184 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PAR. 



smaller; it is the ordinary inhabitant of every 

 salmon river ; and, in general appearance, closely 

 resembles the common burn trout, particularly 

 such as have the finger marks. These are dusky, 

 transverse, stripes or patches on the sides, very 

 similar to the well-known marks found on the 

 perch. They are generally from six to ten in 

 number, according to the length of the fish ; and 

 between each of these dusky patches, on the 

 lateral line, is a bright red spot, below which, the 

 par is rarely, if ever, marked. The belly is per- 

 fectly white. Another distinguishing mark of 

 the par, is an olive brown spot on the gill cover, 

 and this it is never without. Its general habits 

 resemble those of the trout, being extremely 

 voracious, and frequenting the most rapid streams, 

 particularly those thin sharps or streams, anciently 

 known by the name of racks ; hence its territorial 

 epithet of rack-rider. 



Many speculative opinions, and numerous 

 theories have been advanced, touching the nature 

 and species of this mysterious little fish. Three, 

 in particular, would seem most deserving of con- 

 sideration ; First, that it is the young of the sal- 

 mon ; or, at least, of one of the salmon tribe; 

 Secondly, that it is a mule, or hybrid the 

 mutual offspring of both the trout and the sal- 

 mon ; and, Thirdly, that it is a distinct species. 



A very slight examination into the habits of 



