THE SALMON. 249 



gave their reasons. One was, that a kelt grilse marked in 

 March or April was recaptured in the month of August a 

 clean grilse ; and Mr. G. Smith gave as his reason, " that 

 he had never seen a marked grilse kelt return but as a 

 grilse. The bones, . scales, vertebrae, teeth, &c., of the 

 grilse kelt are in general fully developed, while those of 

 the spring salmon all denote youth, or those of young if 

 not virgin fish." 



Mr. Anderson, of Edinburgh, states also that a grilse 

 never becomes a salmon. He says, in a letter addressed 

 to the Leeds Mercury, " I have proven grilse a distinct 

 species. The salmon and grilse have two distinguishing 

 marks when only I Ib. weight and up to 25 Ibs. ; of salmon, 

 to 80 Ibs. Salmon has a crescent-shaped tail and an oval 

 scale, and the grilse a mackerel-shaped tail and a diamond 

 scale. And another proof; we have salmon in January in 

 our rivers I Ib. and 2 Ibs. weight, as well as salmon up to 

 80 Ibs. ; while the grilse never appear in our rivers till 

 May, and these I Ib. to 2 Ibs., and the following year we 

 find them 20 Ibs. to 25 Ibs. But the fishermen obtain a 

 little more money in some quarters for salmon than grilse ; 

 all above 14 Ibs. are called salmon." 



We are afraid Mr. Anderson's so-called proofs will 

 not satisfy many people. One fact is more conclusive 

 than any amount of assertions, and when it has been 

 over and over again proved by marking fish that most 

 of the grilse return to the rivers the next year as 

 salmon, diamond scales and mackerel-shaped tails go for 

 very little. 



Mr. Brown (" Stormontfeld Experiments ") thinks that 

 all the smolts of one year do not return the same year as 

 grilse, the one-half returning next spring and summer as 

 small salmon. 



Day says : " It is very remarkable that grilse do not 

 commence ascending until two or three months subsequent 

 to the descent of smolts, whereas, had they been upwards 

 of a year in the sea, it would appear strange why some 

 few at least had not put in an appearance, this invariable 



