598 



SALMON. 



upland lakes which are of considerable dimensions, 

 and not rising to the surface, as is done by the trout 

 of rivers and pools. It has of course less induce- 

 ment, as there are few flies to be found on the 

 surface of a broad lake. Hence, till of comparatively 

 late years, this species was supposed to be peculiar 

 to the lake of Geneva ; and even Cuvier, whom no 

 one can accuse of any overweening disposition 

 to change names, called it Lcmanus after that lake. 

 Iris now, however, ascertained to be very far from a 

 rare fish. Indeed, it seems to be one of the most 

 widely distributed of the Salmonidoe, and one which 

 is less affected by differences of locality than almost 

 any of the others we say differences of locality, for 

 there is but little difference of climate or of season 

 in the haunts of this fish. It tenants the great lakes 

 which have deep water, and which may be said to 

 have neither summer nor winter, as the heat affects 

 them but little, and their temperature, even in the 

 bays, never sinks to the freezing point. It has been 

 found in all the great lakes of England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland, which have been carefully examined, and 

 even in the Orkney and the Shetland isles ; and, 

 from its appearing so far to the north as these, and 

 also as far south as the Lake of Geneva, there seems 

 to be every reason to conclude that it is very 

 generally distributed among the great lakes of the 

 mountain countries of Europe, and that lacustris is 

 the proper specific name. 



It feeds on fish much more than upon invertebrated 

 animals, which latter are necessarily but few in the 

 very deep lakes. Accordingly its flesh is of a very 

 inferior quality, dry, tasteless, and of a kind of dull 

 buff-colour. The smaller ones, however, which are 

 found upon the shallows of such of the lakes as have 

 banks running into them are rather better, and the 

 flesh is nearly white. Being generally found in dis- 

 tricts where the mass of the people have but few 

 luxuries, it is considered a tolerably good capture. 

 Those resident near the lakes set baited lines for it 

 in the evening, and generally find fish in the morn- 

 ing, as the species is exceedingly active and vora- 

 cious, and not in any way particular as to what it seizes. 

 Those who have leisure for sporting sometimes angle 

 for it. The young may be caught with the fly, gene- 

 rally on or near the shallows, or, at all events, at no 

 great distance from the bank; but the finT grown 

 ones keep the deeper water, and are rarely or never 

 taken in this way. The mode of fishing for them is 

 from a boat, with a line from the stern or a rod as it 

 happens, and a weight to keep the bait at some depth, 

 to do which it is also necessary that the boat should 

 be rowed slowly. The bait is usually a small trout, 

 and a strong tackle and several hooks are necessary, 

 as the fish cannot be struck in the usual manner, and 

 indeed does not require it. Even though it disen- 

 tangles itself, it soon bites again, as if it would 

 not be left behind ; but the line and rod must 

 be very strong, otherwise the fish will get away. 

 People in crossing some of the lakes often put a grey 

 trout line over the stern, and leave it to chance, and 

 they are not unfrequently successful. We have seen 

 the fish, at least so far as our recollection serves us, 

 taken from some of the Highland lakes long before 

 there was any notice of it as a Highland fish, but we 

 prefer the account given of it in the fifth edition of 

 the Encyclopaedia Britannica, as that was given after 

 the fish was better known. " When," says the able 

 writer of the article Angling ia that work, " in per- 



fect season and full-grown, it is a very handsome fish, 

 though the head is clumsy, too large and long to be 

 in accordance with our ideas of perfect symmetry in 

 a trout. The colours are, deep purplish-brown on 

 the upper parts, changing into reddish- grey, and 

 thence into fine orange-yellow on the breast and 

 belly. The whole body, when the fish is newly 

 caught, appears as if glazed over with a thin tint of 

 pure lake colour, which fades away as the fish dies, 

 arid so rapidly, that the progressive changes of colour 

 are easily perceived by an attentive eye. The gill- 

 covers are marked with large dark spots, and the 

 whole body is covered with markings of different 

 sizes varying in different individuals. In some these 

 markings are few, scattered, and of a large size ; and 

 in others they are thickly set and of small dimensions. 

 Each spot is surrounded by a pale ring, which some- 

 times assumes a reddish hue ; and the spots become 

 more distant from each other as they descend below 

 the lateral line. The lower parts of the fish are 

 spotless ; the dorsal fin is of the same colour with tho 

 upper part of the fish ; it is marked with large dark 

 spots ; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, are of a 

 rich yellowish-green colour, darker toward their ex- 

 tremities ; the tail is remarkable for its breadth and 

 consequent power. In adults it is perfectly square, 

 or might even be described as slightly rounded at its 

 extremity ; in the young it is slightly forked, and ap- 

 pears to (ill up gradually as the fish grows older. 



This change of the tail, from being forked in the 

 young, to square, or a tendency to convexity, in the 

 old fish, is common to almost the whole of the Sal- 

 monidce? and if the difference of haunt and habit 

 attending it in its various changes were fully investi- 

 gated, it would perhaps throw some light upon the 

 use of the differences of outline in fins, a subject of 

 which we at present hardly know any thing. The 

 grey trout grow to a very large size, specimens being 

 met with nearly or altogether three feet in length, 

 and weighing twenty pounds or upwards ; but these 

 are caught but rarely, and that always with bait in 

 the deep water. It is possible that the fishing of 

 them might be carried on to a considerable extent 

 by many float-lines similar to those used for white 

 fish in the sea, only the impossibility of giving much 

 motion to the baits upon such flines might be an ob- 

 jection to their use. The great objection, however, 

 is the want of a market, and the unmarketable qua- 

 lity of the fish. It is proved by very general ob- 

 servation, that the people of remote places where fish 

 are abundant and of good quality, will hardly take 

 the trouble of capturing enough for their o\vu use, 

 unless they have the prospect of a profit from sale ; 

 and this, by the way, seems to be one of the chief 

 reasons why so little was known of the fishes, even 

 of our own islands, before the commencement of 

 what may pre-eminently be called " The age of 

 Natural History." 



'GRAYLING (Thymallus vulgaris). This species has 

 the general characters of the family certainly ; but 

 they are much more modified than in any of those 

 that have been hitherto noticed in this article. The 

 characters are : the head and body elongated, and 

 the back more curved in the outline than the belly, 

 and not the two of similar curvature as they are in 

 the genus Salmo, properly so called. The scales arc 

 marked by bands running the whole length ; the 

 scales are in longitudinal rows, and the lateral line 

 can hardly be traced otherwise than by the straight 



