THE SALMON TROUT. 119 



species when adult are plain. Formerly, when 

 the water of the Thames was purer than at 

 present, the parr or samlet was common between 

 Staines and Chertsey, and was known by the 

 name of the skegger.* It is now rarely to be 

 found, and a Thames salmon is out of the 

 question. 



Perfectly distinct from the salmon, and next 

 in estimation, is the salmon-trout, (Salmo 

 trutta.) It is migratory, like the salmon, 

 but never attains to so large a size, averaging 

 only a few pounds' weight, though one of 

 seventeen pounds was once seen by Mr. Yarrell. 

 It is now a permanent resident in a fresh water 

 lake of Lismore, one of the Hebrides. It 

 occurs in the Sandwich river, and occasionally 

 in the Thames and Medway ; it is the Forbridge, 

 or Fordwich trout, thus referred to by Walton : 

 " There is also in Kent, near to Canterbury, a 

 trout there called a Fordidge trout, a trout 

 that bears the name of the town where it is 

 usually caught, that is accounted the rarest 

 offish." 



Vast quantities of salmon trout are sent to 

 the London market from Scotland, and many 

 persons regard them as young salmon. 



* Walton notices this little fish as common in the Thames 

 about Windsor. 



