410 ME. r. DAT OlS BEITISH SALMONES. 



grey trout, Salmo eriox. At vol. ii. p. 236, it is stated, " Mr. 

 Low says it is found in the Locli of Stennes, Orkneys." But 

 this is not, I think, the form Dr. Giinther terms 8. orcadensis ; 

 for at p. 288 (Tarrell, I. c) it will be seen that another race of 

 trout is recorded as existing at the Orkneys, and which is con- 

 sidered S. ferox. " The Eev, Mr. Low, ' Fauna Orcadensis,' 

 mentions a trout of 36 lb. weight or more, which, along with the 

 common trout, occurs both there and in Zetland." Thus it 

 clearly appears that three forms were considered to exist in the 

 Orkneys — the grey trout, great lake-trout, and common trout. 

 Now Low expressly said that there are salmon in the sea, although 

 he had only heard of four instances of such ; and three (if they 

 were salmon) were killed and brought on shore by otters from 

 the sea, and picked up subsequently by the country people ; 

 while the fourth stuck in a mill-wheel, and was caught by the 

 miller. In his time (prior to 1795) Low had been informed of a 

 salmon-fishing that had formerly existed at the mouth of the 

 Loch of Stennes, and of heritors who had such a fishing in their 

 charters, the old people still showing a place where cruives were 

 placed ; but such had long since been given up. Yast quantities 

 of salmon, he continues, were caught in the rivers of Caithness, 

 which are right against and only separated from the Orkneys by 

 the Pentland Frith, and from thence he supposed the stragglers 

 came. 



It will thus be seen that probably S. orcadensis, Griinther, 

 a non-migratory form of trout from Loch Stennes, is identical 

 with the '* large trout" mentioned by Low as existing in that 

 locality, and which has been referred to S. ferox by Tarrell and 

 Hichardson. Dr. Griinther most justly compares his exam^jles to 

 8. nigripinnis, to which he observes '■ it is very similar," but dis- 

 tinguished from it " by a broader and stronger maxillary, larger 

 scales on the tail, and a greater number (50) of ceecal ajDpen- 

 dages." The same author, and also Thompson, found 49 in the 

 great lake-trout. 



About two years since I obtained from Waterford two examjjles 

 of trout exactly similar in shape &c. to the types of 8. orcadensis ; 

 they are respectively 13 and 14 inches in length. Some of the 

 spots on the head are ocellated, as seen in freshwater forms ; 

 whereas others are X-shaped, as is frequently perceived in such 

 as are taken in the sea. The teething is complete, having a row 

 across the head of the vomer, and a double zigzag line along the 

 body of that bone. 



