VARIETIES OF SALMON. 109 



sea trout which I saw in Ireland, called a 

 bull trout, was of the same kind as these you 

 see here, but fresh water trout are sometimes 

 carried in floods to the sea, and come back 

 larger and altered in colour and form, and 

 are then mistaken for new species; and as 

 each river possesses a peculiar variety be- 

 longing to it, this, with differences depend- 

 ing upon food and size, will, I think, account 

 for the peculiarities of particular fish, without 

 the necessity of supposing them distinct 

 species. I remember many years ago, the 

 first time I ever fished for salmon in spring 

 in the Tweed, I caught with the fly, one fine 

 morning in March, two fish nearly of the 

 same length : one was a male fish of the last 

 season, that had lost its melt; the other a 

 female fresh from the sea. They were so 

 unlike, that they did not appear of the same 

 species : the spent or kipper salmon was long 

 and l^an, showing an immense head, spotted 

 all over with black and brown spots, and the 

 belly almost black; the other bright and 

 silvery, without spots, and the head small. 

 Even the pectoral and anal fins had more 



