84 SALMON. 



Characters of the Sub-generic Group Salmones. — "Teeth not only on the head of the vomer, but also along its 

 body; in a few species the posterior teeth are lost with age, and only a more or less conspicuous ridge remains 

 along the median line of the bone, which becomes visible after removal of the membrane." — Gunther. 



rpHE Salmon, "the King of Fresh-water Fish," as old Izaak Walton rightly calls him, was 

 -L unknown to the ancient Greeks; being chiefly a northern fish, and not found in the 

 Mediterranean, it did not come within their knowledge. Pliny and Ausonius amongst Roman 

 writers allude to the Salmon; the former merely states that "in Aquitania the River-Salmon 

 is preferred to all sea fish." Ausonius gives a very good description of a Salmon, and 

 doubtless had both seen its movements in the Moselle and had tasted its delicious flesh, as 

 is evident from his lines — 



"Nee te puniceo rutilantem viscere, Salmo 

 Transierim, latae cujus vaga verbera caudae 

 Gurgite de medio summas referuntur in undas, 

 Occultus placido cum proditur sequore pulsus. 

 Tu loricato squamosus pectore, frontem 

 Lubricus, et dubice facturus fercula coenae, 

 Tempora longarum fers incorrupta morarum, 

 Prresignis maculis capitis, cui prodiga nutat 

 Alvus, opimatoque fluens abdomine venter." (97 — 105.) 



"Nor will I pass over thee, O Salmon, blushing with thy red flesh, the roving strokes of whose broad tail are 

 borne from the middle of the stream to the top of the water, at such time as the hidden lash betrays itself on the 

 calm surface. Thou, clothed in scaly armour, slippery as to thy fore part, and able to constitute a remove for a 

 most excellent dinner,*' dost bear keeping fresh for a long time; thou art conspicuous with thy spotted head; thy full 

 paunch trembles, and thy belly overflows with abdominal fat." 



My own translation is literal. Pennant gives the following in blank verse, but with less 

 faithfulness to the original : — 



to' 



"Nor I thy scarlet belly will omit, 

 O Salmon, whose broad tail with whisking strokes 

 Bears thee up from the bottom of the stream 

 Quick to the surface: and the secret lash 

 Below, betrays thee in the placid deep. 

 Arm'd in thy flaky mail, thy glossy snout 

 Slippery escapes the fisher's fingers; else 

 Thou makest a feast for nicest-judging palates; 

 And yet long uncorrupted thou remainest: 

 With spotted head remarked, and wavy spread 

 Of paunch immense o'erflowing wide with fat." 



Anonymous [^Brit. Zool. iii. p. 383-.)., ed. 1S12.) 



The Salmon is an inhabitant of the fresh waters of the northern and temperate parts of 

 the world, occurring in Scandinavia, Iceland, Russia, Germany, Holland, France, Great Britain, 

 and North America. It is said also to occur in Northern Asia. Its geographical range in 

 temperate Europe reaches to about 43° north latitude; it extends southwards to the Bay of 

 Biscay, and appears to inhabit Northern Asia and America to latitude 41° north. It does 

 not occur in any of the rivers which flow into the Mediterranean. It is migratory in its habits, 

 descending to the sea after it has deposited its spawn on the gravelly beds of the rivers. 

 "The natural history of the Salmon," as Mr. Russel well says, "is not only interesting in 

 Itself— interesting for what is known and settled, for what is guessed and controverted, and 

 for what remains as utter mystery and dire perplexity — but is also important as having a 

 bearing upon, or rather forming an essential part of the commercial and legislative questions." 



* The dtihia cana of the Romans implied so many good things that you did not know what to choose. 



