212 SPECIES IN OUR SALMONIDAE 



accomplished in our hemisphere as the result of 

 untold centuries. 



We find, then, that all of these races satisfy 

 entirely the requirements of the definition with 

 which we started, and that they constitute a 

 complete unbroken chain ; no man can say 

 where one form ends and another begins. All 

 merge imperceptibly into each other. In some, 

 no doubt, we find the varying characteristics 

 more fixed than in others ; a burn trout is at 

 once distinguishable, when in his native stream, 

 from a sea trout. But the connecting links, as 

 we have seen, are always to be found. 



It may be asked what practical value there 

 may be in such an enquiry and its conclusions. 

 Apart from the reply that exact and definite 

 knowledge is the very essence of true science, 

 it must also be remembered that our laws have 

 taken these fish under their special protection. 

 Mr. Charles Stewart, in his Law of Scotland 

 relating to Rights of Fishing, a work of 

 standard authority, states: * A right of salmon 

 fishing is a separate heritable estate, and being 

 so, it is like all the lands and real rights in 

 Scotland, vested in the Crown according to the 

 feudal principle ' . . . ' the right of trout fishing 

 is not a separate feudal estate, like salmon 

 fishing.' And let it be remembered that the 



