loo BULL TROUT. 



trutta), an opinion confirmed by external appearance, and by the varying number of pyloric 

 appendages, which in one specimen was found to be as low as fifty-four ; yet the relative 

 size of the scales on the tail is in all these Bull Trout the same as in the Salmon. Captain 

 H. Fraser believes that other specimens of Bull Trout are true Salmon, which, having gone 

 down to the sea as kelts, return to fresh water before having attained to the condition of 

 well mended fish. Thus, as regards the river Beauly at least, fishes named 'Bull Trout' do 

 not constitute a distinct species, but this name would appear to comprise — 



1. Hybrids between Salmon and Sea Trout. 



2. Specimens of Salmon returning from the sea before being well mended. 

 V Sterile specimens — as, for instance, the specimen mentioned above. 



The differences between 'Bull Trout' and Salmon are sometimes so slight as to be 

 scarcely perceptible by an inexperienced eye. From what I have seen on the Beauly in the 

 month of August, I should say that the numbers of Salmon, Bull Trout, and Sea Trout are 

 as 30 : 3 : i. 



I may also add here that I have seen specimens of Salmo bracliypoma in the same river, 

 and that they are named there 'Phinok,' a name used for the grilse state of 5". trutta on 

 other rivers." 



A gentleman, Mr. R. S. Congreve, — writing from Balmaghie, Castle Douglas, N.B., — who 

 has considerable experience as a Salmon-fisher, believes the Bull Trout of Scotland to be the 

 Common White Trout (Salmo trutta). He thinks "that at a certain unknown age they cease 

 from breeding, and also that they cease from going down to the sea in the spring, and 

 from coming up into the rivers in the autumn ; that they then grow to a large size ; in Loch 

 Awe they are frequently caught of a great size, but never are of the silvery white colour 

 characteristic of the Sea or Salmon Trout that ascend and descend the rivers annually; the 

 scales are imbedded in the skin." He adds, "I myself have caught one of sixteen pounds 

 weight, and have known them caught over twenty pounds." 



Mr. Gillone, of Tongueland, Kirkcudbrightshire, considers the Bull Trout of the Dee to 

 be simply a diseased Salmon. He says as a rule the flesh is not quite so good for eating 

 as the Salmon; that in seven cases out of ten it will cut white and eat dry; but that 

 exceptional cases occur in which the flesh cuts as red as that of a Salmon. 



Thus it is certain that various species of Salmonida are sometimes designated as Bull 

 Trout. Is there, however, no distinct species to which the name should be applied? There 

 is one river in the north of England, the Coquet, where these so-called Bull Trout abound, 

 to the exclusion of other migratory Salmonidcc. Through the kindness of Sir Walter Riddell, 

 Bart., I have been fortunate enough to procure from Mr. Jacob Douglas, the keeper at Hepple, 

 Rothbury, four fine specimens of these Bull Trout — three males and a spent female. (Nov. 

 18-29, 1878.) I have also a few young specimens in their parr state, obligingly given me 

 by Mr. Frank Buckland. 



Whether this Coquet fish is really a distinct species I will not take upon myself to 

 determine, but it most decidedly deserves a separate plate and description. Certainly it does 

 fairly well answer to Dr. Gunther's description of Salmo trutta; but it is said that there is 

 this remarkable peculiarity about the Coquet Bull Trout — it is almost white in the colour of 

 its flesh, and very inferior as an article of diet. Mr. Dunbar, in a letter he has been good 

 enough to write to me, says that the flesh is "very poor in flavour, and cuts nearly as white 

 as a Cod; in fact they are not half so good as Cod." He adds that there are very few rivers 

 in Scotland where there are not some of these Bull Trout ; but of all the other rivers in the 

 kingdom the Coquet may be said to be a pure Bull Trout river, for there are at least one 

 hundred of these fish to every Salmon, and they run up to twenty-five pounds in weight. "I 

 have taken," he says, "over a ton weight in a morning, and not one Salmon in the lot." Of 



