RESULTS OF SALMON MARKING 85 



In the former the increase is 4, in the latter 6|- lb., 

 and in each case the interval is thirteen months. 



Another record is from the Tay, but as the fish 

 was found dead, and the weight merely estimated, 

 the result — an increase of 3 lb. in exactly two years 

 — is not so valuable as otherwise would have been 

 the case. So far as it goes, however, the record 

 corresponds with the slight increase seen in the Brora 

 fish mentioned. The last record which I can mention 

 from Scotland is rather remarkable, since in a year 

 all but ten days the fish is reported as having 

 gained only ^ lb. in weight and nothing in length : — 



/13 lb. 38" Kelt Fem. Mar. 15, 1902 Loch Brora 

 ^^^^1,13^,, 38" Kelt Fem. Mar. 5,1903 Loch Brora 



All these fish are clearly annual spawners, and 

 since long period migrants are, in Scotland, in the 

 majority and remain in the sea, their recapture in 

 the kelt condition is less likely to occur. The small 

 increase even in annual spawners is sufiiciently re- 

 markable. There are no available records from 

 Ireland or England. 



With reofard to the manner in which kelts 

 descend to the sea, and more especially the time 

 they occupy in such descent, it may be useful 

 first to recall the experiences of a former super- 

 intendent of Tweed bailifis, as stated at p. 66 of 

 the Tweed Reports, 1866. Mitchell relates that in 

 1854 he marked in the Whitadder 206 bull-trout 

 kelts and took them down to the tideway at or near 

 Berwick Bridge. " Few, if any, of these went down 

 to the sea, as for many weeks after they were 



