148 MALACOPTERYGII. 



to him, that, in consequence of the preference shown for similar localities, 

 the fish is in some places called Gravel-incf, he said that was the name 

 applied to it by a gentleman from the South of Ireland ; so, presuming 

 this is the name there given to it, we have in this country two of its Eng- 

 lish names — Parr in the North, and Gravel-ing in the South. 



I examined the stomachs of three parr and one trout, all of which were 

 filled with the larvaj of aquatic insects, excepting two or three flies ; no 

 Crustacea appeared. There was 'neither milt nor roe apparent in any 

 of them. 



Irides of P<irr and S. Fario silvery. 



My friend Mr. Thos. Sinclaire, who has been long accustomed to angle 

 in the North of Ireland, and also in Scotland, states that the coloured 

 figures (natural size) which accomjjany Mr. Yarrell's paper on the Growth 

 of the Salmon in Fresh Water correspond with his ideas of the salmon 

 of every size represented ; but he is of opinion that a small fish which is 

 taken in rivers during every month, from March to November inclusive, 

 and which he calls the Parr, is a distinct species. He describes it as 

 being of a more robust make generally ; more firm and strong than young 

 salmon of the same size ; with scales not deciduous as those of the salmon 

 are, and also devoid of the silvery appearance of the " salmon fry." The 

 latter he considers to be always gregarious, and he has only taken them in 

 April and May. Sometimes they rise so frequently and numerously in 

 pools as to render the surface like a sheet of silver ; but he finds the jmrr 

 scattered throughout the river in the same manner as the common trout. 

 From the circumstance of his only meeting with what he considers the 

 salmon fry in April and May, he reasons that they are only then in the 

 rivers, although the ^;ar?- are there at all times. 



In May, 1842, Mr. Sinclaire brought me, from Cushendall, a few fishes' 

 which he called parr, but, in consequence of their having been put into 

 brine, they were unfit for critical examination. They all appeared to be 

 evidently of the same species, and one of them, displaying a black 

 pectoral fin and sharply forked tail, was, in my mind, a salmon {S. Salar). 



The Gret Trout, Bull Trout, or Roundtail, Salmo Eriox, Linn., 



Is taken along the coast of the northern half of the island, and not 

 improbably around the entire coast. A specimen captured in sea water, 

 at Killala Bay, was sent to me by Mr. R. Warren, jun., in the autumn of 

 1851. The first positive notice of this species as Irish was made by me 

 to the Zoological Society in 1837, and published more fully in the first 

 vol. of the Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. xxxv. 7, as follows : — 



"Salmo Eriox, Linn., Bull Trout.— Dec. 3, 1836.— In Belfast market I 

 selected from a basket filled with sea trout {S. Trutta), in hifih condition, three spe- 

 cimens of S. Eriox, which Mere taken along with them in the sea at Donaghadee, 

 in the County of Down. Their length is from 19| to 21 inches ; weight of each 

 about 2|lbs. Two are males, having the lower jaw very slightly hooked,* the 

 other is a female ; the operculum differs much in the sexes"; teeth on the vomer 

 of one male and the female three in number, in the other male four ; teeth gener- 

 ally much smaller in the female than in the males. Fin-rays, with one or two 

 exceptions, are in the three specimens — D. 14, P. 14, V. 10, A. 11, C. 19. 



"In colour they are silvery grey, having but few spots (of the form XXX 

 and purplish black) above the lateral line, and scarcely any below it. Donovan's 



* In the Fauna Boreali Americana it is remarked, that " the hook of the 

 under jaw is very decided, even in a young Salmo Cambricus," (Part iii. p. 307,) 

 but in the present instance the reverse appears. 



