SALMONID^E. 95 



Breeding. Similar to the brook-trout, at Loch Leven they ascend the streams for 

 tin's purpose towards the end of September or commencement of October. Sir 

 J. Gibson-Maitland crossed the ova of the Loch Leven trout with the milt of the 

 sea-trout in the winter of 1881, and 95 per cent, were hatched. It appears to me 

 that the progeny will not be hybrids, but merely two varieties of one form breeding 

 together with the result of non-migratory Loch Leven trout having perhaps more 

 migratory instincts. 



Before passing on to the next species, I cannot resist remarking upon the 

 magnificent fish-breeding establishment at Howietown, raised by the energetic 

 skill and capital of Sir J. Gibson-Maitland. Here, although charr and brook- 

 trout are reared, it is the Loch Leven trout that is more especially cared for. The 

 hatching-houses are capable of hatching and raising 12,000,000 eggs and young 

 fry up to the period when they can feed themselves, when they are transferred 

 to the rearing-ponds, which are in a regular series, so that each year's produce is 

 kept by itself. To show what good management and judicious skill may effect, I 

 Avould instance the pond for the six-year old fish, 80 yards by 40 yards, with a 

 stream passing through it : here, when I visited this interesting establishment, 

 were 1200 Loch Leven trout from 4 to 7 lb. weight each, and all in excellent con- 

 dition, conclusively demonstrating how watery wastes can be turned into excellent 

 food-producing reservoirs. If the experiment proves a financial success, as appears 

 highly probable, its owner hopes to see similar institutions elsewhere, which 

 would be the means of extending to an almost unlimited extent the fish-producing 

 properties of the country now so lamentably wasted, from the apathy of the 

 owners, the greed of the fishermen and the want of energy and knowledge in our 

 legislators. 



Diseases. These fishes are affected with disease similarly to the salmon and the 

 trout, while bay-salt has been used with success at Howietown in order to arrest 

 a fungus which has from time to time appeared in the ponds. I was informed 

 that crows after having eaten diseased fish moulted and became most miserable 

 objects and three or four were thought to have become leprous. 



As food. The Loch Leven trout is generally very highly esteemed, not only for 

 the red colour of its flesh, but because it possesses a peculiar delicacy of flavour. 



Habitat. This non-migratory fresh water trout is found in Loch Leven in 

 Fifeshire, and other lochs in the south of Scotland and the north of England ; 

 while due to the success of the artificial fish-breeding at Howietown the variety 

 is being extended all over the kingdom to as far south as Hampshire. Whether 

 in a few years all trace of them will have been lost, and they will assume the 

 colour and proportions of the brook-trout, only time can demonstrate. In the 

 English edition of Limueus incorporated into the Encyclopedia Londinensis, p. 53, 

 it is observed, " that it is not above fifty years ago that Mr. Copland conveyed 

 perch into the Ken-loch and the River Urr, where tbey have thriven remarkably 

 well : as has been the case with the trout taken from the River Leven and 

 deposited into Loch Long in the county of Renfrew." While Parnell recorded 

 having met with this form so far north as Sutherlandshire. 



As to the size this fish attains, six-year-old examples, some weighing as much 

 as 7 lb., were found at the Howietown ponds in 1882. In Loch Leven on April 27th, 

 one 10 lb. weight was netted ; while in the New Statistical Account of Scotland 

 mention is made of two examples captured previous to that date, one being 

 nearly 9 lb., the other almost 18 lb. 



The example figured is 12 inches in length, and one of a pair sent me from 

 Loch Leven by the late Mr. Alston. 



2 B. Salmo fario, Plates CIX, fig. 3, and CXIII, CXIV, and CXVI, fig. 1. 



Trutta fiuviatilis, Will. p. 199 ; Ray, p. 65 ; Sibbald, Scot. Illus. no. 25. Trout, 

 Pennant, Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1776) iii, p. 297, pi. lix, and (Ed. 1812) iii, p. 399, 

 pi. lxx. 



Salmo fario, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 509 ; Bloch, Ich. t. xxii, xxiii ; Gmel. 

 Linn. p. 1367 ; Bl. Schn. p. 400; Tnrton, Brit. Fauna, p. 103; Bonn. Ency. Ich. 



