238 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



to suppose that there are different breeds which have been 

 confounded into one. The tint of the flesh varies also 

 quite as much as that of the external appearance. Some 

 have white flesh, some pink, some yellow, and many of 

 them red, and this difference again is entirely owing to the 

 variety of the waters they inhabit and the peculiar standard 

 feeding they obtain in them. Trout will increase in size 

 very much if they are placed in large bodies of water, where 

 food is plentiful. A good average size for the common 

 trout is one pound, and this only to be had in fair-sized 

 streams ; still, when well fed and inhabiting large rivers, 

 such as the Thames, these fish will go to the weight of 

 twenty pounds. The trout are very voracious feeders ; 

 nothing comes amiss to them, from the tiny midge which 

 faDs upon the surface of the water to the frog or water- 

 rat. They devour their own species when hunger compels 

 them ; but there is nothing they are so fond of as a bright 

 red worm. They will even lose their proverbial shyness 

 when this is offered to them, and seem as if they could 

 not resist the temptation. A noted species of the common 

 trout, or rather one variety of it, is found in many of the 

 lakes in Ireland. It is called the gillaroo, a description of 

 which is given under its own heading. There is also a 

 variety called the slob or estuary trout, hardly ever got 

 above the tidal flow. It is mostly caught at night, with 

 bait, being a bad riser at a fly. This trout is in best 

 condition in January and February, and at this time almost 

 .approaches in shape that of the roach. There is also the 

 rainbow trout and salmo fontinalis, now introduced into our 

 lakes and streams. Again, there is the black fin trout 

 (salmo nigropinnis), which is caught in Lough Melvin, and 

 is the commonest variety in that lake ; it is also found in 



