166 SiLMONID^ OF BRITAIN. 



■whereas others appear to ignore size, holding the Truff to be a young sea tront. 

 The average weight of white-fish are said Vty some authorities to be from half to 

 three quarters of a pound. In two examples 12-4 and 13 inches respectively 

 in length from the Teign, the gill-covers and form of the head resemble what 

 has been described in the TrufE of the Dart, and likcsvise agree with small 

 specimens of the Welsh sewiu. Teeth — in the smaller example eleven are present 

 along the body of the vomer and five along the hind mai'gin of the head of that 

 bone. In the example 13 inches long, there arc four teeth along the liody of the 

 vomer, and three on the hind margin of its head. One had 3G, tlie other 37 

 CTOcal appendages. Colours — the largest had much fewer spots on the body and 

 fius than the Dart Truff. 



Some have considered it very improbable that the Welsh sewin,so excellent as 

 food, could be identical with the whitc-fleshcd and insipid* Teign or Dart fish, 

 but alterations as considerable in the value of the flesh of the northern whitling 

 and other local races of sea trout have been observed. While we find as great 

 variations in our brook trout, in accordance with the character of the watci's they 

 inhal:)it and the amount or quality of food they are able to obtain. But, differing 

 as these races do among themselves, whether in size, colour, or even in some 

 structural points, the offspring, if placed in suitable surroundings, may improve, 

 while, on the other hand, the finest breeds will deteriorate in unsuitable places. 

 Should, however, any temporary cause, as mine- water in Devonshire rivers, {see 

 pp. 55 ante,) have injured the local race of fish, and this cause has been removed, 

 it perhaps becomes worthy of consideration whether it might not bo advisable to 

 olitain the progeny of a finer lii-eed fi-om elsewhere and introduce them into the 

 water, instead of waiting for the improvement of the local deteriorated form. 



Fig. 40. Heail, natural sine, of female Truif, 

 8"2 iuchfs long, from the Dart. 



the Erme, salmon are never seen above the tidal water, ami very few even there. If the above 

 fisli were young salmon, why should they never appear as full-grown salmon in the upper parts 

 of tlie river ? On the Avon, on the other hand, where salmon have very much increased for the 

 last fifteen or twenty years, the peal and truff are much fewer in number, and the white-fish of 

 the same kind as those in the Erme are now seldom seen, although the river is at all times 

 swarming with the samlets, which are the unmistakable salmon fry. I have not the smallest 

 doubt that the white-fish, peal, and truff of the river Erme are all the same fish in different 

 stages of growth " (G. C. G., FieliU February 14th, 188.5). Couch considered the white-fish to be 

 the early growth of the peal, and believed the Welsh sewin and the blue poll S. alhns to be 

 distinct and separate species. " Old Log," Field, February 14th, 1885, observed, that "curiously 

 enough, I find that the old monks, some five hundred years ago, knew the difference between peal 

 and sahnon in the Dart, and in ofticial records specify them both by their Latin names — thus : 

 'salmones, trutes, peles, et alii pisces.' " 



* Wear Gifford, FiV/t/, March 27th, 1880, remarked that "if the best specimens are selected 

 and cooked with care, they will not disappoint those who have acquired a taste for eating bread 

 poultices." 



