173 



Note on a Sea Trout (Salmo Eriox or Trutta) from Car- 

 ham Ponds. By Mr A. B. Stirling, of the Anatomical 

 Museum, University of Edinburgh. 



Upwaeds of 100 smolts were taken from the river Tweed while 

 migrating to the sea on 7th May, 1874, by the Experimental 

 Committee of the Tweed Commissioners, and were placed im- 

 mediately after capture in an artificial pond prepared for them 

 on the estate of Carham. By desire of E. H. Huntley, Esq., 

 Chairman of the Tweed Commissioners, I was present at the 

 sixth examination of the fish, after a residence of two years and 

 nineteen days in the pond. This examination took place on 25th 

 May, 1876, in presence of E. H. Huntley, Esq., of Carham; 

 George C. Dic'kins, Esq., Cornhill, Coldstream ; Messrs List 

 (Dunse), Young (Berwick), Stoddart and Tait (Kelso), and 

 several other gentlemen of the Experimental Committee, and 

 their assistants. The fish were captured by netting, and trans- 

 ferred for examination to oblong square tubs, raised on a plat- 

 form, each haul being removed to other tubs, aerated by pouring 

 fresh water into them, until all were thus examined, measured, 

 weighed, and finally counted, and returned to the pond. When 

 emptied from the net into the tubs, in which there was water 

 enough to cover them well, all the fish — over 70 in number — 

 were healthy, plump, and very lively, many of them being up- 

 wards of 1 lb., and some bordering on 2 lb., weight. When 

 seen in the water, the whole upper part of the head and back 

 was of an uniform dark olive grey, without spots of any kind, 

 except the dorsal fin, which was sparsely dotted with ovate spots 

 between the rays. The sides of the head and body were lighter 

 grey, and were studded with irregular x shaped black marks, 

 both above and below the lateral line. Those marks were more 

 numerous between the origin of the pectoral and vent fins than 

 from thence to the tail, and the upper and lower long rays of the 

 tail were nearly black. When examined out of the water, the 

 whole under part of the body, from the chin to the tail, had a 

 pure silvery white appearance. The sides of the head and body, 

 as far as a point near the tail, both above and below the lateral 

 line, were light grey, with a slight brassy glare ; the pectoral 

 fins short, light brown at their insertion, and shading to black at 

 the posterior margins. The anal fin had a white margin on the 



