433 



Report of the Experimental Committee to the General Meet- 

 ing of Tweed Commissioners, to be held on 6th Septem- 

 ber, 1875. 



The Experimental Committee, in presenting their Eeport, think 

 it best to follow the course adopted by them last year, and lay 

 before the General Meeting their detailed proceedings and re- 

 sults, in the precise and accurate form adopted by Mr List, who 

 personally superintends the marking of the fish, and himself 

 enters the particulars in the Register in the presence of the Com- 

 mittee. These are now printed herewith for the years 1873-4 

 and 1874-5. 



The points more immediately attempted to be set at rest by the 

 investigations of the Committee are : — 



1st, Whether Orange Fins belong to the Salmon tribe ? 



2nd, Whether Black Tails are the next stage of the Orange 

 Fins ? 



3rd, What is the succeeding stage of the Black Tail ? 



4th, Whether Grilse remain Grilse, or are the preliminary 

 stage of Salmon proper ? 



The fourth point remains as yet unsettled by evidence either way. 



The first and second seem to the Committee clearly established 

 in the affirmative. In corroboration of the fact that on the 1 7th 

 April, 1873, an Orange Fin was marked, and recaptured as a 

 Whitling on 1st June, 1874, the experiments conducted at Car- 

 ham, both in the large pond (in which 133 Orange Fins were 

 placed) and the two smaller ponds (where 23 Orange Fins were 

 lodged on the same day, 7th May, 1874), have proved to the 

 satisfaction of the Committee and a number of practical fishermen 

 who have been admitted to the inspections, that Orange Fins 

 pass through the stage of Black Tail, and thereafter assume the 

 character of Whitling. 



Whether the Whitling is merely the preliminary stage of the 

 adult Bull Trout, or whether these are separate species or 

 varieties of the Salmon kind, cannot be authoritatively deter- 

 mined, so far as the experience of the Committee has extended, 

 although it is quite evident from the returns of recaptured fish 

 that the Black Tail sometimes is the representative of the future 

 Bull Trout and sometimes of the Whitling ; in like manner as 

 the Smolt in former years was identified as the " Grilse " as well 

 as of the " Salmon " in its later stage. 



The Committee hope that another twelvemonth's experience of 

 the growth and changes in character of the fish still alive and in 

 good health in the ponds at Carham, may enable them to furnish 

 more complete information in 1876 ; and would suggest that re- 

 newed powers, and a grant of £20 towards their exercise, be 

 accorded to the Committee for the ensuing year. 



R. H. HUNTLEY, Chairman. 

 Berwick-on-Tweed, 2nd September, 1875. 



