APRIL 69 



that threaten such tender lives. Certainly anybody 

 who has witnessed the descent of salmon smolts in 

 April or May, which have been naturally reared in the 

 upper waters, may reasonably doubt whether artificial 

 propagation, even on a large scale, can appreciably 

 affect the numbers reaching the sea. These naturally 

 bred smolts are in myriads ; they are fish that have so 

 far survived the dangers of youth, being from fifteen to 

 twenty-seven months old, and can only represent a 

 comparatively small proportion of the original produce 

 of the spawning beds. I have myself taken ten fine 

 salmon smolts from the stomach of a single trout which 

 weighed, cargo included, only 2 Ib. What must be the 

 mortality among fry turned out of a hatchery to spend 

 from ten to twenty months in the river, and then to 

 pass through ten, twenty, thirty miles, beset by trout, 

 pike, eels, gulls, herons, etc., before they reach the sea, 

 where other forms of violent death lie in wait for 

 them? 



If it could be shown that spring salmon were more 

 numerous during this season of scarcity in those rivers 

 which are supplied by well-conducted hatcheries, arti- 

 ficial propagation might be accounted a safeguard 

 against unfavourable seasons, and many persons would 

 be converted to a sense of its value. So far, however, 

 no such result is manifest. On the Helmsdale, for 

 instance, a very prolific and moderate-sized stream in 

 Sutherland, a well-managed hatchery has been in 

 operation for a number of years past, turning out from 

 500,000 to 700,000 fry every season. On the Brora, 

 equally prolific and early, debouching only ten or 



