SMOLTS 3 
an offence as serious as the time-honoured crime of 
sheep-stealing, but robbed the observers of informa- 
tion which might have saved them from much 
subsequent error. 
Various batches of smolts before descending from 
Stormontfield were marked by removing or mutilat- 
ing in some particular way the adipose fin. A 
limited number were also marked by the attachment 
of small rings. About the same time (1864) the 
Tweed Commissioners were conducting some valuable 
experiments of a similar kind. None of the Tay smolts 
marked by the attachment of the rings were recovered, 
but three at least of the Tweed smolts which had been 
marked by the attachment of wire were recovered as 
grilse in the Tweed after a year’s absence, one in 1855 
and two in 1856, the first weighing 34 lb., the second 
and third weighing each 6} 1b. In spite of these, how- 
ever, it was contended, with the publication of many 
particulars, that the Tay smolts marked by fin-cutting 
were freely recaptured as grilse of three pounds and 
upwards, after intervals varying from one and a half 
to three months, and as a result it became very 
generally believed, in Scotland at least, that the 
grilse of our rivers caught in May, June, and July, 
or later in the season, had only descended as smolts 
in the spring of the same year, and were therefore 
only 2% years old. Other and similar fin-cutting 
experiments were made elsewhere in Scotland, with 
apparently the same results ; and illustrations accom- 
panied certain of the reports to show there could be 
no mistake about the conclusion. Curiously enough | 
in the last few years a similar series of observations 
