THE BULL-TROUT. 280 



fin more than half the length of the longest ray in the same fin ; vo- 

 merine teeth confined to the anterior extremity. (Plate XXXII. 

 Fig. 3.) 



Description. — From a female specimen two feet six inches in length. 

 Dorsal line straighter and higher over the shoulders than in a salmon 

 of equal size ; head larger, of a more clumsy make, and the caudal 

 extremity of the body thicker ; snout rather blunt ; jaws nearly equal ; 

 head one-fifth of the whole length, caudal fin included. In male 

 specimens the head is much longer, especially in the spawning sea- 

 son ; the elongation takes place in front of the nostrils, and not in 

 the gill-covers. Mr Yarrell's figure of the Bull-Trout was taken from 

 a male individual, in which the length of the head, compared to that 

 of the body only, is as one to four. Posterior margin of the opercu*- 

 lum but slightly rounded, that of the suboperculum rather more so 

 at its inferior part ; preoperculum sinuous, and rather curved at its 

 posterior border ; the line of union between the subopercle and pre- 

 opercle is not so oblique as in the salmon. Colour of the back dark 

 grey ; sides lighter ; belly white ; dorsal and caudal fins light grey ; 

 pectorals dusky grey at the lower half ; ventrals and anal dull white ; 

 spots above the lateral line numerous, of various forms, extending to 

 the base of the tail, those below the line about thirty, rather smaller, 

 and not extending to the anal fin ; no spots over the shoulders or on 

 the dorsal line ; opercle with three round spots, and one on the pre- 

 opercle. During the spawning season the male fish assumes a red- 

 dish-brown appearance, and if it remains any length of time in fresh 

 water the ventral and anal fins become dusky, and the whole fish of 

 a darker colour. First dorsal fin situated half-way between the point 

 of the snout and the base of the middle caudal rays ; the first ray 

 short and simple, not half the length of the second, which is also 

 simple, the rest of the rays branched, the third the longest, as long as 

 the base of the fin, the last two of equal length, exactly half the length 

 of the fourth ; second dorsal fin adipose, without rays, situated in a 

 vertical line over the base of the last anal ray ; caudal fin even at the 

 end, the middle ray considerably more than half as long as the long- 

 est ray in the same fin ; the sixth ray of the anal fin equalling the 

 length of the base of that fin, the first two rays simple, the rest branch- 

 ed, the third the longest, the last the shortest, about half the length o 1 " 

 the fifth ; ventral fins arising in a vertical line under the last ray but 

 six of the dorsal ; the first ray simple, the rest branched, the second 



ing too short to form any idea as to what species or variety they allude. 

 In the Firth of Forth the young of this fish is named Sea-Trout ; at Kelso» 

 far up the Tweed, it is called Whitling, which is not the Whitling at Ber- 

 wick. 



VOL. VII. T 



