SPOTS ON TROUT. 



41 



TROUT FROM THE WANDLE. 



but the colours of fish are very capricious, 

 and depend upon causes which cannot be 

 easily defined. I have known fish, from 

 some lakes in Ireland, mottled in a most sin- 

 gular way, their colour being like that of 

 the tortoise: the nature of the water, expo- 

 sure to the light, and probably their kind of 

 food, produce these effects. I think it pos- 

 sible, when trout feed much on hard sub- 

 stances such as shell-fish and the ova of 

 other fish they have more red spots, and 

 redder fins. This is the case with the gil- 

 laroo and the char, who feed in this manner; 



