DR. GILLESPIE ON TROUT S. 69 



no sooner freed than Mr. Drake flew off in the greatest 

 consternation and affright; since which time to this 

 day he has not been seen to approach the well, and it 

 is with great difficulty he can be brought within sight 

 of it. This fish lay in a dormant state for five months 

 in the year, during which time she would eat nothing, 

 and was likewise very shy." * 



That Salmon and some other fish assume in some de- 

 gree the colour of the channel they lie upon, from 

 whatever cause, is a circumstance pretty generally ad- 

 mitted by those who have paid any attention to the 

 subject ; and this, perhaps, is the reason why fishermen 

 tell you that they can distinguish the Salmon of one 

 river from those of another contiguous to it. Indeed, 

 I myself could easily distinguish thelsla from the Tay 

 Salmon by their colours, when I rented fisheries on 

 both those rivers. This fact I thought so curious, that 

 I had some correspondence with my eminent friend Sir 

 David Brewster on the subject ; and at the Literary 

 and Philosophical Society of St. Andrews, Dr. Gillespie 

 read the following paper, entitled " Recollections of the 

 Habits, Colours, and Sufferings of Fishes." 



" ' My chief experience is with trouts, — such as are 

 found in our mountain lakes and streams ; and it is 

 mainly to these that my few recollections refer. Trouts 

 seem to have a generic type, comprehending several 

 apparently different species ; which difference, however, 

 in many cases, disappears when the circumstances under 



* This account seems to have been sent to a Devonshire news- 

 paper by Mr. Dormer himself, or some of his family. 



5 



