316 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING. 



EOYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBUEGH. 



January 9th, 1843. — The following communications were 

 read : — 



1. " On the Growth of the Salmon," by Mr. John Young, 

 Sutherlandshire. 



Mr. Young has here taken up the subject of the salmon's 

 growth where it was necessarily left off by Mr. Shaw. So far 

 as the earliest or fresh-water state of the fish is concerned, he 

 entirely agrees with the observer just named. He then states 

 the various opinions which prevail regarding the more or less 

 rapid growth of smolts and grilse, and shows, by tabular lists 

 (the result of frequently repeated experiments), that the in- 

 crease in their dimensions is extraordinary, so soon as they 

 descend into the salt water. So far back as the months of 

 April and May, 1837, he marked a number of descending 

 smolts, by making a peculiar perforation in the caudal fin by 

 means of small nipping-irons constructed for the purpose. 

 He recaptured a considerable number of them ascending the 

 rivers as grilse, in the course of the ensuing months of June 

 and July, weighing several pounds each, more or less, ac- 

 cording to the difference in the length of their sojourn in the 

 sea. Again in April and May, 1842, he marked a number of 

 descending smolts, by clipping off the little adipose fin upon 

 the back. In June and July he caught several of them re- 

 turning up the river, and bearing his peculiar mark, the adi- 

 pose fin being absent. Two or three specimens were exhibited 

 to the Society. One marked in April, and re-captured on the 

 30th of July, weighed three and a half pounds. 



As the season advances grilse increase in size, those being 

 the largest which abide the longest in the sea ; they spawn 

 in the rivers after their first ascent, and before they have be- 

 come adult salmon. 



Mr. Young also described various experiments instituted 

 with the view of showing the transition of grilse into salmon. 

 He marked many small grilse after they had spawned in 

 winter and were about to re-descend into the sea. He had re- 

 captured them in the course of the ensuing summer as finely 

 formed salmon, ranging in weight from nine to fourteen 

 pounds, the difference still depending on the length of their 

 sojourn in the sea. He has tried these experiments for many 

 seasons, but never twice with the same mark. A specimen 

 marked as a grilse of four pounds in January, 1842, and re- 

 captured as a salmon of nine pounds in July, was exhibited 

 to the Society; it bore a peculiarly twisted piece of copper 



