248 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



states that : " When the fish has reached a certain stage 

 in the kelt state, the hook gradually loosens at what seems 

 on examination to be a kind of joint, just where the point 

 of the nose should be in the fish. A slight tap when it 

 has arrived at this state, or slight pressure on the gravel, 

 will dislodge it. I have dislodged many." 



It has been noticed that at times female salmon have 

 developed a kype. Why should they not? The same 

 thing occurs in other divisions of the animal kingdom, 

 either from age, or injury, or absence of the reproductory 

 organs. The female pheasant has often been found to put 

 on some of the plumage of the male, and other birds the 

 same. Hinds have been known to have horns ; women, 

 beards and whiskers. 



Mr. Harvie Brown (Zoologist, May 1886) says that he 

 and his friend, when fishing a river in Ross-shire, killed 

 two fish having a horny projection, both of them having 

 well-developed ova in them. 



It is now, we believe, fully proved that there is an 

 autumn migration of smolts ; if so, do these fish return in 

 the spring as grilse, or do they remain in the sea over the 

 year? 



The salmon smolt on returning to the fresh water has 

 passed into the third or grilse state, and is then known as 

 a grilse. Most of these fish run up from the salt water in 

 the months of June, July, August, and September. The 

 organs of reproduction are fully developed in both sexes ; 

 indeed, in the male this organ is found in the parr state to 

 be perfectly capable of performing its functions. 



There are still some persons who assert that the grilse 

 never becomes a salmon, and that it is a distinct species. 

 In 1863 a Committee of the Commissioners of the River 

 Tweed Fisheries reported that, in their opinion, from the 

 experience of the last twenty years, " a grilse never becomes 

 a salmon at any stage whatsoever ; " but three years later 

 viz., in 1866 the Commissioners published another 

 report, and out of nineteen persons well acquainted with 

 the river who were examined, only five stated that in their 

 opinion a grilse never became a salmon. Two of the five 



