240 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Classifica- 

 tion — Ma- 

 lacopteri. 



the family, the Fario and Salar, by equally descriptive 

 ■ lines which will be quoted when these fish are noticed. 

 Fni'io argenteus of \'alenciennes, " Truite de nier on 

 Truite argentee," is stated by him to be identical with the 

 Siilmone Cuinherland of Lacepede, and with the Salmon- 

 Trout of Yarrell, the S. trutta of British ichthyologists. It 

 is also according to the last-named author, the " White 

 Trout " of Devonshire, Wales, and Ireland, but is more 

 abundant in the rivers of Scotland, where it is named the 

 Sea Trout. In the Nith it is taken in quantities, associated 

 with young of other species, and sold, together with them, 

 under the name of " Hirling;" but on attaining the larger 

 size of several pounds weight, it is distinguished as the Sea 

 Trout. Its head and dentition are correctly figured in ])late 

 92, fig. 1, A and B oi the Fauna Boreali Americana. The 

 Hirling has been named Salmo al/ms, and locally, " Whit- 

 ling." In its largest stiite, or a^ known under the specific 

 title of <S'. frulla, it enters the i-ivers from two and a half to 

 six pounds weight in the end of May. It is of an elegant 

 form, and ])ossesses all the symmetry of the Salmon. The 

 liead 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 ; body above the line 

 spotted, as in <S'. eriox, with large, deep-black spots, but 

 generally much fewer in number. The flesh is pink, richly 

 flavoured, and much esteemed for the t;ible. It ranks next 

 to that of the Salmon, and by many is esteemed more deli- 

 cate than even that jirized species. The S. alhu.^, or smaller 

 and younger state in which it is found, is very nearly of the 

 same pro|)ortion, form, and colours. They approach the 

 mouths of the rivers in the end of July and commencement 

 of August, in immense profusion, and immediately 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 taxmen or kayners of the Sal- 

 mon fisheries — above a thousand being sometimes taken at 

 a sweep of the net. In the Solvvay they are taken in equal 

 abundance in houses of the stake-net, covered for the pur- 

 pose 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 (whether 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 Crus- 

 tacea ( Talifnts locusta being a favourite and common food) ; 

 in fresh water, 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, slightly 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 perfect condition. It is of this fish that Ausonius, in 

 his poem on the Moselle, already quoted, says, — 



Teque inter species geminas, neutrumque, et utrumque, 

 Qui necdura Salmo, nee jam Salar, ambiguusque 

 Amborum medio Fario intercepte sub cevo ? 



thus well expressing the doubts still entertained after a 

 lapse of fifteen hundred years. 



Salar r/riseus aut ciiieieus, Willughby and Ray. We 

 have adopted these names as not subject to the same mis- 

 apprehension with erio.r, which our modern British ichthy- 

 ologists have borrowed from Linnaeus, but M. Valenciennes, 

 after much investigation into the synonyms of the Sa/mo- 

 nidm, says that it is altogether impossible to discover at this 

 day the species which the Swedish naturalist had in view 

 when he characterized eriox ; and M. Valenciennes has not 

 recognised the S. griseun in the French rivers. The Eng- 

 lish fish is named the Bull Trout, the Gray Trout, the 



Whitling, and the Romid-tail, according to the district in Classifica- 

 which it is taken. In Wales it is called the Sewin ; and "<"' — *'?" 

 Donovan has given it the specific appellation of Cam&riscus, l*™?'^"- 

 but it is often confounded in the markets, and even by fish- ^"V""^ 

 ermen, with the Fario aryentctis. The same thing occurs 

 in Dumfriesshire, the young of the two species on their first 

 return from the sea being sold under the name of " Hir- 

 ling." They come up the river Nith from the Solway Firth 

 with the tide, and are very plentiful for a short time. The 

 best flavoured Hirlings of the two are the yearlings of the 

 Fario argenteus ; but the flesh of the Salar griseus is also 

 red on coming from the sea, and seems to be more juicy 

 and rich than that of older Bull Trouts. The Salar gri- 

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

 in propoition to its length than the Salmon ; the fins are 

 much more muscular ; the tail particularly so, and perfectly 

 square at the end in all the stages of growth, while the dis- 

 tance between the two extremes of the web is smaller jjro- 

 portionally than in any of the other species. The head is 

 larger in ])roportion than that of the Salmon of a similar 

 weight, and the 0])ercular covering is more lengthened. The 

 toothing is very strong. The general colours are — above, 

 greenish gray ; the lower parts silvery white ; the body 

 above the lateral line being thickly covered with large cru- 

 ciform black spots. In the breeding dress they assume a 

 nuich blacker tint than the Salmon, and want much of the 

 red markings. All the under parts, jaws, and cheeks, be- 

 come blotched w ith deep blackish gray. The flesh is of a 

 yellowish tint, and is coarse, except in the yoimg 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 de|)osit their spawn 

 and return to the sea about a month earlier than the Sal- 

 mon. 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 power- 

 ful 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 itself. The River Tweed and its tributaries, and the 

 Nith, the Annan, and Esk, which fall into the Solway, are 

 the principal Scottish localities for this fish. 



Salmo hamatus, Cuv., is described at length in the His- 

 toire des Poissons, and reasons assigned lor dissenting from 

 the opinion of Agassiz w ho holds that it is the male of 

 Salmo salar. Salmo Jniclio is the Salmon of the Danube, 

 where it attains the weight of 30lbs, and it is reported, even 

 of 601bs. Gesner says that its flesh is white, and less 

 agreeable than that of the common Salmon ; while Cornide 

 says that it has a good flavour, but is a little dry. The 

 huclto spawns in June, in hollows excavated in the gravelly 

 bottoms ; the male and female working together and hiding 

 themselves in these hollows from the nets of the fishermen. 

 Mr Reissinger has verified these observations in Hungary. 

 In Galicia this fish is named " Reo." It is a mistake to 

 suppose that it is an inhabitant of the British waters. S. 

 umbla, a fourth species, is common in the eastern parts of 

 France, in Switzerland, and the Tyrol. It is the L' Ombre 

 chevalier of the French, and M. ^'alenciennes considers it 

 to be identical \^■ith the Charr of England, the ^S'. carpio of 

 the Fauna Daniea, and the " Kebleriksoak" of the Green- 

 landers and of Otho Fabricius ; and he quotes, with com- 

 mendation, Mr Yarrell's figure of the Northern Charr, as 

 enabling him to recognize the species. M. Valenciennes 

 rejects the Linnean name of alpinus, applied by most 

 English ichthyologists to this species, as he says that re- 

 ferred to a different species. He retains, however, the 

 name of .S'. sahelinus for the other English Charr, though 

 that also was differently used by Linna;us ; but it is the fish 



