502 TUBE-BLADDERED GROUP. 



type of coloration, agree in having median teeth on the hyoid bone. "Without 

 committing ourselves definitely, we confess that we are inclined to agree with 

 Day as to the specific identity of the whole of them. To illustrate the group, we 

 have the ssebling depicted in the lower figure of the illustration on p. 501. 

 In the spawning-season the upper-parts of this fish are brownish green, and the 

 sides lighter ; the under surface passing through all shades of orange to vermilion, 

 from the throat to the pelvic fins, where the colour attains its greatest intensity. 

 The sides are ornamented with rounded spots varying from white to red in colour ; 

 the dorsal fin has dark markings, and the pectoral and pelvic fins are brilliant red. 

 This form commonly grows to a length of 8 or 9 inches, but the northern charr 

 attains much larger dimensions. Day writes that " the colours of the British 

 charr do not vary to so great an extent as in the trout, owing to their residing in 

 deeper waters, and usually merely ascending towards the surface at night-time to 

 feed, while other changes in tint are consequent upon the breeding-season. In 

 the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire this fish in its ordinary 

 state is the case-charr of Pennant ; when exhibiting the bright crimson belly 

 which it assumes before spawning, it is called the red charr ; when out of season, 

 the spawn having been shed, it is distinguished by the name of the gilt charr. . . . 

 Charr are a more delicate and apparently shorter-lived fish than trout, requiring 

 deeper and stiller pieces of water, and a colder temperature ; they have even been 

 recorded as residing in lochs where the sun never reaches the surface of the water. 

 They are readily destroyed by poisonous substances ; while attempts to introduce 

 them to fresh localities have not been so uniformly successful as with the trout." 



The North American charr (S. fontinalis), which has been successfully intro- 

 duced into British waters, together with the hucho (8. hucho) of the Danube, differ 

 from the foregoing in the absence of median teeth on the hyoid bone ; the latter 

 fish being shown in the lower figure of the illustration on p. 499. The general 

 colour of the American charr is greenish, — lighter above than beneath, — beautifully 

 shot with purple and gold, ornamented with numerous dark spots above, and fewer 

 below the lateral line, many of which in front of the dorsal fin coalesce into 

 streaks, and also with red spots above the aforesaid line. Most of the fins have 

 dark markings ; and in the breeding-season the male assumes a black line along 

 the under surface. These fish usually range in size from 2 to 3 lbs., although 

 they may be larger. The hucho, on the other hand, which is readily characterised 

 by its elongated, slender, and almost cylindrical form, attains dimensions equal to 

 those of the salmon. 

 Many -Rayed A group of migratory salmonoids (Onchorhynchus) inhabiting the 



salmon. North American and Asiatic rivers flowing into the Pacific differ 

 from the typical genus in having more than fourteen rays in the anal fin ; while 

 their kelts are remarkable for the degree to which the jaws are hooked, and the 

 humping of the back. An early writer in describing the hordes in which these 

 salmon annually visit Kamschatka, states that they " come from the sea in such 

 numbers that they stop the course of the rivers, and cause them to overflow the 

 banks ; and when the waters fall there remains a surprising quantity of dead fish 

 upon the shore, which produces an incomparable stink ; and at this time the bears 

 and dogs catch more fish with their paws than people do at other places with their 



