SEA TROUT— DESCRIBED. 171 



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rounded " (Catal. vi, p. 35). This may be merely an error of description conse- 

 quent upon his not having seen any very large specimen, for he makes the .same 

 statement of the Lochleveu trout, -which I shall show to be incorrect. Other 

 authors who record having obtained this form with a rounded tail, he considers 

 must have referred to the salmon-trout, thus showing how very doubtful this 

 asserted difference between the two forms must be in nature. 



CcBcal appendages. — The number present in a sea-trout have been considered 

 sufficient to assist iu fixing whether it pertains to the northern, eastern, and Irish 

 salmon-trout, or the southern, west coast and Irish sewin race, differences which 

 Dr. Giiuther gave as follows : — Salmo trutta from 43 to 61, S. camhricus from 

 32 to 52, while some whose numbei's interfere with this division are disposed of 

 as hybrids (see p. 157). Parnell recorded from 9 sea trout captured in Scotland 

 that 8 females had 48, 50, 50, 52, 54, 54, 54, 55, or an average of 53 : and 50 

 in one male. I have found the following in 13 specimens of male salmon-trout, 

 33, 40, 40, 42, 43, 46, 47, 50, 50, 52, 52, 56, 60, or an average of 47, and in one 

 female 49. In 6 specimens of sewin from the south and west coast, 36, 36, 37, 

 39, 40, 48, they averaged 39. One from Ireland had 33. It would consequently 

 appear that in the sotith (except at Fordwich, where the feeding for trout is said to 

 be exceptionally good) the number of coscal appendages is less than in the north. 

 This is just the reverse of what the British Museum examples of brook trout 

 show, as the northern race are recorded as possessing from 33-46, and the 

 southern from 38-47 {see pp. 11 and 157). It is however clear that these organs 

 are unstable in numbers {see pp. 22 and 144 ante), a subject which will be 

 considered more in detail {see p. 188). Colours — these, doubtless, vary in 

 accordance with local circumstances, for the fish generally become darker and 

 more spotted the longer they have been from the sea, as has been recognized 

 from the time of Johnston, 1649 {see pp. 151 ante). But even in the same 

 locality great differences of colour may often be observed, more especially if in 

 estuaries* or within the limits of the tides. On November 24th, 1886, I 

 examined several of the northern race of these fishes, or salmon-trout, at Howietoun, 

 where they had been kept waiting to be spawned. The males had a whitish 

 edge to the caudal, dorsal, and ventral fins, while the adipose dorsal was edged 

 with orange. The fins and under surface of the head were nearly black, the 

 dorsal spotted with black, and some purplish-red or purplish-black spots existed 

 on the body. On July 26th, 1886, I examined the trout in the tank of the 

 National Fish Culture Association at South Kensington. The colours of the sea 

 troTit had become so similar to fresh-water forms, that a stranger could not 

 discriminate between them. One had been three weeks in salt-water tanks, but 

 still its colours were unchanged ; the poor thing, however, was blind, which may 

 liavo been the reason. 



Respecting the colours in the par stage of these fishes, one knows of so few 

 well-authenticated instances of such, as to be a little doubtful whether the fish 

 described were the undoubted fry of the sea trout. It is true Dr. Giinther stated 

 that "the number of bars is not quite constant, but the migratory trout have 

 two (and even three) more than the river trout " (Catal. vi, p. 3).t This, how- 



* The Earl of Diicie, writing September 2nd, 1887, observed, " I have lately returned from 

 Norway, where I have been fishing in lakes and streams between 61° and C2° N. lat. The 

 Bea trout for which I fished chiefly, were from 10 lb. to -J lb. Some were thickly covered with 

 black spots, this was the usual type; others had scarcely any spots. One sea trout of about 

 1| lb. weight had three large spots in a longitudinal line on each side, and no other ones. 

 Some of the least spotted varieties might have been taken for salmon, so bright were they. 

 Boiling, however, always showed the pale pink flesh of the Norwegian sea trout. There was, 

 however, a diiierence in their degree of . merit for the table : outward appearance was not always 

 a trustworthy guide in this respect. With few exceptions these fish had square tails, but in a 

 few cases, never exceeding 2 lb. weight, the tails were forked, we thought that these fish were 

 more cylindrical in form than the others. Different types were found in different waters, often two 

 or three types occurred in the same locality, but the variety, thickly covered with large black 

 spots, was common to aU places." 



t Dr. Giinther deposed in the orange-fin case, June 4th, 1872, that " there is a distinction 

 between the young of Salmo salar and a number of the furios. In the par of the former I have 

 counted as many as nine or ten cross bars, and in the latter only six or seven " (p. 126). 



