372 



THE GRAYLING. 



the grayling's. The trout has not a handsome head to my 

 eye ; the lines are hard, and there is an expression of savage- 

 ness in the jaws." The sides of the grayling are of a grayish 

 steel color, the lines on the back and edge of the belly being 

 darker and nearly a brown color. 



Prof. Milner thus writes of him* "There is no, species 

 sought for by anglers that surpasses the grayling in beauty. 

 They are more elegantly formed than the trout, and their 

 great dorsal fin is a superb mark of beauty. When the well- 

 lids were lifted, and the sun-rays admitted, lighting up the 

 delicate olive-brown tints of the back and sides, the bluish- 

 white of the abdomen, and the mingling tints of rose, pale 

 blue, and purplish-pink on the fins, it displayed a combina- 

 tion of living colors that is equalled by no fish outside of the 

 tropics." 



My old and respected friend Dr. Rufus Brown, of Detroit, 

 Michigan, who contributed the article on " Black Basse Fish- 

 ing in Michigan," on page 288, writes, in February 18, 1876, 

 of the grayling : 



" A beautiful specimen is now swimming in the tank of the 

 fountain of the Michigan Exchange Hotel, in this city. It is 

 about twelve inches in length, gray on the back, whitish 

 sides, large very dark eyes, and a large and peculiarly flexible 

 dorsal fin, the lower and broad end of which is ornamented 

 with sky-blue brilliant spots on a blackish ground, not unlike 

 the end of a peacock's feather. This fin expands in swimming. 

 The ventral fins are of a peculiar shape and variegated." 



" The term thymallus" says Yarrell, " is said to have been 

 bestowed upon this fish on account of the peculiar odor it 

 emits when fresh from the water, which is said to resemble 

 that of thyme ; and from it's agreeable color as well as smell. 

 St. Ambrose is recorded to have called it the flower of fishes, 



