SEA TROUT— HABITAT AND SIZE OF. 



181 



and grilse, wliilc in the Fovtli and Tay and other large rivers difficult of access in 

 the north the bull trout is almost a stranger. It is also present in the rivers along 

 the north-east coast of England, more especially the Coquet, Tyne, Tees, and Wear. 

 It is less frequent on the west coast of Scotland than on the east. In Yorkshire 

 very abundant along the coast and present in all the rivers frequented by the 

 salmon (Yorkshire Vertebrata) . In Norfolk it is frequently taken in the Ouse 

 and the estuary (Lowe), and the " Fordwich trout " from Kent is of the northern 

 form. Sewjji, S. canihricus, is generally found in the south of England and in 

 Wales extending Tip the west coast of England, but in Cumberland salmon- 

 trout appear to be most numerous. In Ireland it is common around the coast, and 

 there the salmon-trout, ;S'. trutta, are likewise found. 



In 1873 Frank Buckland, Familiar History of British Fishes, having observed 

 that " it has been supposed by some that the sea trout and bull trout are 

 identical," which views he held to be erroneous, although he found it to be 

 impossible to explain their differences in writing, and considered the practical test 

 to be the boiling-pot. The flesh of the sea trout he held to be red and savoury : 

 that of the bull trout white, leather-like and insipid. He believed that the bull 

 trout were gradually gaining ground on the salmon owing- to the presence of 

 ■weirs, the mesh of the nets being too large, and their getting first to the spawning 

 beds. That the bull trout being stronger than a salmon, should some of both 

 species arrive at a weir, the former will surmount the obstacle, leaving the 

 latter below. He observed that there were no bull trout in the Lune, Clwyd, 

 Seiont, Cleddy, Avon (Somerset), Avon (Devon), Frome, Avon (Hants), Stour. 

 No increase in the Dee, Teifi, Wye, Taw and Torridge, Toign, Tees, 

 Otter, Bxe, Camel, Tamar and Plym, Dart, Ribble. An increase in the north 

 Tyne and the Usk. Subsequently (1880), he remarked that the fish-wives 

 occasionally clip the round tail of the bull trout quite square and sell it for true 

 salmon. Also as these fish are not being captured during their autumn run, 

 the netting season ought to be lengthened and the use of " splash-nets " permitted 

 at the mouths of the rivers, and the mesh of the net altered at certain seasons. 



As to the size it attains there exists the head of one in the British Museum 

 10 in. long from the Tweed, which measurement would seem to show the fish 

 must have been nearly 4 ft. in length. Buckland remarked that at the end of 

 November, 1868, the Honourable Charles Ellis caught with the rod at Brigham 

 Dubb, on the Tweed, a male fi.sh, 4 ft. 1 in. in length, weighing 441b. This was 

 one of the " Gray skull." One upwards of 21 lb. and measuring 41 feet in 

 length, was taken in a small tributary of the Trent at Drayton Manor, and sent 

 by Sir Robert Peel to Yarrell, the skeleton of which is now in the Museum of the 

 College of Surgeons. In the Usk Mr. WiUis-Bund has recorded a bull-trout 

 kelt 15 or 16 lb. weight, taken January 3rd, 1870 : one of 28 lb. January 11th, 

 1873 : and one of 20 lb. taken in a putcher at Goldcliff on April 4th, 1876. 



The figures in plate V consist of (No. 1) a male salmon-toout from the Teith, 

 15 in. long, and which had 57 ciecal appendages, and (No. 2) a female sewin 

 15 in. long which possessed 40 appendages. 



Fig. 41, Fresh-water Snails. 

 3, Ancylus (enlarged). 



1, Planorbis: 2, Limnea percgra. 



