Fl.i:sil .\M> WKKJilT (>V I'lJoHT. .-,7 



Tilt' tislii-nncn of that ili.stiirt, on tin- lake, assert, 1 uiulc r- 

 staiul, positively that this is not the fast-; hut of course thtir 

 opiuiou is utti-rly \ahieh\ss, hein^ louiuh-d on sonic such aihiii- 

 rahh' reason as tliat the Hrook Trout ncMr ^'rows to he Jihove 

 fi\f or six pounds; meaniut^ only that they have never seen 

 what thi'V take to lie one over that aviia;4e. .lust in the same 

 numner, a person nsi-d to take a ti>h only in thi' small uiouiitain 

 brooks of Maini\ New llauipshire, or \ eriuont, iuii;iit tell you 

 (juitc as plausibly, (piitc as positively, and (|uife as truthlully — 

 so far as iiis miserable experience of truth goes — that tlu' Hrook 

 Trout never jxrows to be above half a pound — nor does it in his 

 waters. 



The ('onwnon Trout of En;^'land [.'Sulmo Fariu), which is so 

 closely connected with our lirook Trout (Sulmo FonlinuUs), as 

 to be constantly mistaken for it by casual obs(>rvirs, is con- 

 tinually taken in the larger rivers, especially the Thames, ami 

 in some of the Irish waters, from ten to fifteen pounds in 

 weight. Mr. 'barrel, when prepariui; his " Hriti>h Fishes," had a 

 minute before him of six Trout taken in the Thames, a))o\(' 

 Oxford, by minnow-spinning, which weiLchcd togctlur liftv- 

 four pounds, the largest weighing thirteen pounds; and one is 

 recorded in the Transactions of the Linmean Society as having 

 been taken on the 1st of January, \^12, in a little stream 

 ten feet wide, branching from the Avon at the back of Castle- 

 strcct, Salisbury, which on being taken out of the water was 

 found to weigh twenty-five pounds. 



These instances, which are beyond dispute, in relation to a 

 species so closely related to our li.«<h a.s the Sulmo Fariu, render 



