50 



THE SEA-TROUT 



weighing 42 lbs. and 40 lbs., referred to by Sir Herbert Maxwell on 

 page 194 of his book on " Salmon and Sea Trout," and accepted by 

 him as being " bull-trout," were no doubt really salmon of this class. 

 Mr. H. W. Johnston, Mr. W. L. Calderwood, and Mr. P. D. Malloch 

 have amongst them proved that these large speckled fish are true 

 salmon which, having spawned in a former season, are now returning 

 from the sea to spawn a second time. I have not observed that the 

 spots of sea-trout undergo any similar modification consequent on 

 spawning. 



The variation of the sea-trout's markings, in the size and pattern 

 of the spots, is endless. The two types shown in Fig. 3 are as 

 distinct as well can be. They are both male fish, weighing 2^ lb. and 

 2| lb. respectively, and were caught by two angling friends on the 

 same day in I^och Lomond. The spots are generally, but not 

 always, more numerous than those of the salmon, while the dorsal fin 

 of the sea-trout is also commonly spotted, a distinction not shared 

 by the salmon. I have even seen the upper lobe of the tail of a heavy 

 male sea-trout spotted, but this was when it was in full spawning livery. 

 At normal times the tail seems to be more generally fringed with a dark 

 bar plainly noticeable in the swimming fish. The regularity of this bar 

 was a feature of the fish which I used as a model for the frontispiece of 

 this book (Plate I). The spots of a fresh run sea-trout are markedly 

 cruciform, or X-shaped (Fig. 3 (2)), but not invariably so, and many 

 occur below the lateral line, but as spawning time approaches, the spots 

 tend to become blurred and, in the male fish especially, other spots not 

 visible on the scales of the fresh run fish begin to show as the fish 

 changes colour. (Compare Fig. 4 with Fig. 3 (i)). This discoloration 

 in the sea-trout, as in the case of the salmon, may perhaps begin before 

 a late running fish leaves the estuary, but I have not personally proved 

 the fact. 



The spots of trout are even more diversified than those of sea-trout, 



