THE PARR. 301 



only which is yet unknown is the breeding. Males are 

 found so far advanced as to have the milt flow on being- 

 handled ; but at that time, and indeed all those females 

 which I have examined, had the roe in a backward state : 

 and they have not been discovered spawning in any of the 

 shallow streams or lesser rivulets, like the trout. 



" In the markings they are so distinct as to be at once 

 separated from the trout by any observer. The row of 

 blue marks which is also found in the young trout, and in 

 the young of several Salmonidce, in the parr are narrower 

 and more lengthened. The general spotting seldom ex- 

 tends below the lateral line, and two dark spots on the gill- 

 cover are a very constant mark. On a still closer compari- 

 son between the young trout and parr of similar size, the 

 following distinctions present themselves : — The parr is al- 

 together more delicately formed ; the nose is blunter ; the 

 tail more forked, but the chief external distinction is in the 

 immense comparative power of the pectoral fin ; it is larger, 

 much more muscular, and nearly one-third broader ; and 

 we at once see the necessity for this great power, when we 

 consider that they serve to assist in almost constantly sus- 

 pending this little fish in the most rapid streams. Scales of 

 the parr, taken from the lateral line below the dorsal fin, 

 were altogether larger, the length greater by nearly one- 

 third, the furrowing more delicate, and the form of the ca- 

 nal not so apparent, or so strongly marked, towards the ba- 

 sal end of the scale. The greater delicacy of the bones of 

 the parr is still kept up very distinctly. The operculum 

 forming the posterior edge of the gill-cover is much more 

 rounded than in the trout, approaching in this respect to 

 the salmon ; in the trout the lower part is decidedly angu- 

 lar. The interoperculum in the parr is longer and nar- 

 rower. The maxillary bone is broader at the posterior cor- 



