156 MALACOPTERYGII. 



half of the lateral line, and three smaller spots beneath them ; they are 

 of sealing-wax red, just the same on right side ; two uppermost spots on 

 adipose tin are scarlet, all the other spots on this side have a yellowish 

 brown ring round them, with a whitish marking again sm-rounding it, 

 rendering them beautifully ocellated. Upper third portion of body, dull 

 stem yellow ; central third, rich gold of metallic brilliancy ; and lowest 

 third of a rich " buff orange," or pale salmon colour ; extreme base, 

 whitish buff. Irides, silvery, clouded with brown. The general colour 

 of the right side is more uniform than above described, but lying on this 

 side may have been the cause. On dissection the stomach and canal 

 were found quite empty, excepting the ordinary thick mucus-like matter. 

 The milt was of the thickest consistency. The vertebrse were fifty-six in 

 number. 



Nov. 26th, 1840. Two fish, judged in the market from their hard sto- 

 mach to be Gillaroos, were brought me. They were both Salmo ferox. 



The Great Lake Trout, Salmo ferox, Linn., 



Found throughout the larger lakes of Ireland ; attains upwards of 

 30 lbs. weight ; is the common Salmo of Lough Neagh : particularly re- 

 marked in this locality a century ago, and thought likely by authors to 

 be identical with the >S^. lacustris of the Lake of Geneva : — see Proceedings 

 Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 81. 



Florence Court, Oct., 1840. — Lord Enniskillen considers this fish the 

 common trout of Lough Erne, as I consider it of Lough Neagh. He has 

 seen one of twenty-eight pounds weight taken there. He caught it in 

 Lough Melvin, Oct. 19th. A male fish three feet long, and weighing 

 twenty pounds, was caught in the neighbourhood (if in condition it would 

 have weighed twenty-six pounds) ; it was about one foot in depth, 

 and densely spotted fi-om back to very near the belly ; the lower spots 

 reddish. 



Mr. M'Calla only knows this fish as found in Lough Corrib. (1840.) 



Bulhjshannon, July loth, 1840. — -A gentleman living at Lough Melvin 

 told me that trout are taken there of thirty-two pounds Aveight ; doubt- 

 less of this species. * 



Salmo ferox. Sept. 22, 1836. Nov. 24, 1837.— Many S. ferox of me- 

 dium size in Belfast market ; they were in bad condition, and many ova 

 the size of the largest peas were scattered over them. For Dr. Scouler I 

 bought two specimens (male and female) of similar size, weighing toge- 

 ther 19 lbs. The marking was very different on the two sexes, the fe- 

 male being of a silvery grey, densely covered over with black spots, the 

 male not having half the number of spots, and which were bordered, chiefly 

 the lowest ones, with a ring of dull orange. The general colour of this 

 fish was very different from the female, the lower part of the sides and 

 belly being of a rich salmon colour. 



On dissection there Avas not anything found in their stomachs but the 

 backbone of a fish, which must have been about the size of a full-grown 

 poUan ; the roe in female was the size of small peas and weighed alto- 

 gether 17 oz. 



The stomach of a small S. ferox examined to-day contained remains of 

 insects. 



* A specimen of S. ferox, sent to Dublin University Museum by one of the 

 editors in 1851, weighed 32 lbs. 



