LAKE TROUT. 223 



whicli it outdoes all its tribe. Its ferocity is equal to its weapons, 

 and when seized by it no ordinary inhabitant of the water can 

 hope to escape; so that next to the Pike it is the most for- 

 midable of the inhabitants of at least our British lakes and 

 rivers. With such eagerness of hunger, the supposition may 

 well be that this fish will fall a ready prize to the fisherman; 

 and as its food is the fishes of its native waters, and a Trout 

 of no small size is a ready bait, such might be the case, but 

 that, like others of this family when of full growth, the Lake 

 Trout is shy or cautious; so that although it may perhaps rise 

 to a fly, as more commonly it seeks its prey only by night, it 

 is more usually taken with lines, which are laid for it at that 

 season. When the hook has been swallowed it becomes ex- 

 ceedingly furious, and no small strength is required in the line 

 to secure it. For the table it is not highly esteemed. 



It produces its spawn at about the same time with others of 

 this family; and for this purpose they leave the deeper water 

 of the lakes in which they usually reside; but they do not 

 proceed upward in the rivers which feed these lakes to any 

 considerable distance, and presently after performing this im- 

 portant function they return. We may suppose that the influence 

 of light, which is obtained best in the shallower water, is of 

 advantage in the development of the young of this species, as 

 well as others of this family. 



I learn from the noble Earl already mentioned, that he has 

 taken this fish in Lough Eck of the weight of twenty-eight and 

 thirty pounds, and Mr. Thompson mentions it as exceeding even 

 this; but the example described, which was obtained at the 

 beginning of December, weighed only fifteen pounds; the length 

 two feet four inches and a half; the body stout and thick, 

 carrying its breadth and thickness backward to the adipose fin. 

 Head large, flat on the top, snout projecting before the eyes, 

 ending blunt. Jaws equal, gape large, mystache passing con- 

 siderably behind the eye. Teeth strong, sharp, the points 

 directed inward, distant from each other; those on the mystache 

 continued through the whole length, with an interruption in 

 front of the upper jaw; strong recurved teeth round the palate; 

 a single row along the vomer, and a strong row across in front 

 of the vomerine row, but distinct from it, and also appearing 

 distinct from the side row of the palate Sirong incurved teeth 



