RESULTS OF SALMON MARKING 75 
The Deveron kelt was reported as very well mended 
when marked at Muiresk. Its condition when re- 
captured at Ardmiddle, which is just above Muiresk, 
and in the upper waters, clearly showed that the 
fish would soon have spawned, 1.e., within about 
eight months of the date of marking. 
The data dealing with the kelt to clean fish con- 
dition form only one section of the salmon marking 
returns, but introduce the particular migratory 
movements, which are perhaps of greatest practical 
importance to our salmon fisheries. The dual habit 
of migration shows us that a large number of salmon 
remain in the sea even when their fellows are re- 
producing their species in the rivers. So far as the 
returns show, the proportion of what may be termed 
the feeding fish is subject to variation in different 
localities and in different seasons, and is much 
greater in Scotland than in Ireland. Moreover, 
we do not at any time either in our rivers or in our 
sea salmon nets recover a large proportion of the fish 
marked. The marking experiments conducted in 
connection with the North Sea Fishery Investiga- 
tions, in which large numbers of flat-fish have been 
marked, have yielded a much higher percentage of 
returns than have ever been obtained in marking 
of salmon. This is rather striking when it is recol- 
lected that the salmon congregate in the confined 
waters of rivers, and are caught in such localities in 
large numbers. Some do no doubt lose their marks, 
but we have no evidence to show that this happens 
often. Marked fish may be recaptured and not 
reported, but with the interest now taken in the 
