STREAMS OF THE OUTER ISLES AND SKYE 301 



developed into a raw, red sore. The significant remark is also made 

 in a letter of 14th August, " although we have had it very dry, it 

 has been more or less cloudy and windy, it (the disease) would have 

 been worse in brilliant sunshine and light east or no wind." One 

 specimen examined by me was killed on 14th August, and repre- 

 sented, I believe, an average state of the peculiarity. The skin was 

 unbroken, the white area being noticeable not only on the crown of 

 the head but to some extent in the occipital region behind the head, 

 it also extends downwards to the operculum, in which region, I am 

 assured, it first appears. It was not noticeable in front of the eye, 

 which organ appeared to be normal and functional. The colour was 

 a dead white, slightly clouded here and there with a bluish tint. 

 Pigment remained in the dorsal region only at the end of the snout 

 and in a patchy manner above the eyes. There was a distinct 

 depression in the region of the cranial cavity above the brain. The 

 fish was otherwise healthy and in splendid condition, with pyloric 

 appendages loaded with fat; indeed, it may be stated that the 

 disease does not appear to reduce the plump condition of the fish 

 affected. In another specimen received, killed on 24th July, and 

 showing the disease in a more advanced state, no very marked differ- 

 ence was noticeable on the crown of the head, but the white area 

 above the muscular tissue just beyond the head showed the surface 

 broken and ulcerated in three places. The spreading of this condi- 

 tion over the circumscribed area ultimately seems to give rise to the 

 prevailing red colour seen in the worst specimens. On lifting the 

 specimen killed on 24th July from the box in which the fish came 

 the pupil or lens dropped out from one of the eyes. The specimen 

 was certainly not very fresh, having been sent during the hottest of 

 the summer, and having taken three days to reach Edinburgh from 

 Grimersta Lodge. Still this could not, I consider, account for the 

 ease with which the lens of the eye dropped out. In no specimen 

 which I have seen or of which I have heard has the fish been 

 affected except in the region of the brain and medulla. 



GRIMERSTA. 



This, the best fishing in the Lewis, and for its size one of the most 

 productive fishings in Britain, consists of a chain of four lochs and 

 a short little river to the sea at the head of Loch Roag, on the west 

 side of the Long Island, about 15 miles across from Stornoway. The 

 great benefit of the lochs to this fishing is that of water supply. It 



