Two new marking schemes of the right sort are being
carried through in the North, whither our social world is now itself migrating. One is centred in the Orkneys, and concerns fish. Thanks to such stalwart workers as Mr. Nall (whose recent book The Life of the Sea Trout, is likely to take its place as a classic) the life history of both salmon and trout has been very thoroughly investigated ; and it is now possible from the reading of the rings on a single scale to reconstruct the life of a fish and its migrations between fresh water and salt. But the way of a fish in the water might still set a Solomon wondering. So in October, a migratory month for many creatures, a little group of experts will assemble in the Orkneys for a great marking of sea trout. It is the first concerted attempt to penetrate the mysteries of certain fish habits and movements in that district. How much hard and minute work goes into the subject may be gathered from one worker's tally. He sent up to the Scottish Fishery Board the other day an analysis of the miscoscopic examination of 7,000 individual scales !
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