202 PEAL. 



always male and the Sewin female, from Avhich he has con- 

 cluded that there is no more than a sexual difference between 

 them." But, (setting aside for the present this last surmise, 

 and the further question about the Branlin, whether it be 

 what is now termed the Salmon Parr, or the Parr of the 

 Sea Trout, or, again, the Samlet, of which it would be still 

 surprising if none but males are to be met with, in the 

 numerous examples of the Peal which I have obtained in a 

 long succession of years, as well from far off in the ocean as 

 the river,) I have not been able to ascertain the existence of 

 a single male, and that, too, although the search has been 

 made under favourable circumstances, and with the offer of a 

 considerable reward to a professional fisherman who possessed 

 an exclusive right to a fishery where these fish were taken in 

 abundance in their season. But an accidental circumstance 

 has removed my doubts as regards the sexes of this fish. 

 There was a pool in the western branch of the Looe River, 

 close below the head of an ancient weir, above the barrier 

 of which these fish were not able at this time to throw 

 themselves; and at this place on the 22nd. of January, when 

 the cold was severe, a considerable number of Peal Avere 

 discovered as they were engaged in stirring up the gravel 

 with the evident purpose of shedding their spawn, and that, 

 too, without there being a single Salmon in the river. The 

 whole, or greater part of these w^ere caught with a net, and 

 then the roe was found to be running from some of them, 

 and ready to be shed in all. Myself examined ten of 

 them, and the remainder, amounting to twenty in all, were 

 examined by others. They varied something in colour from 

 their ordinary appearance in summer, being a little darker, 

 and a few were almost bronzed at the sides; but all were 

 females, and there was only one male found among them, 

 which, however, had its tail excoriated, like that part in the 

 females, as having been engaged in the same work of stirring 

 the gravel for the reception of the spawn. This male fish, 

 which from its associations I cannot but conclude to be the 

 true male of the Peal, w^as yet sufficiently distinct to warrant 

 a distinct description. It was called by the fishermen a Bull 

 Trout, and had its under jaw hooked, as in the male Salmon, 

 the head more clumsy than in the Peal, the spots large. 



