22 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX. 



I have been careful not to insert in the lists below 

 any doubtful species, unless personal identification has 

 satisfied me that it is an inhabitant of the river under 

 which it is named, and, therefore, a member of the 

 Essex Fish Fauna. 



Of the small fresh-water section of England's 

 noblest river the Thames which we can claim as 

 belonging to this county, the list must necessarily be 

 brief, owing to the impure condition of the water. From 

 this list, scanty as it is, I fear, in truth, that some even 

 now may be absent. Whenever that golden time arrives 

 (as it must some day), when the Thames waters are 

 once more pure and undefiled, the lordly salmon will 

 again be seen passing up to its spawning grounds, 

 w r hile numerous other species will people the clear 

 waters of the river, as in the days when, for conveni- 

 ence, fishing-tackle makers were fain to establish 

 themselves hard by it in Crooked Lane, London. 



FlSH FOUND IN THE RlVER THAMES. 



1. Flounder, Pleuronectes flesus. 



2. Salmon, Salmo salar. 



3. Sea-trout, Salmo trutta. 



4. Smelt, Osmerus eperlanus. 



5. Allis Shad, Clupea alosa. 



6. Twait Shad, Clupea finta. 



7. Eel, Anguilla vulgaris. 



8. Sturgeon, Acipenser sturio. 



9. Lamprey, Petromyzonfluviatilis.. 

 10. Sea-lamprey, Petromyzon marinus. 



