ME. E. DAT ON THE LOCH-LEVEN TEOUT. 
77 
the Loch-Leven trout, which affords the most notable example 
of the pheuomenou referred to, it must, however, he kept in view, 
as having an important bearing on the character of this fish, that 
the loch which it inhabits had, most probably, at oue time a 
communication with the sea, and that the fish themselves possess 
in a most remarkable degree the features of the salmon and the 
sea-trout .... The fact of one of these trout having, in the 
course of the present trial, been regarded by Professor Young as 
a sea-trout, after examination, is a very strong testimony to the 
difference between the characteristic features of the Loch-Leven 
trout and those of all the non-migratory river-fish ” (pp. 166, 167). 
In the year 1873 Sir James Maitland commenced fish-culture 
at Howietoun, and selected as the form of trout which he con- 
sidered would prove best adapted for this purpose the true 
Loch-Leven breed, the eggs of which he obtained at the lake, 
and from which his present stock originated *. Por some years 
he has assisted me, and allowed every facility for examining 
the fish in his establishment, while I have given very particular 
attention to the following question, Is the Loch-Leven trout a 
distinct species or merely a local race ? 
The first inquiry will therefore be, On what grounds has the 
Loch-Leven trout been regarded as a distinct species ? Can any 
persistent differences from other trout he shown in its external 
form, its internal organization, its tints, or the colour or taste of 
its flesh ? 
As to external form, the Loch-Leven trout has been said to be 
much less stout, its head shorter, its fins more pointed, while the rays 
in its caudal fin are longer than those in the burn-trout ; the poste- 
rior extremity of this fin is also said to he lunated and pointed at 
both its upper and lower angles, and its pectoral fin is likewise 
pointed. Also that the male has no hook on the lower jaw ; that its 
maxillary bone is more feeble than in any other form of trout, and 
that it never extends posteriorly beyond the hind margin of the 
orbit. 
As to its body being less stout than that seen in burn -trout, 
* Others have likewise stocked pieces of water with these fish, but with vary- 
ing success. Thus Knox (‘Lone Glens of Scotland,’ 1854) remarked upon “ the 
artificial Lake of Prestmannan, into which, some years ago, the beauteous Trout 
of Loch Leven had been introduced. Under circumstances highly disadvanta- 
geous they throve, notwithstanding, tolerably well, and even bred at the entrance 
of a small stream which mainly supplies the lake” (p. 35). 
LINN. JOTTEN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX. 7 
