1 64 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



hausts itself. He is a plucky little fellow, and 

 .when hooked fights for all he is worth. 

 Then there is 



" a trout caught in a tributary to the Eden, in a valley in 

 Mallerstang called Divockdale, which has a red fringe round 

 the tail and dorsal fin finger marked along the sides, on 

 which are several bright crimson spots. The sides have also 

 a beautiful azure tint the belly is white, one supposition 

 advanced is that they are char. Specimens were sent to the 

 late Mr. Buckland, but I believe, no opinion was received 

 from him. On careful inspection the idea of their being 

 char cannot be borne out their scales are much larger than 

 those of char, and that fish is not an inhabitant of rapid 

 streams during the whole of the year." 



I submitted the above paragraph to a gentleman 

 who knows the Eden by heart Mr. J. Bedwell 

 Slater and his reply was precisely what I 

 expected. He writes as follows : 



" I have no doubt whatever that the fish described in the 

 above note are Salmo fario. I have seen so many varieties 

 of trout as to colouring that it would take a very curious 

 specimen to surprise me. In most cases I believe the colour 

 of the bottom of the river has much to do with the colour. 

 In the Eden above Armathwaite, within a mile, I have killed 

 bright, light-coloured trout out of a pretty stream ; black, 

 ugly-looking brutes off black, mossy rocks ; and trout of a 

 pale green colour out of a pool which looks green when the 

 sun is shining owing to the colour of the bottom and they 

 are always the same in these parts. This, as you know, is 

 the same as in many land animals. I cannot account for the 

 red fringe, but I have myself caught trout with a good deal 

 more red than common on dorsal fin and tail." 



Mr. Slater proceeds : 



" I enclose you rough sketch of a trout such as I have 

 caught several of near Sebergham, in the Caldew. I am no 

 hand at drawing, so you must make all allowances ; but I 

 am not exaggerating the malformation. The first one I 



