SALMON. 49 



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 what- 

 ever cause, is a circumstance pretty generally admitted 

 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 the Isla 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 corre- 

 spondence with my eminent friend Sir David Brewster 

 on the subject ; and at the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society of St. Andrew's, 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 

 which they are viewed are the same. I know a locality 



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

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



E 



