79 



Salmonid^. 



"T^R. GUNTHER has well remarked that "the Salmonidce and the vast literature on this 

 -*-^ family offer so many and so great difficulties to the ichthyologist, that as much patience 

 and time are required for the investigation of a single species as in other fishes for that 

 of a whole family. The ordinary method followed by naturalists in distinguishing and 

 determining species is here utterly inadequate ; and I do not hesitate to assert that no one, 

 however experienced in the study of other families of fishes, will be able to find his way 

 through this labyrinth of varieties without long preliminary study, and without a good 

 collection for constant comparison. Sometimes forms are met with so peculiarly and con- 

 stantly characterized, that no ichthyologist who has seen them will deny them specific rank ; 

 but in numerous other cases one is much tempted to ask whether we have not to deal 

 with a family, which, being one of the most recent creation,* is composed of forms not yet 

 specifically differentiated." 



The difficulties here spoken of by Dr. Gtinther, in his preface to the sixth volume of 

 his Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum (London, 1866), have been in a great measure 

 overcome, thanks to the great knowledge and the laborious patience of the eminent 

 ichthyologist himself, and although no doubt a good many questions relating to the life 

 history of some of the members of this family remain at present unanswered, yet it may 

 be safely asserted that Dr. Giinther has successfully combated most of the difficulties which 

 beset the study of the Salmouidcc, and that in him we have an excellent and most trustworthy 

 guide in threading our way through what was before, what he so well describes, a labyrinth 

 of confusing variations. I was well aware of some of these difficult questions before I 

 undertook to write this present work, and therefore from the very day almost on which 

 I embarked, I kept my eye and mind almost without intermission on questions relating to 

 this family of the Salmonida ; I have visited various parts of England, Wales, and Ireland, 

 in order to make enquiries, and especially to procure specimens, and on the whole I may 

 congratulate myself on my success. 



Under the family name of British Salmonidce are included the various species of Salmon 

 proper, whether migratory or non-migratory, the Charrs of the North of England and of 

 Wales, the Pollan, the Gwyniad, and the Vendace of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland respectively, 



* "No fossil true Salmo is known at present; the nearest fossil approaching to it is a RIallotusr 



