SAL 



rows of scales ; the fins are the same in number and 

 situation as in the true salmon, but they differ in form 

 and development ; the dorsal is very broad, consisting 

 of as many as twenty rays ; the tail has the same 

 number, but it is narrow and feeble, and much more 

 forked at the end than in the salmon and trout, when 

 they arc of the same size ; the mouth is also much 

 less in the opening than in the salmon, and the teeth 

 are comparatively smaller than in any of the trout. 

 The fish is indeed very inferior to the proper mem- 

 bers of the Sahnon'ulce in point of teeth, for it wants 

 the two rows on the tongue, and those on the vomer 

 are only one or two, very small, and confined to the 

 fore part. The size is less than that of at least some 

 specimens of all the species of the trout ; for five or 

 six pounds is an extraordinary weight for the gray- 

 ling. The usual length is about ten inches or a 

 foot. 



All these characters show that the grayling is a 

 feeble fish as compared with the trout, both as re- 

 spects its powers of motion and its feeding ; and it 

 seems to be as delicate as it is feeble. It is not in 

 respect of climate, however, that this fish is delicate, 

 for it is found in the very coldest parts of Europe ; 

 and is perhaps more abundant in the rivers which 

 discharge their waters into the Baltic than it is any 

 where else ; but it seems particular as to the quality 

 of the water and the ground in which that water is 

 situated, Mr. Yarrell says, " However fastidious in 

 the quality of the water, or the choice of situation in 

 the stream, the grayling is known to be, experiment 

 has proved that this fish will live in ponds that have 

 been newly made out of hard soil, or such as have been 

 very recently and carefully cleansed out ; but in those 

 situations the grayling does not breed, and they will 

 not continue to live in old muddy ponds." 



This statement, and all that the author of it ad- 

 vances as his own may be implicitly relied on, 

 throws a good deal of light upon the character of the 

 fish in relation to its haunts, and shows that if the 

 country is not one of a very peculiar character, the 

 grayling can be nothing else than a trial fish, one for 

 which we might seek in vain in mountain streams 

 tinged with moss ; in rivers wending slowly through 

 rich countries, and depositing mud, or in ponds or 

 stagnant waters of any description. Clear running 

 water and a hard bottom are obviously the proper 

 situation for the fish ; and there are instances in which 

 these circumstances confine it to a particular part of 

 a river, without being found either higher up or lower 

 down. This is the case in the river Dee in North 

 Wales. There are plenty of trout in all parts of the 

 Dee, from the lake of Bala to the commencement of 

 brackish water in its estuary ; but the grayling is 

 confined to the part of the river between the lake 

 arid the town of Corwen ; or, at all events, it is not 

 found so far down the river as the vale of Llangollen, 

 though there is excellent trout fishing. 



The fact of its being confined to an intermediate 

 portion of the Dee, which has very clear water and a 

 hard rocky bottom without any deposite of mud, 

 might have sufficed completely to prevent the forma- 

 tion of the opinion that the grayling is a migratory 

 species, which has been stated by Donovan, and also 

 by some of the continental writers ; for all the Sal- 

 vumida; that visit the sea, are sure to be found in the 

 lower parts of the rivers, whether they are in the 

 upper parts or not ; and there is really nothing in the 

 Dee to prevent either the ascent or the descent of a 



M N. 599 



fish, for though there are currents and rapids, there 

 are no falls of any consequence. 



The whole structure, economy, and nature of the 

 fish are against the fact of its migration, and may 

 make us very reasonably doubt the allegation of Black, 

 that they descend to the Baltic in autumn. From 

 the character of its fins, the grayling must be but a 

 poor swimmer, even within the range where it is 

 found j and Sir H. Davy ascertained that it cannot 

 live even in brackish water. Besides, the grayling 

 spawns in the end of spring and the beginning of 

 summer, and is in the very best condition in autumn, 

 when all the typical SalmomdcE are out of season. 

 We must therefore regard the grayling as wholly 

 a river fish, peculiar in its localities, and confined to 

 them. England, and perhaps Orkney, are the only 

 parts of Britain in which it is found, though in some 

 of the rivers it is very plentiful ; but we never heard 

 of its being found along the whole range of any river 

 from its source to the sea ; it is always in the clear 

 water on the hard bottom. Its food is understood 

 to consist, in great part, of insects and their Iarva3. 

 Its flesh is highly prized, though some part of the 

 estimation in which it is held, may be owing to the 

 fact of its not being to be had, except at particular 

 places ; and some more may be owing to its particular 

 fragrance, which slightly resembles that of thyme, and 

 is the reason of the name Thymallus being applied. 

 The grayling is taken chiefly by angling with the 

 flies which are on the water, or baits formed of the 

 larvae which are deposited there ; besides these, how- 

 ever, it eats the small-shelled mollusca ; but, we be- 

 lieve it rarely preys on any kind of fish, unless mere 

 fry, and probably not much upon these. The gray- 

 ling is a distinct genus, 



PARR (S. salmulus). This species has many more 

 of the characters of the salmon and trouts than the 

 grayling, and were it not that the body fins are much 

 more developed, indicating a different mode of action 

 in the water, it might pass for a little salmon, which 

 is the reason of its having the specific name Salmulns. 

 As long, indeed, as colour was considered to rank 

 high among the specific distinctions of animals, this 

 was regarded as the young of one or other of the 

 migratory species, chiefly the salmon trout ; nor have 

 there been wanting some who have made the dis- 

 tinction of salmon parr and trout parr. Laws have 

 been enacted too, or, at all events, measures taken to 

 prevent the capture of this little fish, lest the num- 

 ber of salmon should have been thereby diminished. 

 But if any one had attempted to identify a salmon, 

 by asserting that he knew it from its being a parr, 

 the party so doing would have been in the same pre- 

 dicament as the Highland witness, who swore to the 

 identity of the gun, because he had " kenn'd her ay 

 sin' she was a wee pistol ;" and any one who had exa- 

 mined a parr side by side with a salmon or trout of 

 the same size, would have seen that the one was an 

 animal with all its organs fully developed, and the 

 other was not. The head of the salmon smault is 

 " infantine," if the expression may be allowed ; the 

 fins are all small and feeble, and the tail is narrow 

 and much forked. In the parr, on the other hand, 

 all the lateral fins are better developed in proportion 

 than in the full-grown salmon, and perhaps the same 

 may be said of the caudal fin, though that remains a 

 little forked, and indicates that the parr is to act in 

 the same parts of the waters as the young salmon, 

 only not in the same manner. This is proved by the 



