STORMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 49 



duced, owing to unskilful manipulation in the 

 spawning of the fish, (which was not entrusted to 

 Peter,) and the long severe cold of the season 

 they were therefore put into the river; and it was 

 agreed in future, as there was but one rearing 

 pond, to hatch only every second year, as it had 

 now been ascertained that only one-half of the 

 former hatching would leave the pond the first 

 year, and to turn in among the full-grown parr, 

 the new hatching would be certain destruction 

 to it. 



RETURN AS GRILSE. 



On the 7th of July, 1855, the first marked 

 grilse was caught, returning from the sea, at a 

 fishing-station near the mouth of the river Earn 

 a tributary joining the Tay, a little below Perth 

 which was about six weeks after the first exodus 

 from the pond, on the 24th of May, This grilse 

 weighed 3 Ibs., certainly a great growth in so 

 short a time as the weight of a smoult before it 

 reaches the tidal wave is from one to two ounces. 

 The capture of this fish created some sensation 

 amongst those who were watching the experi- 

 ment. By the end of July, Mr Buist, the super- 

 intendent, stated that twenty-two grilse having 



