SEA TROUT— NA]\[ES OF. ir.3 



Yarrcll's figure of Salmo crlox (camhricus), which was purchased in the London 

 market, " is one of those specimens in which tlic distinctive characters of the species 

 arc very little developed ; and it is quite ])Ossiblc that the specimen came from 

 Scotland, and hclon^•s to Salmo trulta'' (Catal. vi, p. 37). While, on the conti- 

 nent, Wideg-rcn (1803) united the marine and fresh-water forms into one species. 

 Doubtless the popular or, rather, most commonly employed scientific name 

 for the sewin is Salmo criox, but certainly Richardson was right in reverting to 

 S. camhricus, and for the following reasons :— If wc turn to Artedi's " Genera 

 Piscium," 1738, p. 12, wc find that he recognized in the description of the 

 "gray salmon" of Willoughby and Ray the griilax of Linnteus, while he admitted 

 as'a distinct species the Salmo trutta of those authors. In the twelfth edition of 

 " Gmelins Linnjcus," at p. 1366, the " gray trout " of Ray is referred to the 

 8. erio.v of Linntcus, as it had previously been by Artedi, and also by Bloch in 

 his '' Ichfhyologie" at p. 172. Nilsson, in 1855, when describing one of the 

 Scandinavian forms of sea trout, imagined that he recognized it in a figure of the 

 " sewin " in one of Sir John Richardson's works, and on these grounds included 

 both under the head of S. criox, while Yarrell tells us that he accepted Nilsson's 

 identification; but, in 1878, Professor Malm came to the conclusion that the 

 "gralax" of Linnteus was a young Salmo salar. Consequently, although fully 

 re'cognizing the inconvenience occasioned by changing the well-known name of a 

 species, I still think it correct to discard the specific term eriox from our British 

 Salmonidje. 



For the purpose of fully discriminating the sea trout in its various phases, 

 probably the best plan of proceeding will be first to describe the two races, with 

 the different varieties which have been recorded as species, and subsequently to 

 enter upon a general history of the sea trout as a whole, and in which any 

 peculiarities seen in the various trout forms will be alluded to. 



in Enfdish and Irish rivers ; and having observed that Parnell was guided in his identifications by 

 the amount of preservation, of the teeth on the vomer, or possessing the most numerous 

 spots, he continued: "It is well-known that no distinction of species can be based upon 

 such 'trivial grounds. However, a few of the specimens named S. trutta by Parnell, deviate 

 so much from the typical form, in having a stouter body or shorter fins, or a more perfect 

 dentition on the vomer, that they might be taken for a distinct species. But as they do not agree 

 one with another in several characters, it appears to me much more probable that they are hybrids 

 between the Sea Trout and common Eiver Trout." He considered the difference in the shape of 

 the gill-covers very characteristic for the two species, but admitted that numerous variations occur, 

 and that there are specimens of S. trutta and ,S'. cambricus which have gill-covers of precisely the 

 same shape. That the maxillary and mandibular bones are stronger in the latter than m the 

 former, while the number of cacal appendages he has found in this form vary from 43 to 61. 

 (2) Sewin, the gray of Willoughby, and the Blue Poll of Couch, Salmo camhricus, which possesses 

 from 39 to 47 cacal appendages, although he found examples with from 32 to 52 occurring in the 

 rivers of Norway, Denmark, England, Wales, and Ireland. (3) Salmo hrachypoma, consisting either 

 of grilse of the northern form of sea trout or such examples as possess a short head, short lower 

 limb to the preopercle and from 45 to 47 ca3cal appendages. Of it he observed, as did Jardine when 

 claiming similar specific rank for the salmon par {see p. 84 ante), that "this is one of the best 

 marked species of Salmon " Parnell named three of our (? his) specimens S.farw, and a larger 

 one S. eriox." Couch, in 1864, gave the following as species of sea trout : (1) the iK'«/, which he 

 identified with the scurf, the Trutta salmonata of Willoughby, and the Salmo trutta of Linnams 

 and Yarrell. Found in considerable abundance through the whole extent of the British Islands, 

 he remarked on having received one from " Northumberland, under the name of Hirhng, Salmo 

 albellus " (2) Sewin, which he considered a distinct species from the peal, which he restricted 

 to Wales : he referred it to ,S'. camhricus of Donovan. (3) Truff, sea trout, gray trout, bull trout, 

 or vu^ trout, which he referred to Yarrell's round-tail or ,S'. criox, and said to be irregularly 

 distributed throughout the United Kingdom, but only abundant in the rivers of the north of 

 England, Scotland and Ireland. (4) Salmon-trout, which he again referred to ,S' trutta ot 

 Linnteus and Yarrell, as he had the peal: he considered it more a fish of the north, although 

 occasionally captured in the south and west of the kingdom and also in Ireland. Day (18SU-84) 

 referred the sea trout to a single variable species, and considered tliat (1) the sea trout, ,S. trutta, 

 was generally a northern form, and the (2) sewin, ,S'. cambricus (which has likewise been 

 termed S. eriox) a more southern race, but that they are by no means strictly confined to these 

 localities. 



