530 TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN. 



the Wener, and the large trout which we used to catch in 

 the Tarra river, up in Quickiock, Lapland, called there the 

 ' ' borting," especially when fresh killed. Now, these " bort- 

 ing," or " borsting," are considered by Widigren to be the S. 

 ferox ; and he, moreover, adds that he can see no difference 

 between S. en'ox and old examples of S. trutta. Be 

 these Lapland fish, however,, what they may, ifc is certain 

 that they must be confined all their lives to these Quickiock 

 waters, for they never can ascend and descend the falls in 

 the Lulea Eiver, to get to and from the sea. I had only 

 one season's experience in the Quickiock waters, and I cer- 

 tainly considered these Aborting" as identical with our 

 Wenerns silfver lax; I only saw one or two, which I 

 fancied more resembled our var lax taken there, and they 

 were small, and might have been even large S. fario. But 

 I fancy they had both forms of these fish in the Quickiock 

 waters. 



There are even now doubts whether this fish is iden- 

 tical with any other European salmon or trout. Dr. Griinther, 

 to whom I sent specimens both of this and S. microps, 

 considered them distinct species; and he further ob- 

 served that our 8. salar (lax) agrees with the ' ' silber lachs " 

 of Lake Constance, in the shape and length of the pectorals ; 

 but the whole form of the head and body of the latter are so 

 peculiarly elongate, that I cannot hesitate to consider them 

 as distinct. 



Hardin has well described the peculiarities of this fish in 

 the following diagnosis : " Eyes large ; upper maxillary 

 bone scarcely reaches to the hinder edge of the eye ; scales 

 lying in regular transverse rows ; their outer division is alto- 

 gether silvered over, and their shape nearly rhomboidical ; 

 spots few, generally cruciform, almost invariably placed 

 above the lateral line and on the gill cover ; tail semi-lunate 

 or cloven, with pointed lobes." "This species/'' he adds, 

 " so much resembles the sea salmon, that we can easily sup- 

 pose it to be a form of that fish, which, on account of its 

 long confinement in salt water, never attains the size of those 

 that inhabit the sea." 



