68 



Oliver. What is your opinion of the whit- 

 ling, for which the Till is so famous, Mr. 

 Reed ? Is it a distinct species of the genus 

 Salmo, or a cross, as some have supposed, 

 between the salmon and the trout ? 



Heed. I am inclined to believe it to be a 

 distinct species, and cannot admit that it is 

 the produce of a salmon and a trout ; for if 

 this opinion were correct, we might naturally 

 expect to meet with similar fish in every 

 river which is frequented both by the salmon 

 and the trout. Many people, who have never 

 seen the whitling, suppose it to be so named 

 from the light color of its flesh, which is in 

 reality much higher colored than that of the 

 largest common trouts caught in the same 

 stream. It has probably obtained the name 

 from its light silvery appearance, and from 

 its having no red or dark spots on its sides, 

 as other trouts have. 



Roddam. I have heard that it had been 

 decided by experiment in the neighbourhood 

 of Carlisle that the whitling was actually a 

 young salmon. Several, it is said, were put 



