2 SALMONID^ OF BRITAIN. 



the salmon, but was undecided as to whether the third, which was a silvery form, 

 might not be a hybrid between the two others. The hybrid origin of this last may 

 be rejected, as investigations of late years tend more to the conclusion that 

 although we may augment the number of local races, our indigenous 

 Sahnones are restricted to two species, the salmon and the trout, which last 

 has almost endless variations, some the result of a fresh-water, others due to a 

 marine residence. 



In the British Isles salmon appear to have been known to the Celts as " Ehoe," 

 " Eog," and " Maran," terms, in 1776, still in use among the Welsh, and which may 

 have been partially adopted by the early Saxons, although one searches almost 

 in vain for allusions to them among such ballads as have descended from Anglo- 

 Saxon periods to the present day. The word " salmon " as applicable to its 

 adult condition is supposed to have been of Latin origin and introduced by the 

 Normans. 



During the time of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans, it would seem probable 

 that when founding Abbeys and Monasteries the clergy were not unmindful 

 of the necessity for taking precautions in order to secure good water carriage for 

 themselves and their goods, and it may be for this reason that monastic 

 establishments were very frequently situated on the banks of the best streams 

 where a continuous supply of fresh-water fish would be available, tending to 

 alleviate the pangs of hunger during the periods of rigorous fasts, while an 

 additional advantage must have been gained when they produced the rich and 

 goodly salmon. 



Of the two Archbishoprics and twenty-five Bishoprics in England in 1873, 

 Buckland observed that the following were situated on salmon rivers. Llandaff 

 on the Taff (founded the beginning of the sixth century) : Salisbury on the Avon : 

 St. Asaph's on the Elwy (a.d. 560) : *Canterbury on the Stour (a.d. 597) : 

 *Rocliester on the Medway (a.d. 604) : *Bath on the Avon (a.d. 607) : London on 

 the Thames (a.d. 610) : York on the Ouse (a.d. 622) : * Winchester on the Itchen 

 (a.d. 634) : Exeter on the Exe (a.d. 636) : Gloucester on the Severn (a.d. 657) : 

 Herefoi'd on the Wye (a.d. Q7G) : Worcester on the Severn (a.d. 680) : Carlisle 

 on the Eden (a.d. 686) : Durham on the Wear (a.d. 1040) : *Oxford on the 

 Thames (a.d. 1545) : Chester on the Dee, and Ripon on the lire, or 18 out of 27 

 were created on salmon rivers, in six of which these fishes have become 

 exterminated. 



The various species of Salmonida? inhabiting the fresh waters of Europe have 

 been described by naturalists from the earliest times, but respecting them many 

 divergent views have been and are still held. Artedi (Genera Piscium, 1738, 

 page 37, &c.), in his dissertation on the soft-rayed fishes, or Malacopterygii, placed 

 together Coregonus, Osmerus, and Sahnones, as genera in all of which two dorsal 

 fins are present, Linnceus divided the family of Salmo into Truttce, or those 

 having the body variegated or spotted ; Osmerus, with the dorsal fin placed 

 opposite the ventrals (erroneously printed anal) ; Coregonus, having minute teeth ; 

 and Characini, possessing only four branchiostegals. Bloch included under Salmo 

 the various species of salmon, trout, char, smelt or Osmerus, grayling or Thymallus, 

 and Coregonus. Cuvier removed Characini, owing to their wanting teeth on 

 the tongue, from among the forms placed by Linna3us imder this head. Valen- 

 ciennes (1848-1849) included the following genera in the family of Salmonoides, 

 the dentition of each of which was taken from what exists in the adult. Salmo, 

 salmons and char in which the body of the vomer is toothless, teeth if present 

 being only on the head of that bone. Fario, the salmon or sea trout or Forelles, 

 head of vomer toothed and a single row along the body of the bone. Salar, the 

 fresh-water trout or Truites, in which the head of the vomer is toothed and a 

 double row also exists along the body of that bone. Osmerus or smelts, 

 Malottus, Argentina, Thymalus or grayling, Coregomhs or guiniad, Curimatus, 

 Leporinus, JEpictjrtus, Parodon, Salminus, Prochilodus, Citharinus, Piahuca, 

 Hemiodus, Tetragonopterus, Brycinus, Piahucina, Gasteropelecus, Distichodus, 

 Alestes, Myletes, Tometes, Myleus, Mylesimcs, Chalceus, Chalmius, Serrasalmus, 



* Salmon in 1873 had become extinct in ihese rivers. 



