38 THE SEA-TROUT 



[ shall be able to submit facts which at least suggest that such variation 

 of habit is by no means impossible or even improbable. 



This introductory chapter has alread)' grown to an unconscionable 

 length, but there is one other vexed question upon which some general 

 comment must be made, and I crave the reader's patience. 



Mr. Regan's dismissal of the migratory habit as an indication of 

 species, or even race, leads him to the conclusion that the trout is a 

 sea-trout. I have for my part suggested that certain sea-trout may just 

 as probably be trout, but whichever view is taken will not affect the 

 discussion which follows. 



Mr. Regan states : — " Two races of Sea-trout may be recognised, 

 although in many cases it is impossible to say to which race an individual 

 may belong unless one knows beforehand where it comes from," about 

 which statement there is a curiously Hibernian ring. " However," he 

 continues, " the Sewen (S. cambrictis) of Wales, Ireland, and our 

 Western coasts often differ from the Sea-trout {S. albiis) of the east 

 coast, in having a longer head, a larger mouth with stronger jaws, the 

 suboperculum projecting backwards beyond the operculum, and the 

 fins somewhat larger, the lobes of the caudal especially being more 

 produced. When typical examples of the two races, of the same size 

 and sex, are compared, these differences may be seen, but they are 

 slight, and not always apparent." And he elsewhere states : — " Some 

 trout appear to go farther out to sea and to grow more quickly than 

 others, and this is especially the case with the trout of certain rivers 

 such as the Coquet and the Tweed ; in the latter, sea-trout more than 

 four feet in length and weighing nearly 50 lbs. have been captured." 



Now Mr. Regan had no wish to detract from the weight of his main 

 thesis, " that there is only one species of trout " in the British Isles, but 

 he was puzzled to account for the " bull trout," and so he seems to 

 ascribe it to a barely distinguishable race. Other systematists, in much 

 the same way but more elaborately, have drawn a distinction between 



