SALMO FEROX 171 



naturalists, under the title of Salmo ferox. But there 

 is no reason to believe that they are anything but 

 overgrown specimens of the common brook or loch 

 trout ; in fact, I once took in Loch Arkaig five fish 

 in an afternoon's trolling, ranging from seventeen- 

 and-a-half pounds to two-and-a-half pounds, of which 

 all were reckoned ferox, because of the method of 

 their capture ; but the smaller ones might have come 

 out of a club water in Hampshire. On the other 

 hand, I have seen trout of ten pounds and twelve 

 pounds taken with prawn and minnow out of the 

 pool below E-omsey Bridge on the Test; nobody 

 thought of calling them ferox, though they presented 

 all the outward characteristics of that so-called 

 species, except that, from living in shallower water, 

 they had not acquired the dark purple and black 

 complexion of the northern monsters. This peculiar 

 dark tint disappears after the fish has been out of 

 the water for some hours in a cool place. 



However, Salmo ferox is a really good descriptive 

 name for a class of trout taken in deep and exten- 

 sive lakes, for these are the fiercest of all British 

 fresh- water fishes. The pike compares with a typical 

 ferox as a Southdown sheep-dog does with a grey 

 wolf. The pike has a Pecksniffian air, as of one 



