RESULTS OF SALMON MARKING 79 
fish appeared still to be a slat or kelt, and showed 
no increase in weight (7 lb.). In view of the rather 
peculiar nature of the estuary in which the fish was 
found, Mr. Holt suggests that possibly the fish had 
no intention of leaving the sea for fresh water, but 
having found its way into the basin of the river 
mouth during spring tides, had found its retreat cut 
off. In view of this explanation, the record is similar 
to a privately marked Scottish fish which travelled 
from the Grimersta on the west side ofthe island of 
Lewis to Castletown, which is on the coast east of 
Thurso, 145 miles distant. The fish was marked by 
Mr. Byres-Leek, “J. B.-L. 10,” in March 1902, 
when a kelt. Five months afterwards, z¢., in 
August, when recaptured at Castletown, it was still 
a kelt. I have the specimen preserved, asan August 
kelt is in my experience unique, and this fish showed 
not only the lank condition, but the abrasions below 
the jaws and on the ventral surface of the body, so 
commonly associated with the recently spent fish. 
Like D 95, the fish was a male, and it seems pro- 
bable that the kelt condition may have subsisted 
through the fish having been originally perhaps only 
half spent, and having afterwards entered some river 
on the north coast of Scotland, such as the Naver, 
Polla, Halladale, or Thurso, in its journey along the 
Pentland Firth, and then only at a later date com- 
pleted the shedding of its milt. There is, I think, 
a fair amount of evidence to suggest that under the 
most ordinary conditions the male fish which we see 
paired with females at spawning time do not com- 
plete the shedding of their milt, or do not always do 
