THE BULL-TROUT. 181 



body above the lateral line being thickly covered 

 with large cruciform black spots. The flesh of this 

 species is of a yellowish tint, and has a coarse flavour, 

 except in the young state. It is consequently less 

 esteemed, as a marketable commodity, than any 

 other of the sea-going kinds. In the breeding sea- 

 son it assumes a much blacker tint than the salmon, 

 and wants much of the red markings. All the un- 

 der parts, jaws, and cheeks, become blotched with 

 deep blackish gray. The hook of the under jaw of 

 the male does not assume so elongated a form as 

 that of the salmon. The old fish begin to enter 

 the rivers about the end of July, and are believed 

 to deposit their spawn and return to the sea about 

 a month earlier than the last named species. 



This is a very powerful fish in all its states, and 

 feeds voraciously without much discrimination. Sir 

 William Jardine informs us, that when hooked it 

 springs repeatedly out of the water, and runs to use 

 an angler's phrase with extraordinary vigour to 

 free itself from barb and line. The river Tweed 

 and its tributaries are among the principal localities 

 of the bull-trout, although it occurs occasionally in 

 the Solway, and in the rivers of the west and north 

 of Scotland. It weighs in the adult state from 15 

 to 25 pounds. The last we saw was killed by net- 

 ting near Peebles, and weighed upwards of 17 

 pounds. Such British authors as have applied the 

 continental name of Salmo hucho to any native 

 species, have no doubt intended by so doing to de- 

 signate (however erroneously) the fish in question. 



The Bull-trout, in the adult state, is characte- 



