422 PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. [SALMO. 



anal similar to the dorsal, more in advance than the adipose, terminating 

 in a line with this last fin ; third ray longest ; first two simple ; the rest 

 branched ; the last two from one root : tail, between the adipose and the 

 caudal fin, more slender than in the next species ; the end of the fleshy 

 portion cut square, appearing truncated : caudal very much forked when 

 young, gradually becoming less so as age advances, but never (except 

 perhaps in very old fish) quite even : pectorals more than half the length 

 of the head ; tneir inferior margin rather concave ; second and third rays 

 longest : ventrals beneath the middle of the dorsal ; rather shorter than 

 the pectorals ; the axillary scale half their own length : number of rays, 



B. 12 ; D. 14 ; A, 12 ; C. 19, and some short ones ; P. 15 ; V. 9. 



Number of vertebrae sixty. (Colours.) Bluish gray or lead-colour; ab- 

 domen silvery ; here and there, principally above the lateral line, a few 

 dusky spots : dorsal, caudal, and pectorals, dark gray ; ventrals deeply 

 stained, especially on their inner surface, with the same colour ; anal less 

 so, nearly white. In the fry, till about five or six inches long, the sides 

 shew more or less indication of dark transverse bands. The adult male, 

 during and after the spawning season, acquires a reddish tinge. 



Found both in the sea and in rivers. Principal fisheries carried on in 

 Scotland, the North of England, and Ireland, where the species is very 

 abundant. Begins to ascend rivers in April; at the approach of Autumn, 

 pushes up towards their sources in order to spawn, springing up cata- 

 racts, and surmounting any other obstacles which oppose its progress. 

 Spawning season principally from October to February, but varying 

 much in different rivers. Male and female pair for the occasion, and 

 excavate a furrow in the gravelly or sandy beds of shallows, in which 

 the spawn and milt are deposited simultaneously. After spawning, both 

 sexes return to the sea in a very reduced state ; the males going down 

 sooner than the females ; at this season, the former are called Kippers, 

 the latter Kelts. Young fry, termed Smolts or Samlets, appear about 

 March, and keep going down to sea from the end of that month to the 

 middle of May : after remaining in the sea some weeks, they return to the 

 rivers, having attained to the weight of from a pound and a half to four 

 or five pounds : fish of the former weight, and up to two pounds, termed 

 Peal; of the latter weight Grilse, which last name they retain till they 

 have spawned once, when they are called Salmon. From the time of 

 their first return to the rivers, they increase rapidly in size. Greatest 

 weight which the species attains to forty or fifty pounds, sometimes more: 

 Pennant mentions one which weighed seventy-four pounds. Food at 

 sea, according to Fleming, principally the Sand-eel. Obs. According 

 to M. Agassiz*, the S. hamatus of Cuvier is only an old fish of this spe- 

 cies: the S. Goedenii of Bloch (Ichth. pi. 102.t) the young. 



104. S. Eriox, Linn. (Bull Trout, or Grey.) Pos- 

 terior margin of the gill-cover very little curved : vomerine 

 teeth confined to the anterior extremity : caudal even : 

 back and sides spotted with purplish gray; ventrals plain 

 white. 



S. Eriox, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 509. Turt. Brit. Faun. 

 p. 103. Flem. Brit. An. p. 180. S. Cambricus, Don. Brit. Fish 



* Edinb. New Phil. Journ. vol. xvn. p. 385. 



t Mr. Yarrcll thinks that the fish figured by Bloch on his 102nd plate is only S. Fario. 



