CHAPTER I 
SMOLTS 
Early ideas concerning smolts—Rearing of smolts in 
captivity—Marine versus fresh water origin of the salmon 
—Hatching fry from smolt eggs—British smolts descend 
when two years old—Marking of smolts—Habits in migrating 
to sea—Autumn migrations—Development of smolts in sea 
—Herr Dahl’s capture of smolts in the sea off Norway 
THE Stormontfield experiments on the Tay, although 
they at first gave new vigour to those who dis- 
believed Shaw, ultimately, after the long dispute 
described by Russel in his book on the salmon, be- 
came a vindication of the Drumlanrig results and 
a source of much additional information on the 
growth and migrations of parr and smolts. Many 
anglers of renown in the present day are puzzled to 
tell a parr from a young trout. Yet, curiously 
enough, the dispute never dragged the trout into its 
vortex. The parr was either a young salmon or 
a distinct species. Professor Grassi of Rome slew 
the leptocephalus* idea without question. People did 
* Leptocephalus was long known as an interesting semi-transparent 
little fish not uncommon in the Mediterranean. The investigations 
of Professor Grassi into the deep-water fauna of the Straits of 
Messina led to the discovery that this little fish was simply the 
larval or post-larval stage of the common eel, 
A 
