FISHES 



bifid spine beneath the eye will at once dis- 

 tinguish the spined loach from the common 

 or ' stone ' loach. 



MALACOPTERYGII 



23. Salmon. Salmo salar, Linn. 



Passes up the Trent on its way from the 

 sea to spawn, but at Newton Solney, where 

 the Dove joins the main river, the salmon 

 almost invariably enter the smaller stream. 

 At Dove Cliff, two miles above this point, is 

 a well known salmon leap provided with a 

 ladder, where on favourable occasions the 

 keeper of the mill told me he had seen as 

 many as twenty salmon ascend in an hour. 

 Some individuals, especially when the river 

 is in flood, pass onwards up the Trent and 

 have even forced their way into ditches, 

 where when the water has fallen they have 

 met an ignominious death. 



24. Trout. Salmo trutta, Linn. 

 According to the latest authorities the sea 



trout (S. trutta, S. cambricus) and the brown 

 river trout (S. fario) are regarded as merely 

 local races of one species. 



It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the 

 brown trout is common in Staffordshire, and 

 that from the days of Izaac Walton at least 

 the Dove has been famous for its large and 

 well flavoured fish. 



The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain has called my 

 attention to the following records of what 

 must have been the largest trout ever taken in 

 Staffordshire : 



From the Zoologist for 1848, p. 2342 : 

 ' Capture of an enormous trout at Drayton 



Manor. A trout weighing upwards of 21 

 Ib. and measuring 41 J inches in length was 

 taken on the 4th of November [1848], in a 

 small tributary of the Trent, on the property 

 of Sir Robert Peel, at Drayton Manor. It 

 was transmitted to London by Sir Robert, 

 and a faithful portrait of the fish has been 

 painted for the honourable baronet by Mr. 

 Waterhouse Hawkins. Edward Newman.' 



Again, in the Zoologist for 1896, p. 360, 

 the following extract from the Angler's Journal 

 of 20 December, 1884, is quoted, and seems 

 to indicate the same fish as that referred to by 

 E. Newman, although the weights given are 

 not identical : ' The largest English trout on 

 record is believed to be that from Drayton 

 Park, which weighed 22j Ib., the skeleton of 

 which was presented to the College of Sur- 

 geons.' 



25. Grayling. Thymallus vexillifer, Linn. 

 Common in many of our rivers, especially 



the Dove and the Blythe. 



APODES 



26. Common Eel. Anguilla vu/garis, Turt. 

 Both varieties of the common eel the 



sharp-nosed (A. acutirostris, Yarrell) and the 

 broad-nosed eel or grig (A. /atirostris, Yarrell) 

 are common in Staffordshire. Adult eels begin 

 to descend the Trent towards the sea, with 

 us, in July. They breed in the sea, and from 

 the larval form, the Leptocephalus brevirostris, 

 Kaup., is developed the young eel or elver 

 which ascends the rivers in numbers during 

 spring and early summer. 



GANOIDS 



27. Sturgeon. Acipenser sturio, Linn. 



made its way up the Trent as high as this 



The late Mr. Edwin Brown, writing in district [Burton], but no such occurrence has 

 1863, says : 'Instances are on record of this, been known of late years.' 

 the so-called royal, fish having in olden times 



CYCLOSTOMES 



28. Sea Lamprey. Petromyzon marinus, Linn. 

 Rarely ascends from the sea as far as Staf- 

 fordshire. Brown mentions an instance of 

 one, 2^ feet in length, taken in the Dove in 

 June, 1863. 



29. Lampern or River Lamprey. Petromyzon 



ftuviatilis. Linn. 

 Not uncommon. 



30. Mud Lamprey or Pride. Petromyzon 



branchia/is, Linn. 



135 



