SEA TROUT— DIVISIONS OF. 



151 



gradations -without showing any definite lino of demarcation, while it is not 

 infrequent for individuals of the southern race to be found in the northern portions 

 of the British Isles, and vice versa. 



Among British Ichthyologists up to the period when Eay's posthumous work 

 on fishes was published in 1713, two forms of sea trout were recognized,* the 

 larger and that most esteemed for the table being known as the gray-salmon. 

 Trutfaceum cinereus, and the Bull or scurf trout T. salmonata, which was smaller, 

 rarely exceeding 20 inches in length, possessing rank and odorous flesh, as well as 

 a shorter and thicker head than the first. 



Whether Linnreus in his description of Salmo irutta intended to describe an 

 estuary or non-migratory form of this fish has been questioned, for as long ago 

 as Johnstonf its variability in colour had been pointed out. Bat little alteration 

 was made for some years subsequently, except that Pennant introduced as a new 

 species the grilse-stage of the northei-n form of sea-trout, as the white-trout, while 

 Sir Humphry Davy, in 1824, classed all our varieties under one head, Salmo 

 erio.r. 



But shortly afterwards more activity in searching for and naming fresh species 

 set in, commencing with Fleming J in 1828 and Jenyns in 18.35, who recognized 

 a bull trout with a forked tail fin or the scurf, also the northern grilse with a 



* Sibbald in his NatKrnl History of Scotland, 1684, placed among the river fish salmon trout 

 or Truitasalmoneta, and in his hst of those from the lakes the great-Ialie trout suggesting whether 

 the last could not be the bull trout. Willoughby, in l(J8(j, gave a brief description of Salmo 

 (iriscuii, or the gray salmon, which he considered of a better flavour than the salmon or salmon 

 trout : while the scurf, Trutta salmonata, or bull trout, he observed, differed from the gray-salmon 

 in being smaller, rarely exceeding twenty inches in length, having its head shorter and thicker, 

 while its flesh possessed a rank and disagreeable smell, and was not so red in colour as seen in 

 the salmon : also that its tail was rounded, or but slightly forked. Ray (1713) adhered to the 

 views enunciated in Willoughby's work and gave the gray trout, Truttaccum cinereus, and the 

 scurf or bull trout T. salmonata. (See p. 10, ante.) 



t Johnson, Ite Piscilius, 1(519, offered advice concerning the discrimination of species of these 

 fishes which would not be amiss were it considered in the present time : "In Salmonum et Trut- 

 tarum speciebus distinguendis nimium ne crede colori : nam is pro tempcstate anni, aut aquarum 

 diversitate, mirum in modum variat." Also, that " a mari adventantes in flumina maculis 

 carere, quas postea mora in aquis dulcibus contrahant." Linnffius (Syst. Nat. i, p. 509), 

 described Salmo trntta, but which example appears to have possessed ocellated spots and a double 

 series of teeth along the body of the vomer, this has led to the conclusion that he intended to 

 describe a non-migratory fresh-water fonn. Pennant, 1776, suggested whether the " gray 

 salmon " might not be a mere variety of the salmon from which he only separated it on Ray's 

 authority, but he thought it must be the sewin or shewiu of South Wales, and Salmo erio.r: of 

 LinnsBus. While the sea trout, Trutta salmonata, he considered of a thicker shape than the river 

 trout. He also admitted the white trout of the Esk, in Cumberland, which he remarked was 

 " called by the ScotspJiinocs." Low in his Fauna Orcadensis, written prior to 1795, admitted the 

 salmon trout, bull trout, or scurf, Trutta salmonata, which he asserted do not grow in the Orkneys 

 to so large a size as the Burn-Trout, were not so esteemed as the flesh was " always white, and 

 but ordinary" (p. 2'22). Donovan, 1802-1808, figured the sewin or Salnw cambricus, which he 

 considered identical with the gray-salmon. Turton, 1807, admitted the Salmo eriox, or " the 

 shewen," of a deep silvery-gray, with purplish-gray spots, and a nearly even tail ; and the salmon 

 trout, ,S'. trutta, with black drop-like spots on the head, body, and dorsal fin. Sir Humphry 

 Davy, 1824, only recognized one form of sea trout S. eriox, which he observed was known under 

 different names in different districts, as salmon-peal, sewen, bull trout, but most correctly as 

 sea trout. 



J Fleming, 1828, while recording the bull trout having a forked tail which he considered 

 identical with the scurf, owing to some error placed it under the head of Salmo hucho, observing 

 that it possesses no teeth " in the middle on the vomer : " also the phinock S. albus, also with 



a forked tail, 

 common in the 

 sea and rivers of 

 Scotland and the 

 north of Eng- 

 land, and seldom 

 reaches a foot in 

 length. The sea 

 trout, S. trutta, 

 with a nearly even 

 tail, attaining to 

 about 3 lb. weight 

 and 18 in. in 



Fig. 23. Grey trout, 

 S. eriox (Yarrell). 



Fig. 24. Salmon trout, 

 S. trutta (Yarrell). 



length, and the 

 gray-trout S. 

 eriox, also with a 

 nearly even tail 

 of much more 

 clumsy shape 

 than the last, 

 seldom entering 

 rivers before 

 July. Fleming's 

 bull trout may 

 have referred to 

 an old male 



