20G 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Malacop- 

 tervgii 

 Abdomi- 



nales. 

 Xalmo- 



nidfE. 



Snlmo erioXjOr hull trout, is another British species which 

 attains a large size, and does not seem as yet clearly de- 

 scribed as inhabiting any of the other European waters.' 

 It reaches a weight of twenty-five pounds. It is thicker 

 in proportion to its length tlian the salmon ; the fins are 

 much more muscular ; the tail particularly so, and per- 

 fectly square at the end in all the stages of growth, while 

 the distance between the two extremes of the web is 

 smaller proportionally than in any of the other species. 

 The head is larger in proportion than that of the salmon 

 of a similar weight, and the opercular covering is more 

 lengthened. The toothing is very strong. The general co- 

 lours are, above greenish gray, the lower parts silvery 

 white ; the body above the lateral line being thickly cover- 

 ed with large cruciform black spots. In the breeding 

 dress they assume a much blacker tint than the salmon, 

 and want much of the red markings. All the under parts, 

 jaws, and cheeks, become blotched with deep blackish 

 gray. The flesh is of a yellowish tint, and is coarse, ex- 

 cept in the young state ; it has the least flavour, and is 

 consequently less esteemed in the market than any of the 

 other species. The hook of the under jaw of the male 

 does not become so elongated as in the salmon. The old 

 fish commence to enter the rivers about the end of July, 

 and appear to deposit their spawn and return to the sea 

 about a month earlier than the salmon. The young fish, 

 of from two to three pounds weight, and in this state 

 known as whitlings, enter the rivers about the beginning 

 of June. In all its states it is a very powerful fish, and 

 feeds voraciously and indiscriminately. When hooked it 

 springs repeatedly from the water, and runs (to use an 

 angler's expression) with extraordinary vigour to free it- 

 self. The river Tweed and its tributaries are among the 

 principal localities for this fish. It occurs also, though 

 more sparingly, in some of the rivers of the Sol way, but 

 appears to be rare on the west and north coasts of Scot- 

 land.^ 



Salmo Irutta and alhua. — These fish have been by most 

 modern Ichthyologists described as distinct. The charac- 

 ters of each, however, are extremely difficult to determine ; 

 and it is most probable that they will both be found to 

 merge into one species, entitled to the name ot Salmo trutta. 

 Both fish are very abundant, and are taken in great quan- 

 tities in the Solway and its tributaries, and along the great- 

 er part of the west and north coasts of Scotland. In the 

 first-named locality, they bear the name of sea trout, 

 herling, and wliitling ; in the two latter, of white trout and 

 Jinnock ; and being transported to the markets of our 

 metropolis, they receive the additional name of salmon 

 trout. Thus we may easily conceive the immense con- 

 fusion that may and has arisen from the use or abuse of 

 provincial names. Along the south-east coast of Scotland 

 they appear less abundant ; but this may arise from the 

 larger mesh employed in the nettings. The Tay and the 

 Forth supply the Edinburgh market. In its largest state, or 

 as known under the specific title oi trutta, it enters the rivers 

 from two and a half to six pounds weight in the end of May. 

 It is of an elegant form, and possesses all the symmetry of 

 the salmon. The head is small, the back remarkably broad 

 when viewed from above ; the tail slightly forked, and wide 

 at the extremity of the web ; the colour above greenish, 

 inclining to bluish-gray, lower parts of the clearest silver ; 



terygii 

 Abduini- 

 r.ales. 

 Salmo- 

 iiida;. 



body above the line spotted, as in .S. eriox, with large, deep- Malacop 

 black spots, but generally much fewer in number. The 

 flesh is pink, richly flavoured, and much esteemed for the 

 table. It ranks next to that of the salmon, and by many is 

 esteemed more delicate than even that prized species. The 

 S. albuSfOr smaller and younger state in which it is found, is 

 very nearly of the same proportion, form, and colours. They 

 approach the mouths of the rivers in the end of July and 

 commencement of August, in immense profusion, and im- 

 mediately enter the fresh waters, where an angler may 

 take almost any quantity without the exercise of great 

 skill. In the north they form a perquisite to the tax- 

 men or kayners of the salmon fisheries, — above a thou- 

 sand being sometimes taken at a sweep of the net. In the 

 Solway they are taken in equal abundance in houses of 

 the stake-net, covered for the purpose with net of a 

 small mesh, and are then carried to the various country 

 markets, and during the height of the run to the villages, 

 in cart-loads, for sale. The flesh of this smaller fish (whe- 

 ther species or variety, as the case may be) is also pink, 

 and delicately flavoured. Its food is likewise the same as 

 that of the larger kind; in the sea small Cr\istncea{Talitrus 

 locusta being a favourite and common food), — in fresh wa- 

 ter aquatic insects, worms, minnows, or other small fish. 

 They appear also to spawn rather earlier than the salmon, 

 and after the same manner. The colours of both sorts 

 during the breeding season are deep-grayish black, slight- 

 ly tinted with brown in the males ; and at this time they 

 offer a most marked contrast (being black and lean) to the 

 symmetrical form and brilliant silvery tints of their per- 

 fect condition. 



The preceding species (S. salar, eriox, trutta, and al- 

 bus) — whether three or four in number, is still, as we have 

 said, a dubious point — appear to be the only migratory 

 salmon yet known to inhabit the waters of Great Britain. 

 On the Continent of Europe, however, we have the 



Salmo hucho, said to be peculiar to the waters of the 

 Danube, but most probably migratory to the Black Sea, 

 and certainly not a native of the British waters, though 

 inserted in many of our lists. It is a fish of extraordinary 

 power, attaining to the weight of sixty pounds ; and is of 

 more lengthened proportions than the common salmon. 

 The flesh pale coloured, and rather coarse. The young 

 have large transverse bands upon the back and sides ; 

 with age these break up into spots, and gradually disap- 

 pear, till the ground colour becomes uniform, and is only 

 broken by the ordinarily black or violet spotting. In Ame- 

 rica, again, we have in this division the 



Salmo Hearnii, or Copper-mine River salmon. Above 

 olive-green, pale on the sides, and shading into bluish 

 white, marked with longitudinal rows of flesh-red spots, 

 largest on the sides, where they are about the size of a pea. 

 The scales, like those of the other salmon of America, 

 are much smaller than those of the European species, and 

 in this fish they possess peculiar lustre. The teeth are weak 

 and few, their size inferior to those of the common salmon. 

 Their flesh is red. This fish is abundant during July and 

 August, below the falls of the Copper-mine River. 



The migratory salmon are distinguished from those 

 which inhabit only the fresh waters by the clear grayish 

 blue of the upper half of the body, and the brilliant sil- 

 very lustre of the belly and lower parts. Among those 



appointed to investigate the subject of the salmon fisheries. We beg also to refer to Dr Knox's Observations, published in the 12th 

 volume of tbe Transactions of the Roi/al Societi/ of Edinbarfsh. 



' The young is the whitUng of the Tweed, the Bir-uick trout of the London markets ; but tlie ■whitlinf; of all our Scottish rivers is not 

 necessarily the young of .V. eriox, in as far as provincial names are sometimes variously apjilied. In regard to the more scientiSc 

 synonyms of this species, we know not what degree of relationship its adult state may bear to the Tru'ite dc Ncr of the French,— 

 Salmo Schicfr.rmulkri, Bloch, 103. 



^ \Ve liavc no doubt that the Xor-xay salmon of the Sulherlandshire fisheries is identical with the above-described species, — that 

 is. with the full-grown Salmo eriox. _ 



