40 THE LIFE OF THE SALMON 
the purpose of marking fish, and at such times we 
find grilse of both sexes continuing to ascend, and 
wnvariably spawning or about to spawn. We have 
never found any grilse which having entered the 
river are to be regarded as non-spawners. The 
second hypothesis, on the other hand, seems borne 
out by all evidence of direct observation. The scale 
of the small spring salmon is very like a grilse 
scale in this, that a continuous sojourn in the sea is 
stamped upon it, yet the fish seems to be the same 
age as the grilse kelt. The scale of a 7 lb. fish of 
this class is figured in Plate III. of Mr. Johnston’s 
paper on “‘ The Scales of Tay Salmon.” * When refer- 
ence is made to the tables showing the lines of growth 
after smolt descent (pp. 70 and 71), we notice that 
whereas in the second year grilse scales show—in 
May 7, in June 10-15, in July 14-21, and in August 
17-25, we. an extreme range of 7-25 lines; the 
small spring fish does not show less than 20, and in 
February, March, and April has from 26 to 31 lines. 
In other words, the small spring fish does not exhibit 
a paucity of lines, which is readily explained in the 
case of the grilse owing to the cessation of feeding 
and the ascent of fresh water. This evidence is in 
my opinion a strong corroboration of the view that 
the small spring fish has not been in the river as a 
grilse, but has passed the usual grilse stage in the sea. 
In the spring of this year, however (1907), evidence 
has been obtained which may be said to settle finally 
the problem of the small spring fish. This valuable 
* Twenty-third Annual Report, Fishery Board for Scotland, 
Part II. Appendix II. 
