SALMONID^}. 



CHAP. II. 



" So dainty salmons, chevins thunder-scared, 

 Feast-famous sturgeons, lampreys speckle-starr'd, 

 In the spring season the rough seas forsake, 

 And in the rivers thousand pleasures take." 



Du Bartas. 



The three species of the genus Salmo which are to be 

 found in the Tweed, and which afford most sport to 

 the angler, are the common Salmon, or Salmo Salar ; 

 the Grey, or Bull Trout, Salmo Eriox ; and the Salmon 

 Trout, Salmo Trutta. The Salmo Fario also, or 

 common Trout, is, or rather used to be, in great abun- 

 dance there ; but of this latter species I do not mean 

 to treat. 



Although the salmon fisheries are of considerable 

 national importance, affording a great supply of food 

 and employment to thousands ; yet, surprising as it may 

 appear, the natural history and habits of the fish itself 

 have almost up to this time been very imperfectly 

 known. Indeed naturalists have been altogether mis- 

 taken as to the appearance of the fry, which at a 

 certain growth they have supposed to be a distinct 

 species of fish ; and had it not been for the skill and 

 diligence of Mr. Shaw, who has demonstrated this their 

 mistake by a series of scientific and interesting ex- 

 periments, they would still have continued in error. 



