in twelve or thirteen months, it will 

 be a very great point gained in the object we have in view (the artificial 

 increase of the salmon), and it does not appear to us that this is impracti- 

 cable. 



In order to try over again the experiments we have just described as con- 

 cluded in May last, arrangements were made at Stormontfield to fill the boxes 

 Avith fresh impregnated spawn, and to take every care tliat this should be done 

 with exactness. The taking of the fish for spawning was commenced on the 

 22nd of November, and continued until the 1 9th of December, 1855; in that time 



