'290 THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF EUROPE. 



boldness, in pursuit of small fishes, insects, and their larvae. Yarrell mentions 

 battles between Pike and Trout, in which the latter was eventually victorious. 

 The rearing- of this fish by artificially impregnating- the eggs, now so important 

 in stocking- rivers, appears to have been first carried on successfully in Hanover 

 by Mr. S. L. Jacobs. 



The flavour of the Trout varies with the stream, being dependent on the 

 food. The flesh is a deeper red than that of the Salmon, and the flavour 

 is almost as rich, being best between June and the beginning of October. 

 Mr. Stoddart records an experiment of feeding Trout in separate tanks on 

 worms, Minnows, and insects. On worms they grew slowly ; fed on Minnows 

 they became larger; while those which fed on flies soon weighed twice as 

 much as the others put together. 



Trout are long-lived. A specimen kept in a well at Dumbarton Castle 

 for twenty-eight years never increased in weight, probably from deficiency of 

 suitable food. Yarrell mentions another Trout, which is said to have lived for 

 fifty-three years in a well near Broughton-in-Furness. 



The number of pyloric appendages in this variety ranges between thirty- 

 three and forty-six. The number of vertebrae is fifty-nine or sixty. 



Salmo fario (LINN^US). Var. ausonii. 



D. 1314, A. 1011, P. 13, V. 9. Scales : lat. line 120, trans. 2630. 



This fish may be regarded as a southern representative of the River 

 Trout, although in Russia it is found in the smaller tributaries of the White 

 Sea and the Baltic, as well as in the similar streams which flow into the Black 

 Sea and Caspian ; but it is characteristic of Germany and Austria, and reaches 

 far south in France, occurs in the rivers of the Maritime Alps, in Italy, and 

 was found by Steindachner in Spain ; and Moreau found it in the Pyrenees 

 at a height of seven thousand feet. In Sweden, where it frequents stony 

 brooks, it is popularly known as Biickro and Stenoring ; it is said by Nilsson 

 never to occur in the higher mountain regions. In Germany it is dis- 

 tinguished as Forelle, in Transylvania as Forren, in Hungary as Pistrang, 

 in Italy as Trota, in France as la Truite, and in Britain as the Trout, which 

 ranges from the Thames to Penzance, and from Poole and Wareham north- 

 ward to Troutbeck River, in Westmoreland, and the Eden (Fig. 150). 



The head is well-proportioned, and the body is somewhat too deep and full 

 to be elegant. The greatest height in front of the dorsal fin is two-ninths of 

 the length. The thickness of the body is half the height ; the length of the 

 head exceeds the depth of body, and, excluding the caudal fin, is one-quarter 

 of the length of the fish. The eyes are separated by one and a half times 



