SIR WILLIAM JARD1NK ON THE PARR. 83 



vanced, as to have the milt How upon being handled ; but at the same 

 period, the females had the roe in a very backward state. Neither have 

 they been seen in an advanced state at any other season, or disco- 

 vered spawning upon the shallower streams, like the common trout. It 

 is probable that this little fish may also be found in some of the conti- 

 nental alpine and subalpine streams, but I cannot say so from observation. 

 In the north of Europe I suspect it is wanting ; and in our late excur- 

 sion to Sutherland, a perceptible decrease of its numbers was observed 

 towards the north. It should also be observed, that I have never seen 

 the parr, or been able to find any traces of it, except in rivers which had 

 an uninterrupted intercourse with the sea. The size is from three to nx 

 inches in length ; very rarely specimens reach eight and nearly nine 

 inches. It abounds in nearly all the Berwickshire rivers. 



The general colour on the upper parts is a greenish-grey, changing 

 to a pure silvery white on the lower parts, which, however, are some- 

 times tinted with yellow. When the streams which they frequent are 

 impregnated with moss from some of the small alpine sources, upon each 

 side is a row of oval-shaped marks of a deeper tint, and more inclining 

 to bluish-grey than that of the upper parts ; and it is probable that from 

 a somewhat similar marking being seen in the young of the common 

 trout, and the young of several other Salmonidae, the supposition of this 

 being identical with some of them was first surmised. In the parr these 

 markings are narrower and more lengthened in their form. The general 

 smaller spotting of the sides seldom extends below the lateral line, and 

 upon the gill-cover there are almost always two black spots ; sometimes 

 one is only distinctly marked, but a trace of the other is mostly percep- 

 tible, and the relative position of them is almost always alike. In com- 

 parison with a trout of similar size, the purr is altogether more delicately 

 formed ; the nose is blunter ; the tail more forked ; but the chief exter- 

 nal distinction is in the great comparative power of the pectoral fins, 

 which are longer, much more muscular, and nearly one-third broader ; 

 and we shall at once see the necessity of this greater power, when we 

 consider that they serve to assist in almost constantly suspending this 

 little fish in the most rapid streams. Scales of the parr, taken from the 

 lateral line, were altogether larger, the length greater by one-third ; the 

 furrowing more delicate, and the form of the canal not so apparent or 

 so strongly marked towards the basal end. In the osteology of the head, 

 which appears to offer the most constant and well-marked distinctions in 

 this tribe, the general delicacy (still continuing the comparison with a 

 trout of same size) of the bones is in all parts kept up. The opercle y 

 forming the posterior edge of the gill-covers, is much wore rounded, 

 approaching, in this respect, to the form of it in the salmon; in tin- 

 trout, the lower corner is decidedly angular. The inter opercle is longer 

 and narrower. The maxillary bane is much shorter, but broader at the 

 posterior end, whence the much shorter or less, gape in the parr. The 



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