58 SALMONID^ OF BRITAIN. 



Old females frequently sliow small knolis, and instances have been recorded 

 in which large ones* have existed, and still the fish has been fertile. Other sexual 

 distinctions have already been referred to (page 23 atitt'). 



Names. — Speaking generally this fish in its full-grown condition is known as the 

 salmon ; in the Severn, one on its second return from the sea is often called a (jerl- 

 i'lig or giUion or gilling (this term seems to be one which is mostly used in order to 

 refer to the size of the fish, as from 8 lb. to 15 lb.) or a hotelier on its first return 

 when under 5 lb. weight, although the more general designation is grilse (Pennant 

 termed them gilse); when under 2 lb. weight it is usually termed salmou-j^eal by 

 fishmongers. From one to two years old, before it has gone to the sea it is known 

 as a par,f 2^>'iJ^'j smolf, smelf, salmon-fry, sprag, or salm(in-s2)rhig (Northnmbcrland), 

 samlet, hrandling, fingerlivg, hlaclc-fin, hlue-fin, sliccl, skegger, gravellivg, liepper, 

 laspring, gravel-laspring, slcerlhtg, or sparling in Wales ; spiatvn (in the Dart, 

 A.Pike): 7iioo;--ryc(Z (Exmoor) : uiojv/a/t' (Somersetshire): s/reajiicr (in thcTamar, 

 W. Mason). Isaak Walton used the terms tccov, samlet and sl-eggcr for the young 

 of the salmon. A third-year salmon is known as tx, pug (Halliwell). In Northum- 

 berland a "milter" or spawning male is known as a summer-coch or gih-jlsli, 

 and a salmon as a simen. In the Severn, a salmon which has remained in 

 fresh water during the summer without going to the sea is termed a laurel, but 

 usually applied there to a well-mended kelt. After spawning it is a l;elt or 

 s7rt^, but a male is generally termed a IcipperXKnA. afemale a slieelder or a haggit, this 

 latter term according to Jameson means " pregnant " or "gravid " fi.sh : aLso at 

 Inverness as maels and sliiags (Fraser). In the Ribble, according to Willoughby, 

 salmon of the first year were termed smelts, of the second year sprods, of the third 

 j'ear morts, of the fourth year fork-tails, of the fifth year lialf-fish, of the sixth j-ear 

 salmon.^ Dr. Davy also observed that mort and sjoTiiZwcre names used in Cumber- 

 land indiscriminately to the salmon and salmon-trout. In an old work we are told 

 that in the north of Scotland the fi-y were termed hrood and cocl-sprr, and Stoddart 

 mentioned the largest and most compactly built ones being called grey-sch iile which 

 ascend for spawning in October until February. In the Tay those exhausted duiing 

 spawning-time are termed Mojfat-men {Parliamentary Commission, 1824, p. CI). 

 The designation hull-salmon and hnll-pinlcs employed in the Kirkcudbright Dee 

 has been said to refer to well-mended kelts. In Ireland Sampson i-emarked upon a 

 samlet or jerlcin, which Tighe termed a ginkiv, but the term ^iar was more frequently 

 emploj-ed to the north and gravcl-ing to the south. Par are also termed rack-ridir 

 or sprats and larger ones leaders (Miller). At Kerry a kelt is termed judy, and 

 Rutty stated that a grilse was called a graiul, and Johnston that it was known in 

 Lough Foyle as a grayling. Welsh, cawg, male salmon : cemyw huryddell, female 

 salmon: spawning, maran, or a salmon on his third return from the sea (Severn). 

 {(jleisiedyn, eog, and maran. Pennant.) De Zalm, Dutch. Le Sanmon, French. 



A correspondent of Land and Water (Scotus, March 2rth, I8S0) gave a list 

 of the Gaelic names for salmon in the Highlands of Scotland as follows : — 



The fish after this is rather snub-nosed, and tlie point is rather indented and liglit coloured, hut 

 it soon wears smootli and resumes its proper shape." The slhilit tap to render a salmon, such as 

 I have figured, " snub-nosed," would have to break off most of the premaxillary bones (No. 17) 

 and the anterior end of the mandibles (No. 34); and even then, should the fish survive, its snout 

 would never " wear smooth and resume its proper shape." 



* In 1884, when fishing a| river in N.W. Eoss-shire, I killed a salmon having most fully 

 developed the " horny projection," and the same day another salmon was killed by a friend, 

 also having the same horny projection. These two fish on being cut up were both found to 

 contain well-developed ova, and were undoubtedly female fish. A third friend who had fished 

 the same river for ten years, said to us, that only once before had a similar case come under his 



notice The first two fish weighed about the same, viz., 11 lb. (J. Harvie-Brown, Zoologist, 



May, 188G, page 215). 



t Jameson in his Scottisli Dictionary spells this form jjnr, and j)nn- appears to be a modern 

 innovation. 



; In Acts of Parliament passed in the time of Queen Anne, Salmon strikes or lii2>pers are 

 mentioned. 



§ Prior to ISfil, when angling for young salmon was stopped in the Severn above Shrewsbury, 

 the Marcli, April and May shoals formed of pars or pinks were known as salmoii-fi-y, and the 

 autumn smolts as samlets. 



