96 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



plains all this, and accounts for the seeming 

 irregularity in the history of the fish, which is 

 still carried on in all its stages of growth, as we 

 have previously shown when in the grilse state, 

 and this knowledge is again the result of the 

 Stormontfield experiment. Further, the experi- 

 ment has proved that all the smoults do not re- 

 turn the same season as grilse, but that not a few 

 of them remain in the sea, and do not return to 

 the river until the spring and summer of next 

 season, not as grilse, but as salmon of from 4 

 to 10 Ibs. weight. The smoults with the mark 

 of the first exodus which were caught were not 

 all captured as grilse, but some of them were taken 

 the following spring as small salmon, which ex- 

 plained what had never been accounted for 

 namely, the cause of small spring fish. Every 

 fisherman was familiar with the appearance of 

 the spring salmon they generally succeeded the 

 large strong early runners ; but a few are always 

 caught running up along with them. We saw 

 one taken on the 1st of February this year, 1862, 

 at Burnmouth station, which weighed only 5J 

 Ibs., which was, although a salmon, only a late 

 grilse of last year. The scales of this fish when 

 taken out of the water were not easily removed 



