THE GREY TROUT. 115 



Salmon. A much smaller number of eggs, however, is developed. The grilse, on returning from the 

 sea, remain for a long time in brackish water before pushing up to the tributary streams. All 

 the fish do not return to the river from which they started, for some which have been marked have 

 been taken in adjacent livers. Salmon which go down from the Tweed have been caught on the 

 Forth, and it has been suggested that when the Salmon have wandered far at sea a change in 

 temperature may compel them to enter the nearest estuary which can be found. The Salmon at sea is 

 a voracious feeder. Dr. Kriox found in the stomach eggs of Sea Urchins, and other Echinodermata 

 with some Crustacea, Other writers have remarked that their favourite food in the sea is the Sand Eel, 

 with which they are easily taken. Sometimes a fish will have two or three full-sized Herrings in its 

 stomach. They are readily captured in rivers with the common earth-worm, and by the artificial fly. 

 The largest specimen brought to the London market of which there is record was a female weighing 

 eighty-three pounds ; and fish have been taken with the rod and line in the Tweed in former years which 

 have weighed seventy pounds, but such weights are very unusual. At sea Salmon are sometimes 

 caught in a net, for they swim near into shore, and ropes are stretched so as to enclose 

 the fish and drag them towards land. Yarrell records that when the fish are seen coming 

 up the river a boat is rowed off quickly from the fisherman's lodge with a net attached 

 to it, which is dropped into the water and taken in a sweep, so that the fish are surrounded. 

 Frequently dogs are trained to assist in fishing, either by driving the fish, as they would 

 drive sheep, or by swimming across the river with lines attached to the net. Some Salmon 

 for the English market are obtained from Norway, and the species frequents nearly all the 

 streams which empty into the North Sea, but is not found in the Mediterranean. It does 

 not occur farther 'south than the 43rd parallel of latitude, and south of the 55th parallel it becomes 

 scarce. In Germany it occurs in the Rhine and its tributaries, in the Oder, the Vistula, the Weser, 

 and the Elbe. It is less frequent in the west of France and the north of Spain. It is found 

 plentifully in Russia, Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland. According to Bream, the Salmon 

 enters the Rhine in April, and has reached Basle in May. It makes its way through various 

 small streams into several of the Swiss lakes, and reaches a height of more than 4,000 feet above 

 the sea. In the Elbe they go up to the mountains, and reach as far as the Fichtelgebirge. The 

 same species occur in North America. 



THE GREY TROUT.* 



Under the name Trout are included the Grey Trout, Salmon Trout, the Common Trout, the Great 

 Lake Trout, and the Loch Leven Trout of North Britain. The Grey Trout is easily distinguished 

 by the remarkable squareness of the outline of its operculum, which is relatively larger than in tho 

 Salmon ; its teeth too are longer and stronger than in Salmon, and the outline of the tail, owing to the 

 growth of the central caudal rays, becomes convex in the older fish. It is found in many British rivers, 

 and Yarrell quotes it from the rivers of South Wales, Cornwall, Dorsetshire, the Cumberland streams 

 which run into the Solway Firth, and it occurs all round the northern shores of Ireland. Dr. 

 G wither regards the Lake Trout of the Orkneys, which does not migrate, as a distinct species. 

 It usually weighs less than fifteen pounds, but sometimes reaches a weight of twenty pounds; 

 the flesh is paler than that of the Salmon, and it is less valued for food. Lord Home 

 mentions that the Bull Trout, as this species is sometimes called, comes up the Tweed first at the end 

 of April or beginning" of May, when the fish weigh from two to five pounds. Towards the end of 

 November, however, they come up in thousands, and then weigh from six to twenty pounds. The 

 length of the head to that of the body is as one to four. The lower jaw of the male elongates, though 

 to a less extent than in the Salmon. The dorsal fin commences exactly half way between the 

 extremity of the nose and the origin of the outermost rays of the tail. The scales are rather smaller 

 than those of the Salmon ; between the lateral line and dorsal fin there are twenty-six, while below the 

 lateral line there are about twenty-five rows. The anal fin is nearer the tail than in the Salmon. 

 Usually there are fifty-nine vertebra, or one fewer than in the Salmon. The shoulders are thicker 

 than in the Salmon, and the bases of the fins and fleshy part of the tail are stronger. In the 

 spawning season the head of the male becomes olive-brown, and the body orange-brown, while the 

 females are blackish-<n-ev. 



O v 



* Salmo camlrirus. 



