17 



We, in 1835, marked smolts to ascertain and set at rest the 

 following point, denied by many, viz : that the smolts return- 

 ed grilse the same year that they first went from the river to 

 the sea in the smolt state. The experiment proved this also, 

 and specimens of the grilse that we marked when smolts, and 

 which returned grilse from the sea to fresh water the year 

 they were marked, may be now seen in the Museum of the 

 Eoyal Society of Edinburgh. We continued these markings 

 many years, invariably with similar results, and at the same 

 period, continuing continuously during three years, we care- 

 fully watched the spawning operations and spawning beds in 

 all their stages, and Vere fully convinced at last that the fry 

 remained in the rivers one whole year and no longer after 

 having been hatched." 



From the foregoing it appears that the parr or young sal- 

 mon fry remains in its native stream one full year, and weighs 

 only a few ounces ; that it then becomes a smolt, clothed with 

 silvery scales, and runs to the sea, where it remains a few 

 months and returns a grilse from fifteen to eighteen months 

 old, filled with spawn and weighing from four to eight pounds 

 each ! After the spawning season is past it returns to salt 

 water lean and worthless. A few months elapse and it again 

 returns to fresh water weighing from ten to sixteen pounds, 

 and then they are called salmon. 



The natural history of the shad (alosa prcBstabilis) is in 

 some respects similar to the salmon. They ascend fresh*' 

 water streams in May and June and soon deposit their spawn 

 that hatch in a few weeks. The. young shad the next fall 

 run in immense numbers to the salt water where they spend 

 the winter. In the spring they return fat to their native 

 waters weighing from two to six pounds each ! They select 

 their spawning ground in bodies of water deeper and warmer 

 than those occupied by the salmon. The deep eddies below 

 dams and waterfalls are generally selected by them. The 

 eddy below Bellows Falls was formerly a favorite spawning 

 ground for the shad. The one below Holyoke dam in Mas- 



