296 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



which circumstance they seem to have received the name of 

 Whttling. The lateral bands and orange-coloured spots 

 are no longer visible ; the gill-cover spot is almost oblite- 

 rated ; the tail still remains deeply forked ; the pectorals 

 become dusky, and in some specimens assume a yellow ap- 

 pearance, when they are named orange fins. The vomerine 

 teeth are from nine to twelve in number, and in about one 

 example out of twenty, only three of these teeth are percepti- 

 ble, and then confined to the most anterior part (probably the 

 young of some of the varieties of Eriox); the head is small; 

 the nose sharp ; the back, over the shoulders, thick ; and the 

 form of the body elegantly shaped. After they enter the 

 rivers, and have remained there a short time, they lose their 

 silvery appearance, the spots become more apparent, the ven- 

 tral and anal fins become dusky ; the flesh, which previously 

 had a reddish tinge and a delicate flavour, now becomes 

 white and insipid, and the whole fish soon assumes a lank 

 and unwholesome appearance. In this condition, on their 

 return again to the sea, in the months of January and Feb- 

 ruary, numbers are taken in the Forth above Stirling, as well 

 as in the Tay, and sent to the Edinburgh market, where they 

 are named Lammasmens, and are sold at the rate of about 

 sevenpence per pound. When they have recruited them- 

 selves by a short absence at sea, and regained their former 

 symmetry and silvery hue, they visit us again in June on 

 their return to the rivers as before, with a length, on an 

 average, of eighteen inches. They now receive the provin- 

 cial names of Sea-Trout, Salmon- Trout, White-Trout, and 

 Whitlings, according to their form, or their external mark- 

 ings. The caudal fin at this period becomes less forked, 

 the middle rays more lengthened in proportion, and in 

 some examples nearly even at the end. The number of 

 vomerine teeth at this age are also uncertain, varying from 



