MAEKED FISH. 139 



may be wilfully imitated by persons wishing to mislead. Of 

 the smolts sent away from the Stormontfield ponds during May 

 1855, 1300 were marked in a rather common way — viz. by 

 cutting oflF the second dorsal fin — and twenty-two of these 

 marked fish were taken as grilse during that same summer, the 

 first being caught on the 7th of July, when it weighed three 

 pounds. The late Mr. Buist, who took charge of the experi- 

 ments, was quite convinced that a much larger number of the 

 marked fish than twenty-two was caught, but many of the fish- 

 ermen, having an aversion to the system of pond-breeding, took 

 no pains to discover whether or not the grUse they caught had 

 the pond-mark, and so the chance of still further verifying the 

 rate of salmon growth was lost. A reward oflered by Mr. Buist. 

 of 2s. per pound weight for each grilse that might be brought 

 to his office, led to an imitation of the mark and the perpetration 

 of several petty frauds in order to get the money. The mark 

 was frequently imitated, and one or two fish were brought to 

 Mr. Buist which almost deceived him into the belief of their 

 being some of the real marked fish. As Mr. Buist said — " So 

 cunningly had this deception been gone about, that a casual 

 observer might have been deceived. When the fin was cut off 

 the recent wound was far too palpable ; and to hide this the 

 man cut a piece of skin from another fish and fixed it upon the 

 wounded part. I examined this fish, which was lying alongside 

 of an undoubted pond-marked fish, which had the skin and scales 

 grown over the cut, and I am satisfied that it would be impos- 

 sible to imitate the true mark by any process except by marking 

 the fish while young." * Peter Marshall, the intelligent keeper 

 of the ponds, agrees with me in saying that the number of fish 

 taken, each being minus the dead fin, was a sufficient proof that 



* In a very old number of the Scots Magaidne I find the following ; — 

 " I was told by a gentleman who was present at a boat's fishing on Spey 

 jiear Gordon' Castle in' the month of April, that in hauling, the weight of 

 the net brought out a gi'eat number of smouts which the fishers were not 

 willing to part "with ; but that a gentleman, who knew the natural propen- 

 sity of the salmon to return to their native river, persuaded them to slip 

 them back again into the water, assuring them that in two months they 

 would catch most of them full-grown grilses, which would be of much 

 greater value. He at the same time laid a bet of five guineas with another 

 gentleman present, who was somewhat dubious, that he should not fail in 

 his prediction. The fishers agreed. He accordingly dipt off a part of the 

 tail-fins from a number of them before he dropped them into the river ; 

 and within the time limited the iishers actually caught upwards of a 

 hundred grilses thus marked, and soon after many more. " 



