270 Sir William Jar dines Notice 



abundant, and familiarly known as a parr, has yet some 

 unrivalled mysteries in its history, and there are, I believe, 

 only a few persons at the present time, who are able to 

 say what it really is, or to point out the distinctions which 

 separate it from its congeners. Among naturalists gener- 

 ally, an uncertainty seems to have existed whether this was 

 the young of some of the migrating salmon ; but more 

 lately, this opinion seems to have resolved itself into this, 

 whether the parr was a species, or only the young or variety 

 of the common river trout. The following observations are 

 the result of comparisons made last month between Tweed 

 specimens of the parr and S. Fario. We shall first, how- 

 ever, shortly notice the habits of the former. 



Among the British Salmonidae, there is no fish where the 

 habits are so regular, or the colours and markings so con- 

 stant. It delights in the clearest streams, with rocky or 

 gravelly bottoms, and seems pretty generally distributed in 

 Britain in those which have this character ; but is not at 

 all found in the low and flat districts, where the waters are 

 deep and sluggish. It frequents the shallower fords, or 

 the heads and lower parts of streams, in shoals, hanging 

 nearly in one place, and in constant activity from the exer- 

 tion, apparently day and night. It takes any bait with 

 the greatest freedom at all times, and when no trout, though 

 abundant among them, will rise or bite. That part of its 

 history which is yet unknown is its breeding. Males are 

 frequently found so far advanced, as to have the milt flow 

 upon being handled ; but at the same period, the females 

 had the roe in a very backward state. Neither have they 

 been seen in an advanced state at any other season, or dis- 

 covered spawning upon the shallower streams, like the 

 common trout. It is probable that this little fish may also 

 be found in some of the continental alpine and subalpine 

 streams, but I cannot say so from observation. In the 

 north of Europe I suspect it is wanting ; and in our late 

 excursion to Sutherland, a perceptible decrease of its num- 

 bers was observed towards the north. It should also be 

 observed, that I have never seen the parr, or been able to 

 find any traces of it, except in rivers which had an uninter- 

 rupted intercourse with the sea. The size is from three to 

 six inches in length ; very rarely specimens reach eight 



