112 DUBLIK NATTJBAL H18T0EY SOCIETY. 



the riyer the Ephemerce and the Phryganese, as they suddenly emerged from the 

 pupa state, almost as suddenly merged into the stomach of some lively trout; 

 the light and the dark ash-fox, brown and gray Coughlins, and the hawthorn 

 flies, as they floated along, or fluttered about the stream, were all the objects of 

 attraction. The question, which we sought the elucidation of, was not as to 

 whether salmon do or do not enter the Greece from the Barrow, or whether the 

 shallow beds of that little stream are or are not suited for spawning-ground; 

 but with regard to the distinctive characters of the parr existing there, its 

 comparison with that described in Yarrell, and with the true salmon-fry. 

 The local terras, lasprings, gravel-lasprings, salmon-pink, fingerlings, gravel- 

 lijDgs, parr, and samlet, have all been made of too general application, and no 

 proper separation has been drawn from distinguishing habits or characteristics, 

 but all are confounded as gravellings, and gravellings said to be the parr, the 

 voung of the salmon. My friend Williams had argued that the gravelling that 

 he had obtained in some of the rivers of Cork and of Wicklow were not the 

 young of the salmon, and so far he was right; for neither were those we ob- 

 tained in the Greece. These latter were identical with the accurate descriptions 

 given by Yarrell, by Dr. Heyshaw, and by several authors. 



The head is of a greenish ash-colour ; back and sides, above the lateral 

 line, dusky or olivaceous brown, marked with numerous dark spots, bordering 

 the lateral line a series of carmine or verraillion-coloured spots ; belly, silvery 

 white, and the body marked with nine or ten bluish-coloured transverse bars; 

 gill-covers have generally two dark-coloured spots, one more strongly marked 

 than the other; dorsal iin with a few dusky spots; pectoral fins larger than 

 those of the common trout, yellowish white ; anal and ventral fins yellowish ; 

 caudal fin much forked ; body, deeper in proportion to its length ; general 

 length from four to six inches. Now, on comparing these specimens with those 

 of the true salmon- fry obtained from the Bandon, Laune, and the Caragh Ri- 

 vers, we find great distinctions in development and markings. In the true sal- 

 mon-fry, the head more blunt, broader on the neck and shoulders ; gill-covers 

 marked similarly with spots silvery gray; preoperculum much rounded, exter- 

 nal edge soft; back, dusky ash-colour, with numerous minute dark spots, 

 which do not go beneath the lateral line ; nine bright orange or approaching to 

 vermilion-coloured spots, along the lateral line, equalling in number the trans- 

 verse bars; pectoral fins long in proportion, yellowish-white, tinged with black ; 

 dusky spots generally absent on the dorsal fin ; caudle fin, largely developed ; 

 ventral and anal fins, yellowish white ; belly, white. The body is narrower in 

 proportion to its length than that of the parr, and the teeth in a more rudimen- 

 tary state. 



All the specimens of the Salmonidse that I have obtained are more or less in 

 the young state characterized by those transverse bars. In the rivers where it 

 frequents the parr is abundant in all seasons, in the same stages of growth ; 

 and even when the memorable floods of the winter of 1849 were supposed to cause 

 the scarcity of I80O, the parr was equally abundant. An experienced salmon- 

 fisher, employed in the salmon-fisheries of the Laune, states that the barred gra- 

 rellings are to be found there all the year round, of the same growth ; that he 

 considers them to be distinct from the true salmon-fry, which is not to be found 

 at the end of May or the month of June, of any size— all the full-grown fry 

 having gone to the sea, while those of the season are too small to be noticed. 

 In order to illustrate that confusion might naturally exist with regard to the 

 gravelling, Mr. Andrews exhibited specimens of a series of the following: — 

 Salmon-fry, from the Caragh, Laune, and Bandon Rivers ; parr, from the 

 Greece, the Bandon, and the Caragh ; young of the white trout, from the Laune 

 and the Bandon Rivers ; young of the brown trout, from the Caragh; smelts, 

 •with migratory dress, from the Laune River. To all these the term "gra- 

 velling" is generally applied. A most intelligent friend of Mr. Williams 

 observes, that on the Bandon River he has marked numbers of gravelling, and 

 that afterwards he has taken them as peal. No doubt, among them he may have 



