GRYSTES SALMOIDES. 27 



Colour. The head is dusky above, and silvery though slightly clouded at the 

 sides, with a bluish-green blotch at the opercle ; the body is also dusky above, or 

 of a bronzed colour with a greenish tint ; the belly is silvery, and along the flanks 

 runs a dusky band, more or less evident, according to the age of the animal ; it is 

 remarkable in the young. The dorsal fin is transparent, with only here and there 

 dusky shades ; the membrane of the pectoral is transparent, but the rays have a 

 yellowish tint ; the ventral is yellowish, and the anal is slightly tinted of the same 

 colour ; the caudal is dusky, with a very obscure yellowish shade. 



Dimensions. The entire length, from the opercle to the tip of the tail, is equal 

 to two heads and a half; the greatest elevation is seven eighths of a head; total 

 length, fourteen inches ; specimens have been observed nearly two feet in length. 



Splanchnology. The peritoneum is silvery. The liver is large, and of a very pale colour ; it consists 

 of a single rhomboidal mass, as there are no marks of lobes ; it is placed mostly in the left side, 

 and projects but slightly into the right. The gall-bladder is large, round, and is in a great measure 

 uncovered by the right margin of the liver. The oesophagus is large and broad. The stomach is 

 large, and has thick, firm, muscular walls, with deep folds of its mucous membrane within ; the 

 pyloric portion is short, thick, stout, and departs at a right angle from its posterior third. The 

 intestine runs to the vent, whence it is reflected to the pylorus, and then it turns backwards to end 

 in the rectum ; its walls are remarkably thick and firm, and its mucous membrane is beautifully 

 reticulated, and presents numerous small areolae for two thirds of its length, and beyond this longi- 

 tudinal folds begin, which are continued into the rectum. There are eleven primitive ccecal ap- 

 pendages, which soon divide into two or three others, so that as many as twenty-eight may at times 

 be counted. The spleen is rather small, very pale, and is situated so far back that its anterior 

 extremity hardly reaches the stomach. The air-bladder is large, and extends throughout the 

 abdominal cavity ; it is full in front, but is partially subdivided into two small pouches behind ; 

 within, it is bright yellow at its superior and posterior part. The ovaries are sub-oval, rather 

 broad, and unite in substance behind, before they open. 



Habits. The Grystes salmoides has somewhat the habits of the common Trout 

 {Salmo fontimlis) ; it lives in ponds or streams of running water, and chooses for 

 its abode deep holes, or the shelter of logs, or the roots of trees that may project 

 into the water ; here it remains perfectly quiet for hours, while other fish are 



