SALMO IIUCHO. 381 



and u similar border characterises the caudal fin. The other fins are pale 

 yellow or pale red and unspotted. In old age the black spots on the body 

 vanish. The iris is grey-green, with a clear yellow ring round the pupil. 



This is the largest and heaviest fish of the Salmon tribe found in the 

 Danube, if not the largest Salmon known. It attains a length of four to six 

 feet, and a weight of forty to sixty pounds, though fishes of one hundred 

 pounds are sometimes taken. It is met with throughout the Austrian empire, 

 chiefly in the various tributaries of the Danube, which flow from the Alps, 

 more especially the Inn, Salzach, Ager, Traun, Ens, Steyr, and Traisen, but 

 is always found in the Save and Drave. It occurs in the Schiul in Transyl- 

 vania, and in the Alt and Maros, and in the Danube from Bavaria downwards. 

 It is rare in the Ammer See and Chiem See. It ascends the tributary streams 

 to spawn; and only large waterfalls, like the Traun Fall, or high weirs, form 

 obstructions over which it is unable to leap. Spawn matures when the fish 

 weighs four pounds. It spawns in April and May, and is reputed to 

 excavate furrows in the ground with its tail, like other large fishes of the 

 Salmon tribe ; and Heckel and Kner state that while thus occupied its atten- 

 tion is so absorbed as to be undisturbed by a boat passing over it. 



Its growth is rapid, but the fish is not tenacious of life. Its flesh is whitish, 

 and well-flavoured, but not so much esteemed as the May Trout or Austrian 

 Salmon Trout. It is captured with nets, but is also taken with the rod. It 

 is frequently speared as it lies still at the bottom, with the head up stream, or 

 shot with a ball. 



It flourishes in ponds which have a good current flowing through them, 

 and would be well suited for pond cultivation were it not so voracious. When 

 put in ponds it should not exceed a pound in weight, and if then fed with a 

 plentiful diet of Gudgeon, Rudd, Carp, Roach, and Dace, it increases two 

 pounds a year. It is liable to a fungoid skin disease, which first appears on 

 the margins of the fins, and spreads up to the head, and down to the tail. 



Salmo losses (GUNTHER). 

 D. 11, A. 10 11, P. 12, V. 9. 



Dr. Giinther founds this species upon a fish known in Russia as Lostsos, 

 which is described by Pallas as Salmo hucho. It is common in the rivers 

 flowing into the Baltic, and in the fish-ponds of St. Petersburg. It is found in 

 the River Kama, but is rare in the Volga, and it occurs in the Caspian Sea. 



It is remarkable for the small number of its pyloric appendages, which 

 may be as few as twenty-four. It reaches a length of two feet six inches. 



