OF GREAT BRITAIN. 53 



At Herdcott House, near Salisbury, there is 

 preserved the skin of a Trout that turned the scale 

 at 25 Ibs., and was in length 4 feet 2\ inches ; in 

 girth it measured 2 feet i inch. Another fish is re- 

 corded to have been taken in a small tributary of the 

 Trent at Drayton Manor exceeding in weight 2 1 

 Ibs. ; but there appears to be some doubt whether 

 it was a bond fide Yellow Trout or a Salmo trutta. 



The usual spawning-time of Trout is in the 

 latter end of October or November, and thence up 

 to the beginning of February (the operation, how- 

 ever, in each particular fish continuing only about 

 eight days) ; and at this period the under jaw in 

 the old males exhibits in a modified degree the 

 elongation and upward curving characteristic of the 

 male Salmon at the same time. 



From the experiments of Dr. Davy, elsewhere 

 commented upon, it appears probable that at least 

 a proportion of Trout, like some Salmon, spawn 

 only in alternate years. The situation chosen for, 

 and the mode of conducting the spawning-pro- 

 cess are also very similar to those noticed in the 

 Salmon, the eye, however, of the young fish be- 

 coming visible in about three weeks, and the egg 

 being usually hatched in from forty to fifty days. 

 The number of eggs, in proportion to the weight 

 of the fish, is about the same as in the case of the 

 Salmon^ The yolk-bag is absorbed in from three 

 to five weeks ; and in six weeks or two months the 

 young fry are about an inch long and able to shift 



