3i8 



Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



table, continilig it by straps, and i)ierciiig the thin membrane of the fin 

 between the last and next to the last ray, by means of a needle, into the eye 

 of which was threaded the wire already connected A\ith the tag ; the ends of 

 the Avire were then twisted together, so as to form a loop, and neatly trimmed 

 with scissors. The tags were stamped with dies. This mode of marking has 

 been adhered to in all snbseqnent experiments of the kind, with no change 

 except that the aluminnm tag has been replaced by one of platinum. 



The marldng was always done in the fall, after the fish had been relieved of 

 their spawn. They were then liberated, either in tide water or in fresh water, 

 whence egress to the sea was easy. 



Of the salmon marked with rubber bands in 1872, as has been said, none 

 were recovered. In November 1878, there were marked 391 salmon, Initjie 

 ensuing year rewards were offered to the fishermen for the return of any 

 marked specimens. In response, there were sent in to the station twenty 

 salmon, the first in January (taken in a smelt net), and all the others in April 

 and May. All of the twenty retained the \vire, by which they were with 

 certainty recognised as having been marked in the preceding autumn. 

 Sixteen of them stiU retained the tags. One of them was found to have lost 

 eight ounces in weight, eight others had lost from one to two pounds each ; 

 aU had fallen away in flesh since November. The males had faded in colour ; 

 the hooks on their lower jaws were still present, but had decreased much in' 

 size. The females had regained their bright silvery colour to a great extent; 

 in their ovaries were the germs of the next litter of eggs, but they were very 

 small. No food could be found in the stomachs of either sex. It was quite 

 evident from their condition that these fishes could not have been to their 

 feeding grounds during the winter. Twelve out of the twenty were taken in 

 the Penobscot above Bucksport, and nine of these were taken at Veazie, 

 twenty-five miles above Bucksport, in close proximity to the first serious 

 obstacle they would encounter in ascending the river. Sahnon in tlieir con- 

 dition should be bound towards the sea, and had they, as may have been the 

 case with some, reached the upper waters, it is quite impossible that they 

 could have become breeders the same year. That all these loiterers dropped 

 down to the sea before the 1st of June, we may conclude from tlie fact that 

 after that date no more were captured. During the whole year not a single 

 marked fish was recovered or reported, that had in any degree mended from 

 the condition in which it was released the preceding autumn. 



In 1876 the ofi"er of a reward was renewed, and this time resulted in the 

 recovery, in May and June, of eight specimens, and among our breeding fish 

 there was found in the autumn another whose mark had escaped observation 

 at the time of capture. Of the nine fish, four were females, three males, and 

 two not determined. They were all of good size, weighing from 16 to 24^ 

 pounds, and measuring 34| to 40|^ inches in lengtli, and were all fat and 

 apparently healthy. One of the females was placed alive in our inclosure and 

 yielded in the fall about 11,500 eggs. Unfortunately, the tags, supposed to 

 have been good aluminum plate, proved deficient in durable properties, 

 became (as we learned by direct observation) weak and brittle after a short 

 time in water. All of them had fallen ofi" from these specimens, and we could 

 not therefore trace the record of the individual salmon, but the wire remained 

 and proved beyond question that these salmon were mai'ked and released in 

 November 1873, as none others had up to this time been marked in the same 

 manner, and none at all marked in 1874. They had thus been absent eighteen 

 or nineteen months, and had (we cannot doubt) passed the intervening months, 

 including the summer of 1874, mainly on their feeding grounds in the sea. 

 The experiment was repeated in 1875 and 1880, with platinum tags, wliich 

 proved durable. 



In 1875 tjiere were marked and released in tide watei-, at Bucksport, 



