92 FISH A^D FISHING ur SCOTLAND. 



the Tweed, of twenty-eight fish caught with the fly, ten were parr. 

 There were no smolts to be seen, although ten days before the 

 stream was full of them, all nearly of a length, i. e., about four 

 inches. On the 1st June, that is three days afterwards, parr 

 fwere taken in the Tweed measuring 7-J inches, their brethren of 

 our inches having in the meantime become smolts, and fled to 

 the ocean. I venture to call Mr. Stoddart's attention to these 

 facts. Mr. Stoddart is, I understand, a poet. 



A Tweed parr (June 1st, 1832) gave the following dimensions 

 and natural history characters : 



Inches. 

 Length from snout to fork of tail ...... . 7-f 



Girth ............... 4| 



Breadth .............. If 



Perfect. Imperfect. 

 Pectoral fins, rays each ....... 11 3 



Ventral ............. 8 2 



Caudal ............. 17 9 



Dorsal ............. 11 4 



Anal ............. 8 3 



Compared with a smolt or salmon-fry : 



Pectoral ............ 13 



Ventral ............ 9 



Caudal ........ .... 19 12 



Dorsal ............. 10. 1 



Anal ............. 10 3 



The distinction of perfect and imperfect rays or spines is based 

 on this : by perfect is meant a spine which has one root, but 

 which in a short time divides into two, almost in the manner of 

 a feather ; these alternately form the terminating margin of the 

 fin. Whereas, the spines I have called imperfect are single 

 throughout, scarcely annulated, and do not reach the terminating 

 margin of the fin. 



This parr was a male ; the stomach gorged with common trout 

 food, as beetles, &c., and the spleen was 1-gin. by . 



I had some parr fished for in the AE, a tributary of the Annan, 

 on the 13th December; fourteen female parr were caught with a 

 small red worm. The average length of these parr was five and 



