272 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



purple-red and dark bars with the purple streaks along the 

 rays have a singularly beautiful appearance, likened by Mr. 

 Pritt to the wing of a butterfly. 



Fin-rays: dorsal, 2024; pectoral, 1516; ventral, 

 10-11; anal, 11-14; caudal, 21. 



The specific name thymallus is said to have been given 

 by Ausonius from its peculiar thyme-like smell when first 

 captured. This has been doubted by many. Some say 

 it has no smell at all ; others that the scent is more like 

 cucumber ; whilst Mr. Lloyd is inclined to attribute it to 

 their eating the Gyrinns natator, the water- bug, a little 

 water-insect which has the most unpleasant odour, very 

 different to that of the grayling. 



This peculiar thymo-cucumber scent of this fish is most 

 perceptible in fish from ^ Ib. to I Ib. in weight. 



In former days the grayling was known under the name 

 of Umber, derived, according to Cotton, from its blackish- 

 brown spots, but according to other authorities from the 

 Latin word umbra, a shadow, in allusion to its rapid rise 

 and its sudden disappearance. 



The term grayling is said to be a corruption of "grey 

 lines." Might it not be from "gray-ling," the latter being 

 a corruption of " long," or " slender," in the same way as 

 the Neotms vulgaris is called the Ling or Long ? 



Grayling have been supposed by some to have been 

 imported from the Continent, but there is very slender 

 foundation for this, except that the fish are found in rivers 

 on which religious houses were placed. In those early 

 days, when fish was an important article of the diet of the 

 monks and those professing the Catholic religion, it is 

 much more probable that the monasteries and religious 

 houses were built on the banks of rivers where the fish, 

 especially trout, grayling, and pike, were most prevalent ; 

 and as the grayling comes into season when the trout is 

 unfit for the table, it would be of considerable importance 

 to all religious orders to have this fish near them. In 

 those days there would be considerable difficulty, to say 

 the least of it, of importing the fish from the Continent, 

 and artificial spawning was not in vogue at that time. 



