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Mil. F. DAY ON THE DOCII-LEVEX TROUT. 
Mr. Ffenuell, writing of the Lochlevens at Mr. Andrews's 
( Times , Oct. 14th, 1886), observed that “ the Loch-Leveu trout 
were no strangers to me ; I have killed, many, and as a fresh- 
water fish I hold them in high esteem : and I certainly think that 
those I took from the roadside pond in Surrey were the very best 
I had ever placed before me.” 
The question whether the Loch-Leven trout is a local race 
or a distinct species, is one of considerable practical im- 
portance to the fish-culturists of this country, quite irrespective 
of its scientific interest. If it is a species distinct from the 
brook-trout, its introduction into our streams and dissemination 
through our fresh waters would be a great source of hybridization 
among our indigenous forms, and this would tend towards sterility 
of the offspring. On the other hand, if it is merely a local race, 
its crossing with the brook-trout would be merely the inter- 
breeding between two varieties of one species, which, instead of 
being a cause of sterility, is more commonly a means of improving 
a breed. 
I assume it as granted that the Howietoun fish are in every 
respect similar to those of Loch Leven, whence the breed was 
derived. This variety is sometimes, not always, finer shaped 
towards the tail, and has a rather shorter head, as in the sea- 
trout, S. albus, than the ordinary brook-trout, while its form 
is much like that of the Salmo lemanus or loch -trout of the 
Lake of Geneva and elsewhere, which has been shown to be 
a variety of S.fario. Its maxillary bones are somewhat finer 
than in our ordinary river-trout ; its csecal appendages are more 
numerous ; and its colour differs, being as a rule silvery with black, 
but having no red spots up to its fourth or fifth year. Dr. 
Gunther’s observations that the male never has a knob on the 
lower jaw, that its fins are never rounded, that the teeth along the 
body of the vomer are always in a single row, very different from 
those of the brook or burn trout, may be dismissed as erroneous 
statements, probably made owing to the want of opportunity of 
examining specimens. The Loch-Leven trout is doubtless a 
rapid grower in its northern home, and the race at Howietoun 
has been much improved by selection of breeders ; but removing 
the eggs to a new locality and then rearing the young has shown 
that the form and colour of the local race of trout is, as a rule, 
assumed, while even the number of caecal appendages becomes 
altered, owing to changed condition of life. 
