AUTUMN 5^ WINTER EMIGRATION OF SMOLTS.12^ 



in the eel-traps, on making their way to the sea, 

 and for the production of these I would offer a 

 special reward. We should derive considerable 

 benefit from ascertaining the exact habits of autumn 

 and winter smolts ; besides knowing whether they 

 are bred from late spawning fish, in which case they 

 could be enormously increased in numbers by 

 artificial means. The probable result of this would 

 be a large increase of grilse in April and May. 

 Naturally those smolts that reached the sea in 

 winter would have developed into grilse by these 

 months, whilst a proportion of them following their 

 natural instinct would come again into fresh water. 

 In many rivers, I have noticed that grilse of the first 

 run are very small, averaging no more than 3 lbs. 

 to 3^ lbs. in weight. It is hardly possible that 

 these small grilse were the very smolts that went to 

 sea in April and May of the previous year, as they 

 would surely have attained a weight of at least 5 lbs. 

 or 6 lbs., and so it would appear that they belong to 

 a family that reached salt water in the winter. 



