THE PARR. 291) 



If we compare a young Salmon of eight inches in length 

 with a Parr of equal size, both taken from the same river 

 in the month of May, we shall find them to differ in the 

 following respects. (See Plate XXX.) The form of the 

 Salmon is long and narrow, the snout pointed, and the cau- 

 dal fin acutely forked ; the body of the Parr is thick and 

 clumsy, the snout broad and blunt, and the caudal fin 

 much less forked. The operculum of the Salmon is beau- 

 tifully rounded at its posterior margin, with the basal line 

 of union with the suboperculum much curved ; in the Parr 

 this part is rather produced, with the line of union nearly 

 straight. In the Salmon the maxillary is short and nar- 

 row ; in the Parr it is longer and broader, particularly at 

 the posterior free extremity. The teeth of the Salmon are 

 long and fine, when recent, easily bent ; those of the Parr 

 are shorter and stouter, and resist much greater pressure. 

 In the Salmon the pectoral fin is short, not quite one-seventh 

 part the length of the whole fish, with the fourth ray the 

 longest ; the same fin in the Parr is very long, not quite 

 one-sixth part the length of the whole fish, with the fifth 

 ray the longest, giving a form to the fin totally different 

 from that of the Salmon. (See Plate XXXIV.) The pec- 

 toral, dorsal, and caudal fins in the Salmon are black ; 

 those fins in the parr are dusky. The flesh of the Salmon 

 is delicate and pinkish, the bones rather soft, and the coats 

 of the stomach thin and tender ; the flesh of the Parr is 

 white and firm, the bones stout and hard, and the coats of 

 the stomach and intestines thick and tough. 



It is generally supposed that those small fish from four 

 to five inches in length, which are found so plentiful in 

 many rivers during the autumn months, and which are 

 marked on the sides with from ten to eleven transverse 

 dusky bands, and a black spot on each gill-cover, are either 

 all parrs or the young of the salmon. But from a minute 



