Arthur. — Notes on some Specimens of migratory Salmonidse. 189 



bluish black or white, the spots not numerous, black and a;-shaped, the 

 gill-covers rounded and proportioned accurately or nearly so, maxillary fine, 

 and teeth comparatively fine, those on the vomer only present on head of 

 this bone. The Clyde 8. trutta, the S. trulta in the museum, and this fish 

 all agree very closely in the size of the fins relatively to length of body, and 

 these are all smaller relatively than in such examples oi S.fario in Otago as 

 I have yet examined. 



But, ou the other hand, it differs from the typical S. trutta and from 

 S.fario, in that the lower jaw projects very decidedly beyond the upper one, 

 even though it be a female, and when the mouth is shut it is just the same. 

 This mark is the same in all the other individuals (three or four) which I 

 have known caught in Otago Harbour, and which I have seen. Curiously 

 enough a trout caught in Lake "Wakatipu, by Mr. J. P. Maitland, in the 

 beginning of this year, of about l^lbs. in weight, had a head identical with 

 this S. trutta. It also had no spots on its body, which was covered with 

 brilliant silvery scales, and only two dark round spots on the left gill-cover. 

 But the vomerine teeth were complete, excepting on the head of the vomer, 

 which was toothless. It is only fair that I should state this, because no sea- 

 trout were ever liberated in any tributaries of the Wakatipu, which is 200 

 miles from the sea, nor in any feeder of the Clutha Eiver ; and, also, 

 because some people who take an interest in this subject are in doubt as to 

 whether we have the S. trutta in Otago at all or not. 



There is just one other fact I must mention particularly about this 

 Sawyer's Bay sea-trout, which is, the smallness of the ova, only the size of 

 pin-heads, and the whole lobes not more than an inch and a-half long. 

 This is an extraordinary condition for a migratory trout, or any trout, to be 

 in during April, which corresponds to October in England — when sea-trout 

 begin to spawn. At the same time, I must not omit to observe that large 

 females of this same species caught in the harbour in November are often 

 full of large ova almost ripe, the fish themselves being in splendid condition. 

 November in New Zealand corresponds to May at home.* These two facts, 

 and also this, that no undoubted sea-trout has yet been taken in any of our 

 rivers, may mean much, but what the meaning may be it would be prema- 

 ture as yet to decide. Do these fish spawn during the same month of the 

 year as at home, and is the spawning effected in the little streams entering 

 Otago harbour in every little bay, or do they spawn in the tidal way of the 

 harbour itself ? If in the small streams, we should most likely during the 



* Calif ornian salmon, which in a state of nature spawned in January and February, 

 in the head waters of coast rivers, have been found to spawn in September when cut off 

 from the sea and confined to short coast streams. — (App. to Journ. H. of E., 1878.) 

 W. A. 



