2o6 THE SEA-TROUT 



What is a Sea-trout? 

 (i) Legally. According to the statutory law of Scotland, and indeed 

 of Great Britain, a sea-trout is a salmon, because the Acts declare that 

 the word " salmon " shall mean and include " salmon, grilse, sea-trout, 

 bull trout, smolts, parr, and other migratory fish of the salmon kind." 

 In case any person may suppose that the definition is wide enough to 

 include ordinary trout within its meaning it may be stated that another 

 series of Scottish statutes, affecting only fresh-water fish, is conceived 

 to apply to " common trout {Saimo fario):' Inferentially it may be 

 supposed that the sea-trout is not a bull trout in the eye of the law, but 

 both are " migratory fish of the salmon kind," and both are " salmon " 

 in the sense of the Acts, though in this case things which are equal to 

 the same thing are not necessarily equal to one another. 



(2) Scientifically. Whatever scheme of classification the reader 

 may see fit to follow he will of a certainty encounter in it the family 

 SalmonidcB. In this family there is comprised, amongst other accepted 

 genera, the genus Salmo. Some doubt exists, however, as to the 

 number of species that should properly fall within this genus. Mr. 

 Regan, as we have seen, admits two, namely (i) Salmo salar, and (2) 

 Salmo trutta. I may say at once that no difficulty arises with regard to 

 Salmo salar, because, so far as investigation has yet been carried, the 

 Atlantic salmon is the sole representative of the species. Whatever 

 difficulty there is arises with regard to Salmo trutta. 



It is conceivable, as I have shown, that a claim may reasonably be 

 made for the inclusion in the genus Salmo of three species, namely 

 (i) Salmo salar, (2) Salmo trutta, and (3) Salmo fario. This is not by 

 any means an original, or even a novel claim. There are many who 

 have so sub-divided the genus Salmo, but they have done so, or rather 

 many accept the classification, mainly on the ground that they seek to 

 differentiate between trutta as a migratory trout, and fario as a non- 

 migratory trout. But Mr. Regan, very properly as I think, dismisses 



