58 NATIJEAL HISTOEY OP THE SALMON. 



ported to the superintendent as captured, having 

 this year's mark, not one having the ring was 

 amongst those taken. The grilses in 1856 were 

 very numerous, and, had the fishermen taken 

 more care to examine them, some perhaps might 

 have been detected, but the greater part of them 

 were unfriendly to the experiment. - However, 

 the difficulty must be admitted of marking so 

 small a fish as a smoult, (which seldom weighs 

 much above an ounce when it is marked,) with 

 any foreign substance that is likely to remain for 

 any length of time attached to the fish, as its 

 growth is so rapid, growing to the weight of 3 Ibs. 

 or 5 Ibs. in six or seven weeks; besides, a silver 

 ring is an attraction, no doubt, to the enemies of 

 the fish while in the water, and therefore it is 

 more likely to be devoured than any of its neigh- 

 bours. A few of the fry that left the pond in 

 May or June, 1855, were reported as having been 

 caught this season as salmon one of them being 

 as heavy as 19 Ibs.; another was taken by the late 

 Col. Stewart of Dalguise while angling the 

 weight of which we did not learn. We may 

 expect for some years to hear of large salmon 

 being taken with mark of 1855. 



The Stormontfield experiment having proved 



