70 THE SCOTTISH ANGLER. 



We now come to speak upon the different species 

 of fresh- water trout, and primarily upon the great lake 

 trout, or salmo ferox of the naturalist. This fish is 

 erroneously supposed by some to be confined, in Scot- 

 land, entirely to Loch Awe. But it exists in very 

 many Highland lochs. It is found in Lochs Laggan, 

 Quoich, Monar, Garry, and Shin. It has been caught, 

 over and over again, in Rannoch, Tummel, and Ly- 

 doch; nor is it unfrequentin places of less note mere 

 mountain tarns and nameless gorges, where it is wont 

 to rove at leisure, the terror of small and unprotected 

 fish. 



To a Mr Morrison, from Glasgow, is attributed the 

 merit of having first discovered the salmo ferox in Loch 

 Awe, about half a century ago. We doubt very much 

 the strength of his claims to this discovery ; and from 

 the inquiries made by us at Dalmally, Cladish, Inver- 

 aw, and other parts of the surrounding country, we 

 are led to believe that this species of trout has been well 

 known there from time immemorial ; nay, it is impos- 

 sible but that individuals of the kind must have been 

 taken centuries ago, during the spawning season, in the 

 Urchay, Awe, and other rivers, by the ancient method 

 of destroying fish with the leister, unless we suppose, 

 what is not probable, that it is entirely a recent species 

 of trout. 



This fish acquires prodigious dimensions. One was 

 caught in Loch Rannoch, by the late Baron Norton, 

 weighing thirty pounds. In Loch Awe, they have 

 frequently been taken by Mr Maule of Edinburgh, and 

 others, betwixt twenty and twenty-eight pounds; while 

 on the Continent, in Norway and Switzerland, it is 

 not uncommon to meet with them weighing nearly four 

 stone. In America, trout have been captured of a still 

 more incredible size. The salmo ferox, like the pike, 



