114 IDENTICAL WITH S. ERIOX. 



being dropped altogether) he was known with us all the 

 year round* 



Very considerable resemblance existing between this huge 

 trout for though called Lax, or salmon, he is no other, 

 as we have said, than a trout and the S. Eriox, or 

 grey trout of authors, it becomes a subject for the consi- 

 deration of Ichthyologists, whether it may not be identical 

 with the migratory species last named, though slightly 

 altered by long permanent residence in the fresh water to 

 which it is thus restricted. The probability of the two 

 being identical, is increased by the fact that the smelt, 

 which, in England, is considered of marine origin, is, as will 

 presently be shown, very numerous in the Wenern and 

 other Scandinavian lakes, to which access cannot be obtained 

 from the sea. In all its characters the Wenerns-Lax answers 

 to the 8. lacustris of authors (S. ferox, Jardine) ; but if the 

 question as to its identity with the S. Eriox be decided in 

 the affirmative, the S. lacustris has probably no existence 

 as a species ; and rather than class the Wenerns-Lax by that 

 name, I prefer retaining it under that by which it is known 

 with us. 



The Wenerns-Lax was very common in my vicinity, 

 as also, I imagine, in most of the great waters throughout 

 Scandinavia. From what Lsestadius says, I infer it to be 

 an inhabitant of the Lapland lakes ; for when speaking 

 of trout, he tells us they attain to twenty pounds weight 

 and upwards, and that one species is called the Grd- 



* May not this circumstance have partly given rise to the notion entertained 

 by some Ichthyologists on the continent of Europe, that the salmon with the 

 hook is considered by them as a distinct species, and called Le Becard and 

 S. hamatus ? 



