CHAP, in.] STATISTICS OF STOEMONTFIELD. 109 



the 20th April and 24th May 1856. Of the smolts that then 

 left the ponds, 300 were marked with rings, and 800 with 

 cuts in the tail. Many grilses having the mark on the tail 

 were re-taken, but none of those marked with the ring. The 

 smolts from the hatching of 1856 left the pond in April 1857. 

 About 270 were marked with silver rings inserted into the 

 fleshy part of the tail ; about 1700 with a small hole in 

 the gill-cover ; and about 600 with the dead fin cut off in 

 addition to the mark in the gill-cover. Several grilses with 

 the mark on the gill and tail were caught and reported, but 

 no fish marked with the ring. The fourth spawning took 

 place between the 12th November and the 2d December 1857, 

 when 150,000 ova were deposited in the boxes. These came 

 to life in March 1858. Of the smolts produced from the 

 previous hatching, which left the pond in 1858, 25 were 

 marked with a silver ring behind the dead fin, and 50 with 

 gilt copper wire. Very few of this exodus were reported as 

 being caught. The smolts produced from the hatching of 

 1858 left the pond in April 1859, and 506 of them were 

 marked. The fifth spawning, from 15th November to 13th 

 December 1859, produced 250,000 ova, which were hatched 

 in April 1860. Of the smolts that left in 1860, 670 were 

 marked, and a good many of them were reported as having 

 been caught on their return from the sea. The smolts of the 

 hatching of 1860 left the pond in May 1861, but none of 

 them were marked.* The number of eggs deposited in the 



* As I assisted personally at the exodus of 1861, 1 subjoin a brief 

 report of what took place from the Perth Courier : 



" On Saturday last, Mr. Buist, accompanied by Mr. Bertram of 

 Edinburgh and other gentlemen, visited the ponds of Stormontfield, for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the state of the fish and giving instructions 

 as to the liberation of the smolts. For eight days past the keeper had 

 observed strong indications of a desire for freedom on the part of a con- 

 siderable proportion of his finny wards, and numbers had gone into the 

 runlet which leads to the reservoir bv the side of the river where the 



