2:^5 



COMMON TROUT. 



SHOT. 



Trutta fluviatilis, JoNSTON; Tabic 26, f. 1. 



WiLLOUGiiBY; p. 199, Table, N. 4. 

 Sabno fcwio, Linnaeus. Cuvier. Bloch; PI. 22 and 23. 



" " Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 181. 



" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 424. 



" " Yaurell; British Fishes, vol. ii, p. 85. 



• 



The Trout is the commonest fish of our rivers — the most 

 widely distributed, as well as the chief object of amusement 

 generally to the angler; and in the comparison of it with the 

 Salmon it is only as the chase of the hare is different from 

 that of the fox. The catalogue of books which have been wi-itten 

 on the art and pleasure of fishing for it has amounted to a 

 volume; and seldom does a season pass without the addition of 

 a new one, or a new edition of one that is old; for anglers 

 are almost as fond of talking or reading of their art as of 

 practising it. Under such circumstances the history of the 

 Trout has a strong claim on our attention; and so much the 

 more as this fish is liable to a wide extent of variation in 

 its appearance and habits; both of which are believed to depend 

 on the situations in which they are found; as regards the water, 

 whether it be swift or slow, clear or otherwise; and also Avith 

 reference to the kinds of food, and even the degree of light, 

 shade, and shelter; with respect to the last-mentioned of which 

 influences Ave shall presently refer to the observations of the 

 Swedish naturalist Nilsson; and taken together the whole of 

 them afford an illustration of the powers Avhich are in constant 

 exercise to modify all but the essential characters of this fish. 

 It is this liability to change, in some degree in shape, but 

 VOL. IV. 2 G 



