Sweden. 39 



the meshes of which are so fine that fry of three inches long cannot 

 escape — in fact, exterminated by every possible device that the in- 

 genuity of man can invent, that, as a natural sequence, the fish are 

 every year becoming scarcer in the Wenern, and more diflScidt to 

 catch J and miles of valuable water are, as it were, lying fallow, 

 only for want of a little common prudence in keeping up a breed- 

 ing stock of fish. How sad it is that man is ever too eager to kill 

 the goose that lays the golden e<gg ! Pisciculture is in every man's 

 moutli up here j but no one will give himself the slightest trouble 

 to keep up the breeding stock which we already have, and which, 

 if only well looked after at the proper seasons, would afford a 

 sufficient supply without calling in any artificial aid. 



Without restricting ourselves to strict scientific classification, I 

 will slightly notice the different species of fish peculiar to the waters 

 of the Wenern, beginning with the trout. 



Much confusion still exists about the classification of the Wenern 

 trout, or, as tliey are erroneously called here, the ^'salmon 3" and, 

 without entering further into the subject, I will only obser\^e that, 

 in my opinion, we have two distinct species, and only two, of the 

 great lake-trout in these waters — the common lake or grey trout 

 {Salmo ferox, Jard.) identical with the British lake-trout j and 

 another species, which \^'e call here "the silfver-lax," or silver 

 salmon (from its bright silvery appearance), at present not identified 

 in tlie British waters. The real Salmo ferox is taken in these 

 waters up to tliirty-two pounds j the silfver-lax (I can give no Latin 

 synonym, seeing tliat none of our ichthyologists can decide what 

 species this really is) from seven pounds to twenty pounds, and even 

 larger, but generally, especially in the south of the Wenern, under 

 twelve pounds. The real lake-trout are caught, I may say (whenever 

 they are taken on a hook), invariably by spinning-bait, a blei^k, or 

 small roach j whereas the other species rise freely to the fly. In 

 many parts of the Wenern very good salmon or trout fishing is to 

 be had at the close of the summer, and many heavy fish are caught 

 just when the ice breaks up in the spring. The wholesale salmon* 

 fishery, however, is in the end of June or July, when the fish 



