FISHES OF THE WEST. 335 



end (I am describing him in the water as I saw him in my ponds 

 an hour ago,) the ventrals are large and beautifully striped with 

 alternate streaks of brown and pink, the anal is plain brown, the 

 caudal is very forked and plain, while the crowning glory is its 

 immense dorsal ; this fin rises forward of the middle of its back, 

 and in a fish a foot long it will be nearly three i'lches in length by 

 two high, having a graceful curved outline, and from eighteen to 

 twenty rays dotted with large red or bluish purple spots, which in 

 life are brilliant, and are surrounded with a splendid emerald green, 

 which fades after death ; it does not seem as if this green could be 

 represented by the painter's art ; it is that changeable shade seen 

 in the tail of the peacock. 



" In shape the fish is like a trout, a trifle slimmer, perhaps, and 

 not so thick near the tail, but the fin on the back of a trout looks 

 so small and square, so deficient in outline and color, after behold- 

 ing the graceful curve of a grayling's dorsal. The scale is large, 

 silvery, with sometimes a copper tinge ; near the shoulders there 

 are black spots, sometimes triangular, and at others V shaped ; in 

 some fish these extend nearly to the tail near the back ; they are in 

 lines which gradually shorten towards the belly ; the mouth is small 

 (nearly square when opened), and the teeth are merely a slight 

 roughness on the lips, none on the tongue. But you want to see 

 him come in on a line, with his fins all standing, and your eye will 

 then give you a better idea than all the cold-blooded descriptions 

 could ever do." 



The generic name thymallus is derived from Thumallos, the 

 Greek term for thyme, from the impression the Greeks had that 

 the fish possessed the odor of this herb. Hence the ThymalU 

 must have attracted attention from a very early period. 



This tribe of fishes bears marked relationship in many respects 

 to the sabno?tidce. They inhabit the cold streams of many portions 

 of the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. It is a game fish 

 of the first quality, takes the fly with avidity, and carries on a brave 

 and spirited contest with its captor. Its flesh is white, or faintly 

 straw color, and excellent in flavor. The artificial breeding of the 

 grayling was successfully carried on in Bavaria twenty years ago 

 by Mr. Kauffer Royal, fisherman in the Garden of the Royal Vet- 

 erinary School. Fred. Mather and Seth Green, our eminent pisci- 



