234 COMMON TROUT. 



Peal; nostrils about half way between the eyes and snout. 

 Beginning of the dorsal fin five inches back, with twelve rays, 

 decreasing in length; pectoral rounded, with thirteen rays; 

 ventrals close to each other, nine rays; anal ten, the two last 

 from one root; the tail wide, concave, the upper and lower 

 portions rounded, twenty-two rays. The colour varies Avith the 

 colour of the ground, and also with the health; the back 

 yellowish or reddish brown; cheeks and sides grey, or a rich 

 yellow, white below. Gill-covers often sparely spotted, as is 

 the dorsal fin, of the colour of the back; anal yellowish; but in 

 both these fins, and almost invariably the anal, the first ray has 

 a white border, becoming broader upward; sometimes dark at 

 the dorsal; pectoral yellow; the adipose fin bordered with red. 

 The sides studded with dark spots; red spots along the lateral 

 line, and some above and below, each spot with a light-coloured 

 border or circle. It is material to remark, as distinguishing 

 closely -allied species, that the vertebrae of the Trout have been 

 counted as fifty-six, and the cseca, or processes at the beginning 

 of the intestine, under fifty in number; and the stomach itself 

 has a membranous character, by which among other things it 

 is distinguished from the Gillaroo. 



In the several varieties of the Trout mentioned by Sir William 

 Jardine, or otherwise observed, it is instructive to notice the 

 accompanying influences of soil, elevation, degree of light and 

 shade, and also the nature of the food on which the varieties 

 are chiefly fed, and to which we have already referred; and all 

 of which, with their combinations, will eflfect material changes 

 of colour on the surface and within the flesh; as they will also 

 on the configurations of particular organs, even, as we shall 

 have occasion to point out, to a considerable amount of abnormal 

 structure; or, as it is commonly expressed, of monstrosity. And 

 this effect is rendered more considerable, so as to become even 

 hereditary, by the circumstance that these fish in their usual 

 habits are not able commonly to mingle with others of a different 

 stream; so that by breeding only among themselves, a peculiarity 

 once obtained is likely to become a permanent character of the 

 race or district. 



Sir William Jardine remarks in connection with the fish 

 which he describes as his first variety of the Trout, and which 

 he found in Loch Craigie, in Sutherlandshire, that the country 



