FRESH-WATER TROUT— VARIETIES AND NAMES. 203 



who attended Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, in a progress through Wales in 

 1188, tells us of eels, trout and perch existing in the lakes of Suowdon which 

 only possessed the right eye, they being invariably blind with the left. The Fischau, 

 near Mandorf in Germany, was reputed to contain blind trout {Fr. Em. Bruclc- 

 inanni Epist. Itin. xxxvi, Wolfenh. 1734, p. 10). A deformed race of , trout are 

 asserted to exist in a small loch in Invcmess-shire near Pitmain ; among them 

 there appears to be an arrest of development in the upper jaw, giving theii- heads 

 a slight resemblance to those of bulldogs {see plate xii), due to the projection of 

 the lower jaw {Ewyc. Brit. 7th ed., art. Aug.). Similar malformations are seen 

 in the "ground trout" of Penyghent (Yorkshire Vertehrata) and many other 

 places. 



In the British Museum is a specimen nearly six inches long to the fork of the 

 tail, from the Okemont river, presented by Mr, Tegetmeicr. It is almost toothless, 

 there being only a few in the gums of the premaxillary bone of the right side near 

 its external angle, one on the vomer, and a few others in the mucous membrane. 

 Comers of tail clipped ; length to fork of tail 5"8 in., of head 1'5, eyes 0-3, apart 02, 

 from end of snout 0'3 inches. 



In Loch Islay exists a race of tailless trout, Salmo Islaijensis, Thomson 

 (Tranquaii-), Journ. Anat. Phy. vi, p. 411, pi xix, and Thompson, Science Gossip, 

 1872, p. 85, asserted that in some streams such had been traced to be due to the 

 action of deleterious matter in the water (see Angler's Note Booh, 1880, p. 66). 

 Mr. J. Harvie-Brown observed, about 1876, that a contraction of the rays of the tail 

 fins of the trout in the river CaiTon occurred, and was believed to be due to continuous 

 pollution of the water through the agency of paper mills. At Malham Tarn, in 

 Torkshu'e, 1240 feet above sea level, the trout are distinguished by a deficiency or 

 malformation of the gill-covers in about one in every fifteen captured. As I have 

 seen the same result due to gill-fever or consequent on breeding in confined places, 

 I believe this to be at least one of the causes. On Plinlimmon, and in adjacent 

 parts of Wales, are " hunchbacked " trout, having deformed vertebral columns as 

 already alluded to (see plate xii). In some, at least, of these instances the young 

 are reared where cascades are falling over heights into a series of pools, and the 

 egg'coming within the reach of these, sufiers injury, and consequently disease of the 

 spine (so common in fishes) is set up. Barrrngton (Phil. Trans. 1767) remarking 

 upon some examples crooked near the tail continued, "These trout are only caught 

 in a small basin, eight or nine feet deep, which the rivers form after a fall from 

 the rocks." Perch were found to be similarly affected, the same cause acting 

 apparently on either form. There are likewise races in which some local cause 

 has set up local action, as of the stomach alone for instance, the gillaroo 

 (see p. 194), due to the food it indulges in, has the muscular coat of its stomach 

 thickened, which abnormal structure has been reproduced in succeeding genera- 

 tions. For it must not be assumed, because in certain examples we arc unable to 

 find Limnea and other shells, tliat the fish has never consumed any ; they may have 

 been digested, or it may have varied its food, or the shells may have been 

 temporarily unobtainable. In County Derry, in the river Glonlark in the Munter- 

 loncy Mountains, "Mr. Sinclaire states that the water and stones are deeply 

 tinged with a rust colour, of wliich the trout likewise partake. Their flesh is very 

 bad and of a metallic flavour ; so bad are they that the country people will not 

 eat them, and as they are not fished for, the river abounds in them" (Thompson, 

 Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, 153). 



Names.* — Brooh trout, burn trout, hrown trout, yellow trout, eldrines (Esk). The 

 Botlinfj of Wastwater in Cumberland, Tarrell suggested must be a male trout, 

 hlaclc nehs, and many other local names have been already alluded to. Aller-float 

 or aller trout, refers to a large one frequenting a hole in a retired or shady 



* In Austria varieties of the brook trout are distinguished as forest- or stone-trout ; alpine- or 

 mountain-trout; gold- or pond-trout; the lake trout; and, according to the lighter or darker 

 colouring, the white-trout, the black-trout, ic. Some are said to be always barren, while the 

 breeding season ia from September to January (United States Fishery Fu'])ort', 1876, p. 009). 



