528 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Duhlin Society. 



they consume an incredible amount. They are seldom taken under 

 2 lbs. weight, and I consider these overgrown trout the worst enemy 

 with which the salmon have to contend in these rivers, not even ex- 

 cepting an old male kelt. These " estuary" fish do not resemble any 

 of the figures in Dr. Day's work, their colours being as follows : — 

 For about two-thirds of the length below, and one-third above the 

 lateral line, the body is thickly studded with brick-coloured spots 

 about the size of a threepenny piece, the upper parts being covered 

 with similarly-sized brown spots ; while from head to tail there is a 

 distinct lead-coloured longitudinal band, comprising about four rows 

 of scales below, and two above, the lateral line.^ These fish, though 

 living so long in salt or brackish water, never assume a silvery 

 appearance ; in fact, some of the most brilliantly coloured and 

 spotted trout that I have ever seen, were taken in almost pure salt 

 water, close to the mouth of the Bann. 



From careful examinations made during the last three years — 

 1882-'84 — I find that although about 70 per cent, of our brook 

 trout breed during September and October, there is no month 

 during spring and summer in which some do not shed their 

 spawn.'* While conducting the same series of observations, I have 

 also arrived at the conviction that the size of the ripe ova cor- 

 responds to the size and age of the parent fish. Mr. Meenan, of 

 Belfast, writes me that the largest Lough Neagh trout, which he 

 has received of late 'years, weighed 27 lbs, 



Salmo alpinus. — Among local names should be mentioned 

 " murneen," by which, according to Wilde, they are known in 

 several of the Galway and Mayo lakes. Charr are common in 

 many of the Donegal loughs, and these loughs have no appear- 

 ance of a glacial origin, and in some cases at least, as in the 

 small bog loughs of Innishowen, they are nowhere deep. I do not 

 think that we have any positive proof that the disappearance of 

 this fish from Lough Neagh is due to the agency of man ; and it 

 is remarkable that their disappearance from Inchigeelagh and 



■^ In a male, partially spawned, killed October 3rd, 1884, there is but one tooth on 

 the head of the vomer, and an irregular double row, in which many were wanting, 

 along the body of that bone, a slight mandibular hook, fifty-eight vertebra, and only 

 thirty ccscal appendages ; teeth largely developed. 



^ I have never had an opportunity of examining specimens from November to I'eb- 

 ruary, inclusive. 



