194 SALMONIDiE OP BRITAIN. 



(ed. 1) ii, p. 60, c. fig. (ccl. 2) ii, p. 110 (cd. 3) i, p. 288 ; Riclicards. Fauna Boi-.- 

 Amer. Fisli. p. 144 ; Nilss. Skaa. Faun. p. 412 ; White, Catal. p. 78 ; Giintlier, 

 Catal. vi, p. 92; Day, Brit, and Irish Fishes, ii, p. 9G, pi. csiv, f. 2 (monstrosity). 



Salar ferox, Cuv. and Val. xxi, p. 338. 



Lahe trout or Buddagh, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, iv, p. 222. 



Powan-eater, Loch Lomond. Bolaclians iu Ireland when small. 



Variety. Gillaroo Trout.* 



Tlw Gillaroo, B.an-ington, Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. 1774, Ixiv, p. IIG ; Watson 

 1. c. p. 12 L ; Hunter, 1. c. p. 210; Sowerby, Brit. Mi.sc. t. Ixi ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish, 



figured is similar to Sir W. Janlino's original form of Salmo ferox. Pennant alluded to having 

 heard of Irish specimens weighing 30 lb. In Sampson's Lowlonderrt/ they were said to reach 

 50 lb. iu Lough Neagh : Thompson observed that it attains upwards of 30 lb., and mentioned one 

 from Lough Melvin, taken October 19th, 1840, of 28 lb., and a second of 32 lb., sent to the Dublin 

 University Museum. 



It has been taken in Lochs in the north of Scotland, and as far south as Ulswater and 

 Derwentwater, up to 50 lb. or GO lb. (Heysham) : also Lliinberris in Wales, and many Irish lakes, 

 as Lough Ncagh, L. Melvin, L. Eske, L. Erne, and, in short, in most of the larger ones. 



* This has been considered a distinct variety or even species, due to the abnormal thickness 

 of the middle coat of its stomach, otherwise, observed Mr. Barriugton, there are no exterior 

 marks by which it can be distinguislied from the common trout. Pennant asserted that the 

 increased thickness of the stomach proceeded from the superior quality of shell-fish which it 

 finds in the waters it inhabits, and which may call more frequently for the use of its comminuting 

 power than is requisite in those of our common trout. Thompson (1. c.) observed that the coats 

 of other species of Salmones than S. fario (of which only the gillaroo is set down as a variety) 

 become muscular from the same cause. He alluded to having found it in .S". /Vco.r, and asks why 

 among these the gillaroo should be deemed a species, and other forms of trout not so, in which 

 the coats of the stomach are similarly indicated, one fails to comprehend. Sir J. Richardson 

 observed: — " We may here note the existence of a strongly-marked and peculiar variety, called 

 the gillaroo trout of Galway. It is remarkable for feeding on shell-fish, in consequence of which 

 (it is supposed) the coats of the stomach acquire a great degree of thickness, from which 

 peculiarity it is sometimes called the (ii::ard trout." Sir H. Davy observed that " the char of 

 the lakes of Southern Austria feeding similarly (to the gillaroo trout) have a like thick stomach." 

 Dr. J. D.avy remarked that the river trout when feeding chiefly on incased larvae acquires a 

 stomach of unusual thickness, like the gillaroo trout of many of the Irish lakes, feeding chiefly 

 on shell-fish. While there is a preparation in the Hunterian Museum of the stomach of a 

 common gull which had been kept alive by Dr. John Hunter, who had gradually brought it to live 

 entirely on corn. The muscular paricties were found to be as thickened as those of the common 

 trout would be did it select shell-fish as its diet instead of softer food. In the International 

 Fisheries Exidhition in London, 1883, Mr. Capel exhibited two specimens of trout said to be 

 gillaroos reared from eggs from Lough Melvin ; one died and was thrown away, the second I 

 obtained; on opening it, its stomach was found to be similar to that of the common brook trout. 

 Since then it has been observed that this thickening diminishes or entirely disappears in those fish 

 raised in new localities. It generally prefers a rocky bottom, and is said to breed in the shallower 

 parts of lakes, and not to ascend rivers for this purpose. It is found iu the Shannon, Lough 

 Corrib, Lough Mask, Lough Derg, Lough Melvin, &c. The colours of this variety may be due to 

 the character of the food it indulges in, while in somelocalities its flavour is considered excellent, in 

 others quite the reverse. In Lough Melvin they are somewhat hog-backed, fine in colour, and well 

 flavoured : iu Lough Derg, soft, colourless, and inferior. Its stomachs are occasionally served up 

 in Ireland as gizzards. Thompson obtained from the stomach of one example, about 8 inches long, 

 above 1000 shells of Limnea pcregra, Valvata inscinalis, and a few Spluvrium corneum. Stoddart 

 observed, this variety is found in a small tarn or loch, situated on a shoulder of Ben More, in 

 Sutherlandshire, about three miles from luchnadamph, named Mulach Corrie. In June, 188G, I 

 visited this locality for the express purpose of examining this form, and obtained a good number 

 of specimens, one of which is figured (see plate x, fig. 2). The colours varied, but some examples 

 were very dark, and the fins, especially of the tail, purplish. I found in three examples, 39, 42, 

 and 4-") ca^cal appendages, while the stomach was but little thickened : in them were smaU 

 Crustacea, but no shells of any description. 



A discussion on the gillaroo in The Field in 1881, was thus concluded by the editor. " To 

 sum up the facts we have gained, the flavour of the gillaroo no doubt is very much a question of 

 locality and of circumstances. It appears that some are of good flavour, and some indifferent. As 

 to its gameness, it varies also, apparently, some fighting well and some lubberly. Both these 

 things may be said of trout out of the same stream and the same reach. With respect to size, 

 it cannot be doubted that it does attain a large size. The fact of its being a very early spawner, 

 with great power of assimilation as regards its food, would vouch for this, if nothing else would. 

 We think, therefore, on the whole, that it may be fairly assumed that it is a most desirable fish 

 to cultivate, which was the query started." 



