72 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



in the marking box on their way to the sea. The 

 mark this year was cutting off the dead fin and ;i 

 portion of the upper part of the tail. Mr Harvey 

 of (llasgow again furnished 100 silver rings, 

 which to all appearance seemed to promise fair, 

 but none of these so marked smoults were ever 

 reported as having been taken. About 50 of the 

 fiy were also marked by copper-gilt wire inserted 

 into the fleshy part of the tail, and likewise in 

 the back behind the dead fin with a like result. 

 When the pond was emptying it was discovered 

 that there were from 50 to 60 of the fry that 

 were still parrs, about two dozen of which were 

 caught and put by Mr Walsh into the filtering 

 pond; and we put a dozen into a small run of 

 water on our premises, and these fish did not 

 become smoults till next April. This is a curious 

 fact, for in size these fish were equal with those 

 that left the pond as smoults. They increased 

 only about an inch in size by next spring, 1859, 

 but they had become smoults, and by the spring 

 of 1860, they had not grown more than another 

 inch. It was interesting to watch the change of 

 colour which came over them during the spawning 

 months, but we believe none of them were ever 

 dissected so as to ascertain if the females con- 



