THE SALMON. 147 



The three most striking characters of the parr, in contradistinction to 

 the common trout, are — its tail being more forked, its having only 2 or 3 

 spots on the opercula, and its want of dark-cohurcd spots beneath the 

 lateral line. The P. fin of the parr is larger, and the hinder margin of 

 its operculum less angular, than in the trout. These two parrs have from 

 1 to 3 spots on opercula (pre-opercle and opercle) ; these are generally 

 deep black, but they vary, some being rather faint ; on one specimen 

 there is a bright scarlet, in another a faintly reddish spot. They all 

 exhibit, more or less, spots below the lateral line, but these (with the 

 exception of a single dark spot on one), as well as the spots on the line, 

 are scarlet. Some of them have but 1 or 2 spots beneath it ; others have 

 them sparingly in two irregular rows. The three specimens of trout have 

 many darkish spots below lateral line. 



The remark of Pennant, that " the adipose fin is never tipped with red, 

 nor is the edge of the anal white," can only be considered as generally 

 correct. Two of my parrs do, though very faintly, show red on the adipose 

 fin, and one half of them have the base of the anal fin white ; but on the 

 parr it is less conspicuous than in the trout, in consequence of the con- 

 trast produced by the adjoining rays on the latter being dusky, whilst on 

 the parr they are so light as to be yellowish, or almost transparent. 



Sir Wm. Jardine observes (Edin. Phil. Jour.), that the parr 



" takes any bait, at any time, with the greatest freedom ; and hundreds may be 

 taken when no trout, either large or small, will rise, though abundant among 

 them." 



In the present instance three trout were taken,'and ten parr, by fly-fishing, 

 and on several occasions my angling friends have remarked to me, when 

 the day turned out unfavourable for theii- sport, and bright sunshine came 

 on, that they could catch only parr. I chiefly allude to Glenwherry river. 



About an hour after the above was written, I saw in Belfast 31 other 

 specimens of parr and common trout, taken along with those just 

 described. The angler caught yesterday 62 of these fishes altogether in 

 Glenwherry river. 



Of these 31, 2j are trout, nearly all about o inches in length. I at 

 once distinguished them from the parr, by the before-named three striking 

 characters, and need only further observe that some of the trout had all 

 the spots below the lateral line more or less reddish, though on none were 

 they all bright scarlet as on the parr ; these spots arc, however, much 

 more numerous on the former than the latter. Some of these trout had 

 only from 1 to 3 spots on opercula like the parr, but they were less regu- 

 larly disposed (on the parr they are generally in a row) and less striking 

 in colour. The white basal margin, from the reason above assigned, is 

 (though not taken separately) a good mark of S. Fario. I looked to it in 

 all the 31. Small as these trout are (from 4 to 6 inches), not one exhibits 

 transverse markings, as do all the specimens of the parr, one of these, 7| 

 inches long, showing them as strongly as the smallest. 



When conversing with the man who caught these fishes, he said that 

 he knows the parr from the young trout by its mode of leajiing at the 

 fly ; it leaps higher, in a more lively manner, and wider of its mark. On 

 inquiring why the jmiT is so partial to Glenwherry river, com])ared with 

 others, such as the Six-Mile Water, the (ilenavy river, and the ("ollin Glen 

 river, I found he attributed it to the gravelly shallows of that river. The 

 Six-Mile Water flows over, he says, a soft bottom ; and he further observed, 

 that in Galgorm water, or Clough river, a branch of the Main, the parr 

 is very abundant, those streams being likewise gravelly. On remarking 



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