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- 

 beheved Shaw, ultimately, after the long dispute 

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

 came a vindication of the Drumlanrig 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 



* Leptoeephalus 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 



