RECENT RESEARCH UPON SALMON 241 



in framing fishery legislation, and a number of data upon that 

 subject have been collected and published in the Report of the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland, 1901, Part 11. In 1896, Mr, 

 Walter Archer, at that time Inspector of Scottish Salmon- 

 Fisheries, instituted the system of marking salmon which he 

 had put in practice upon the Sand River in Norway, and this 

 has been continued by his successor in office, Mr. Calderwood. 

 We have now, therefore, before us the results of six years' 

 systematic marking, a period which covers the life of a salmon 

 from the ovum to an adult state, besides the less trustworthy 

 records of previous observers, extending from the year 1823 

 to 1896. 



The first point to be noted is that, as a rule, salmon 

 return to the river that they are bred in. The late Frank 

 Buckland declared that they invariably did so, and said he 

 would like to hatch them by thousands in his kitchen, because 

 he was certain that they always returned to the place of their 

 birth. Nevertheless sufficient exceptions to the rule have been 

 noted to show that salmon probably are indifferent to what 

 river they ascend, that they choose the river which happens 

 to be nearest when the homing impulse is felt, and that it is 

 only in a small percentage of cases that they wander so far to 

 sea from the place of their birth as to come within the 

 radius of attraction of another river. 



The method of marking adopted by the Scottish Fishery 

 Board is by a silver plate stamped with a number corresponding 

 to an entry in the register, giving details of the weight and 

 condition of fish when captured. This plate is attached by 

 silver wire to the fleshy part of the salmon's dorsal fin. Six 

 thousand of these have been issued to anglers and net-fishers 

 in Scotland during the last six years, as well as 2,500 to 

 persons in Ireland. Of 3,036 fish marked in Scotland, 190 

 had been recaptured up to the end of 1901. Twenty-four of 

 these fish captured lin rivers were retaken in rivers after the 

 lapse of at least one season : of these twenty-four, nineteen 



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