APPENDIX. 371 



Family SCOMBROSCIDiE. 



Garfish — Belone vulgaris, Flem. 



Not common on the east coast of the county, as reported to us by Mr. 

 Houstoun ; there is a specimen in the County Museum, taken at Brora 

 in 1869. 



Family STERNOPTYCHID^E. 



Argentine — Maurolicus borealis (Nils. ) 

 Occurs in the Pentland Firth. 



[In speaking of the fresh-water fish, on which for some 

 years we have kept careful notes, and have made some in- 

 teresting experiments in the county, we will confine our re- 

 marks in this place to the subject of distribution and variation, 

 edible qualities, and sporting capabilities. There remains 

 still much in this branch alone to be done in the county, and 

 much more than we have space for here could already be 

 written upon them.] 



Family ESOCIDiE. 



Pike— Esox lucius, Linn. 

 Occurs at Loch Migdale, the only loch in the county where it is found. 

 Sheriff Mackenzie writes us he has never seen a specimen from this 

 loch, so the species may have died out. They were introduced at least 

 sixty years ago by the then Mr. Dempster of Skibo, and were caught 

 in Loch Achilty, in the east of Boss -shire, by Peter M'Aulay, the 

 keeper at Coul, for that purpose. 



Family SALMONID^. 



Salmon — Sahno salar, Linn. 



Abundant, some years much more so than at others, the early run of 

 spring fish depending on the mildness or severity of the winter ; conse- 

 quently the years 1882-3-4 are noted for the numbers of Salmon caught 

 early in the season. 



The rivers Naver, Brora, and Helmsdale are the three early rivers of 

 the county, and clean Salmon can be got in them in every month of 

 the year, unless November prove an exception, this being the principal 

 spawning month. 



In the western rivers they run later, and the first heavy flood which 

 comes, usually about the 10th to 15th July, brings up great numbers. 

 A few run in May, but very few are caught at that time. In 1SS3 

 (July) we rose a large salmon twice in the salt water at Loch Inver 

 with a "silver doctor." 



Sea-Trout — Sahno trutta, Flem. 



Abundant ; rarely ascending the rivers before the end of May, though an 

 undoubtedly clean one is at times caught by the nets in February and 

 March. 



The east coast Sea-Trout are generally much more spotted, and not 

 such finely shaped fish as those of the west coast. The Sea-Trout of 

 the northern Kyles of Durness and Tongue are famed for their firmness 

 and flavour, and readily take sand-eel as bait. In June and July 1883, 



