34 Wild Life in Wales 



males the adipose fin was distinctly and regularly corrugated, 

 terminating in a finely serrated border posteriorly. Whether 

 this was due to individual variation, or otherwise, can only 

 be conjectured, but in both cases the marks were very similar, 

 and not, so far as could be judged, accidental. The stomach 

 is syphonal, and the very large cluster of short caecal 

 appendages presents at first sight more the appearance of a 

 bunch of ova than anything else. 



The lateral line runs along the centre of one row of 

 scales, having nine and a half rows above, to the anterior 

 base of the dorsal fin, and seven and a half below, to the 

 ventrals, exclusive of the small elongated scale which appears 

 there. In general colour the March specimens were very 

 silvery and bright, shading from bluey-grey above to pure 

 white beneath, the dark colour being due to minute dusky 

 spots, or specks, upon each scale, increasing in size and 

 number as the back is approached. These specks are 

 clustered together near the centre of the scale, and give 

 the fish a distinctly striped appearance, longitudinally, 

 imparting to it a considerable resemblance to a Grayling, 

 a feature much better brought out in Yarrell's figure than 

 in Day's. The two larger fish, caught in September, were 

 considerably darker in appearance generally, but I had little 

 opportunity of examining them. In April, a few small, 

 and no doubt young fish, were occasionally landed in the 

 net. They ran about 4 or 5 inches in length, were very 

 slender, and shed their scales so freely that it was impossible 

 to handle them without disfigurement. They were even 

 more silvery than the larger examples, about three-fourths 

 of the body being white, and the dorsal area rather pale 

 grey. Although generally returned to the water as quickly 

 as possible, most of them floated away in an inverted position, 

 and seldom seemed to recover. 



On ist October I saw a pike of about 10 Ibs. landed 

 in the net, at the mouth of the Lliw, which, when held up 

 by the tail, disgorged two Gwyniads, and was so distended 

 that it looked as though it might have held a good many 

 more. These two fish were so fresh that they were still 

 quite stiff. They exhibited no marks of the pike's teeth, 



