SALMONS. 



2S\ 



upon Crustacea and water-insects. Most are in- 

 habitants of fresh-waters, either permanently or 

 periodically; a very few are marine. One hun- 

 dred and thirty-two species are included in the 

 Family by the Prince of Canino, which are widely 

 scattered over the Old and New World. 



Genus Salmo. (Linn.) 



The true Salmons (including the Trouts) are 

 the most completely toothed of all fishes, having 

 a row of pointed teeth in the maxillaries, the 

 intermaxillaries, the palatals and mandibularies, 

 and two rows on the vomer, the tongue, and the 

 pharynx, — so that there is scarcely a part of the 

 interior of the mouth which is not bristling with 

 this armature. The general form is spindle- 

 shaped ; the body is clothed with scales, of which 

 the head is deprived ; the mouth is cleft to the 

 eyes or beyond them ; the ventrals are placed 

 under the dorsal, and the anal under the adipose: 

 the belly is smooth ; the air-bladder extends the 

 whole length of the abdomen, and communicates 

 with the gullet. The tip of the lower jaw is bent 

 upwards in old males, and received into a notch 

 above. Many species are marked with spots, and, 

 in early youth, all are clouded with transverse 

 dusky patches. 



We have at least seven species of this genus in 

 Great Britain, the common Salmon, ,five which 

 bear the name of Trouts, and the Char. Of 

 these the Salmon, the Salmon Trout, and the 

 Bull Trout, are migratory, periodically ascending 

 rivers to deposit their spawn, and then returning 

 to the sea, exhausted with the effort. The others 



