THE SALMON. 235 



fringing any of the laws laid down for the purpose of pre- 

 serving the salmon and trout. How, then, are we able to 

 distinguish the one from the other ? Dr. Day (" British 

 and Irish Salmonidse ") asks the question, " What is a 

 parr ? " and says : " The young of the salmon in Acts of 

 Parliament were formerly designated as fry and smolts ; 

 while of late years the term parr has been commonly used, 

 which has been said to be calculated to mislead, because 

 there are salmon-parr and trout-parr." 



Yarrell ("History of British Fishes," first edition, 1836) 

 makes the parr or samlet a distinct species ; and at that 

 time this was the general opinion. He also says : "It 

 is this similarity in the marking and appearance of the 

 fry which has caused the difficulty in distinguishing the 



THE SALMON. 



various species when so young ; and experimenters, believ- 

 ing they had marked young parr only, have been surprised 

 to find some of these marked fish return as grilse, young 

 bull-trout or whitling, salmon-trout, river-trout, and true 

 parr ; " and further on states " that this little fish, one of 

 the smallest of the British Salmonidce, has given rise to 

 more discussion than any other species of the genus." 

 But in the second edition, 1841, he says: "In order to 

 prevent any misconception of the terms employed, I shall 

 speak of the young salmon of the first year as a pink; on 

 its second year, until it goes to the sea, as a smolt; in the 

 autumn of the second year, as a salmon-peal .or grilse ; 

 and afterwards as an adult salmon." In a subsequent 

 edition he gives up the parr as a distinct species. 



