SALMOMD.*;. 99 



renc3. This Truiit is fuuirl uuly iu thes'3 rivjrs, and so far as 1 can 

 laarn, instead of running up to the head waters of the streams in 

 ord?r to spawn, comes up only to the foot of the first rapids with the 

 flood, and returns with tha tide of ebb. Even about this Trout I have 

 my doubts, though before finishing this work, I hope to have more 

 dofinite information on the subject. 



With regard to the fish mentioned above, I have no doubts whatever. 

 It varies in nothing from the common Trout but in those particulars, 

 which prove that it has run to the salt-water. 



The last-named variety, Salmo Hiccho, which is also cited, on the 

 authority of Smith, as a fish of New England, stands in the same 

 category with the last-mentioned. 



There is no such fish on the continent of America ; and, indeed, 

 even on the European continent, where alone it is found, its limits are 

 narrower, and its geographical range smaller, than that of any known 

 fish. It is, in fact, found only in tributaries of the Danube, more 

 especially in the Traun, the Saave, the Draave, and the Laybach 

 rivers. Some writers have supposed him to be purely a fresh-water 

 fish, but it is believed by Davy, that, in his largest state, he is an in- 

 habitant of the Black Sea. He is said to spawn in the Muir between 

 March and May, and in the Danube in June. 



He is the fiercest and most predatory of all the Salmonidce, and it 

 is useless to attempt the captm-e of large ones with the fly. Spinning 

 tackle, the bleak, the minnow, and small trout, or parr, are the only 

 modes, and the only bait which he cares to take. 



In shape, he resembles an ill-fed Trout, being the longest and 

 slenderest of all the Salmonidce^ the ratio of his length to his girth 

 being as 18 to 8, or in well-fed fish, 20 to 9. He has a silvery belly, 

 and dark spots only on the back and sides, which, in itself, shows suffi- 

 ciantly that he is not the fish described by Smith under this name. 



Smith's fish is described " as resembling much the Sea Trout ; but 

 being found, on a careful examination, to be more slender, and to 

 have a greater number of red spots. The back is dusky ; the ventral 

 fin has a yellowish tinge ; all the others are of a palish pm-ple ; the 

 tail is forked, and the fish measures sometimes four feet through — or- 

 dinarily they are only about two, and are caught by the hook. This 

 Trout certainly exists in the large rivers and ponds in the interior, but 



