GREAT GREY TROUT. 61 



Low, in his Fauna Orcadensis, mentions a Trout of thirty- 

 six pounds' weight or more, which, besides the Common 

 Trout, occurs both there and in Shetland. Mr. William 

 Thompson of Belfast, when at the meeting of the British 

 Association at Edinburgh in 1884, saw a specimen of the 

 Great Trout of Loch Awe, and recognised it as identical 

 with the Great Trout, or Buddagh, of Lough Neagh. Two 

 examples of large size, about thirty-five inches each in 

 length, were lately exhibited at the Zoological Society by 

 Mr. Thompson.* These were obtained from Lough Neagh, 

 where the younger and smaller sized fish of this species are 

 called Dolachans. 



According to Sir William Jardine, this fish, as far as can 

 be traced, seems to have been first noticed about forty-five 

 years since by the late Mr. Morrison of Glasgow, who 

 used to exhibit them to his friends as the trophies of his 

 expeditions. The first specimens taken in Loch Awe by 

 Mr. Selby and Sir William Jardine were considered as a 

 species undescribed and new to Britain ; and the name of 

 Salmo ferox was given to it, from its extreme voracity 

 and rapacious habits. M. Agassiz, who saw specimens of 

 this fish when he was in Edinburgh, pronounced it to be 

 diflTerent from any of the large Continental species. 



" In Scotland this fish appears to be generally distributed 

 in all the larger and deeper lochs. Loch Awe, Loch Lag- 

 gan, the upper end of Loch Shin, Lochs Loyal and Assynt, 

 they certainly inhabit, roving indiscriminately, and feeding 

 almost entirely upon the smaller fish. By persons residing 

 on the banks they are taken by night-lines, few rising at the 

 artificial fly ; but they may always be taken by strong troll- 

 ing tackle, baited with a small Trout. They are extremely 

 voracious, and having seized the bait, they will allow them- 

 * See the Report of the Proceedings of the Society for June 9tli, 1835. 



