302 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



XXII. fig. 1.) The body oblong ; the head 

 a little sharp ; the fin covering the gills from 

 four to ten rays ; the last fin on the back, 

 without its corresponding muscles, fat. 



The Parr, or Samlet. This little fish, (says Mr 

 Yarrell) one of the smallest of the British salmonidae, 

 has given rise to more discussion than any other species 

 of the genus. Abounding in our salmon rivers, and 



conspicuous for those lateral marks which are now known 

 to be borne also for a time by the young of the trout as 

 well as the fry of the other salmonidae^ and this fish al- 

 ways appearing of small comparative size, it has fre- 

 quently been insisted upon as the young of the salmon, 

 and local regulations have as generally been invoked for 

 its preservation. The fry, however, of the different 

 species of migratory salmonidee are even now probably 

 accurately known only to a few persons : their great sim- 

 ilarity when very small has so frequently deceived even 

 those who have lived the greater part of their lives on 

 the salmon river banks, that the fry marked by them, in 

 their experiments, believing them all to be what they 

 considered the young of the parr, have been retaken as 

 grilse, bull-trout, salmon-trout, and river-trout. That 

 the parr is not the young of the salmon, or indeed of any 

 other of the larger species of salmonidas, as still consid- 

 ered by some, is sufficiently obvious from the circum- 

 stance that parrs by hundreds may be taken in the rivers 

 all the summer, long after the fry of the year of the larger 

 migratory species have gone down to the sea ; and the 

 greater part of those parrs taken even in autumn do not 

 exceed five inches in length, when no example of the 

 young of the salmon can be found under sixteen or 

 eighteen inches, and the young of the bull-trout and 

 salmon-trout are large in proportion. The transverse 

 dusky bars from which this fish has obtained the name 

 of brandling and fingerling are family marks, borne by 

 all the species of the genus for a time, are obliterated by 

 degrees, and at periods depending on the ultimate size 

 attained by the individual species when adult; the 

 soonest, probably in the salmon, and certainly the latest 

 in the parr. 



The Trout. The general shape of the trout is rather 

 long than broad : in several of the Scotch and Irish rivers, 

 they grow so much thicker than those in England, that 

 a fish from eighteen to twenty-two inches will often 

 weigh from three to five pounds. This is a fish of prey ; 

 has a short roundish head, blunt nose, wide mouth filled 

 with teeth, not only in the jaws, but in the palate and 

 tongue ; the scales are small ; the back of an ash-colour; 

 the sides yellow; and, when in season, is sprinkled all 

 over the body and covers of the gills with small beautiful 

 red and black spots; the tail is broad. The female has 

 a smaller head and deeper body than the male, and is of 

 superior flavour. In fact, the colour of the trout and its 

 spots vary greatly in different waters, and at different 

 seasons* 



This fish, although very delicate, and at present well 

 known, was in no esteem among the ancients. It 

 abounded in most of the lakes of the Roman empire, yet 

 is only mentioned by writers on account of its beautiful 

 colours. 



In some rivers trouts begin to spawn in October, but 

 November is the chief month of spawning. About the 

 end of September they quit the deep water to which they 

 had retired during the hot weather, and make great ef- 

 forts to gain the course of the currents, seeking out a 



42. The Fistularia. The body angular, in 

 form of a spindle ; the head pipe-fashion, with 

 a beak; the fin covering the gills with seven 

 rays; the under jaw covering the upper. 



proper place for spawning. This is always on a gravelly 

 bottom, or where gravel and sand are mixed among 

 stones towards the end and sides of the streams. At this 

 period they turn black about the head and body, and 

 become soft and unwholesome. They are never good 

 when they are big with roe, which is contrary to the 

 nature of most other fish. They multiply very fast, 

 though they produce much less spawn than any other 

 fish, which is probably owing to the voracious fish in 

 these cold streams where they reside ; and they would 

 be still more numerous, if they were not so greedy as 

 to devour each other. After spawning they become 

 feeble, their bodies are wasted, and those beautiful spots, 

 which before adorned them, are imperceptible ; their 

 heads appear swelled, and their eyes are dull. In this 

 state they seek still waters, and continue there sick, as 

 is supposed, all the winter. There are in all trout rivers 

 some barren female fish, which continue good throughout 

 the winter. 



These fish begin to leave their winter quarters in 

 March, or sometimes earlier, if the weather be mild, 

 and approach the shallows and tails of streams, where 

 they cleanse and restore themselves. As they acquire 

 strength they advance still higher up the rivers, till they 

 fix on their summer residence ; for which they generally 

 choose an eddy behind a stone, a log, or bank, that 

 projects into the water, and against which the current 

 drives. 



The varieties of the common trout are almost infinite; 

 from the great lake trout, which weighs above sixty or 

 seventy Ibs. to the trouts of the little mountain brook, 

 which is scarcely larger than the finger. The gilleroo trout 

 and par, samlet or brandling may be considered as form- 

 ing distinct species. 



The Great Gray Trout of Lochawe. According to 

 Sir William Jardine, this fi?h, as far as can be traced, 



seems to have been first noticed about forty-five years 

 since by the late Mr Morison of Glasgow, who used to 

 exhibit them to his friends as the trophies of his expedi- 

 tions. The first specimens taken in Loch Awe by 

 Mr Selby and Sir William Jardine were considered as 

 a species undescribed and new to Britain; and the name 

 of Salmoferox was given to it, from its extreme voracity 

 and rapacious habits. M. Agassiz, who saw specimens 

 of this fish when he was in Edinburgh, pronounced it to 

 be different from any of the large continental species. 



In Scotland this fish appears to be generally distri- 

 buted in all the larger and deeper lochs. Loch Awe, 

 Loch Laggan, the upper end of Loch Shin, Lochs Loyal 

 and Assynt, they certainly inhabit, roving indiscrimin- 

 ately, and feeding almost entirely upon the smaller fish. 

 By persons residing on the banks they are taken by night- 

 lines, few rising at the artificial fly; but they may al- 

 ways be taken by strong trolling tackle, baited with a 

 small trout. They are extremely voracious, and having 

 seized the bait, they will allow themselves to be dragged 

 by the teeth for forty or fifty yards; and when acciden- 

 tally freed, will immediately again seize it. 



This great trout is almost entirely confined to the 

 lochs, seldom venturing far either up or down any of the 

 streams communicating with them, and never descend- 

 ing to the sea. It is known to spawn in September. 



