FISHES. 239 



Parr. These it retains until it has completed its second year, 

 and reached the length of six or seven inches. These mai-kings 

 then disappear — the old name is laid aside with the old dress, 

 and it is in luture known, not as the Parr, but as the Salmon 

 smolts or fi-7/. The fish, therefore, which has hitherto been 

 called the Parr, and believed to be a distinct species, proves to 

 be merely the early state of the Salmon ; and thus one nanu- 

 is struck from our list of native species. 



A remarkable fact is mentioned by Mr. Shaw, that " the 

 milt of a single male Parr, whose entire weight may not ex- 

 ceed one ounce and a half, is capable, when confined in a small 

 stream, of effectually impregnating all the ova of a very large 

 female Salmon." 



The young fry are descending the rivers in March, April, 



and May — a fact referred to in popular couplets : — 



" The floods of May 

 Take the smolts awaj"." 



They most generally retm-n to their native rivers. The 

 fishermen acquire such habits of quick and accurate observa- 

 tion, that they point out with facility one that is a stranger, 

 and name, in most cases, the place from which it came. This 

 we have repeatedly seen them do at the fisheries on the Banu, 

 and so promptly and decidedly, as to show they entertained no 

 doubt on the subject. 



Esocidm. — The Flying-fish is nearly allied to the present 

 family, that which is represented by the Pike {Esox lucius). 

 This is a strong, fierce, active, and voracious fish, of whose 

 audacity many stories are told. Gesner relates that a Pike 

 in the Rhone" seized on the lips of a Mule that was brought 

 to water, and that the beast drew the fish out before it could 

 disengage itself.* " At Lord Gower's Canal at Trentham, a 

 Pike seized the head of a Swan as she was feeding under 

 water, and gorged so much of it as killed them both ; the 

 servants perceiving the Swan with its liead under water for a 

 lono-er time than usual, took the boat and found both Swan 

 and Pike dead." 



It was formerly a rare fish in these countries ; so much so, 

 that Edward I. fixed its value higher than that of Salmon, and 

 ten tunes greater than that of the best Turbot or Cod ; and, 

 in the reign of Henry VIIL, a large one sold for double the 



• Yairell, vol. i. All the information here given on the Pike is de- 

 rived from that author. 



