124 MALACOP. ABDOM. SALMON FAMILY. 



mon to the young of many of tlie Salmonida^, bu 

 the marks are narrower in this case and more len^th- 

 ened. Between each, or most of these dusky marks, 

 there is a round orange -coloured spot, and a few 

 others are scattered about irregularly. It is from 

 the transverse marks that these pretty little fish are 

 often called Brandlings or Fingerlings. 



Thus strongly characterised, and apparently bear- 

 ing all the marks of maturity and specific individu- 

 ality, it is not surprising that most of our best 

 naturalists should have considered the Parr as a 

 well determined species. Nearly all our older na- 

 turalists regarded it in this light, and also most of 

 the modern ones, among the latter Sir Wm. Jardine, 

 who has laboured with so much zeal and success to 

 elucidate the history of the Salmonidte. Some con- 

 jectured that it was a mule, the offspring of a trout 

 and salmon. Sir H. Davy, who seems to have 

 entertained very loose notions respecting the limits 

 of species, in as much as considering the sea-trout 

 the type, regarding all other true trouts as varie- 

 ties, supposes the Parr to be a hybrid between the 

 sea-trout and common trout. The notion that the 

 fish in question is a certain state of Salmon fry, is 

 of old date. We find Pennant endeavouring to re- 

 fute this opinion, and many others attempting to 

 establish it. While matters were in this unsatis- 

 factory state, Mr. Shaw comes forward with his 

 experiments, the most important, beyond any com- 

 parison, that have yet been made on the projDaga- 

 tion of fresh-water fishes. Of these experiments we 



