146 Salmon at the Antipodes. 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 



THE IDENTIFICATION OP SALMON AND TROUT. 



When the soldiers of Caesar, in their victorious 

 march upon Gaul and Britain, reached the 

 hanks of the Garonne, the saltatory motions 

 of a fish new to them, making his ascent from 

 the sea, obtained for him the specific name 

 that his habits so well justify to the present 

 day, as may be well seen in any river where 

 salmon abound, this fish being able to leap 

 10 or 12 feet high in ascending waterfalls 

 on the way to its spawning ground. The 

 Salmo solar is admittedly the king of fishes ; 

 but there are princes and nobles of the family, 

 which bear such a close resemblance to him, 

 that the identification of individuals is in some 

 cases a matter of great difficulty. 



The genus Salmo presents such diversity of 

 form, caused by differences in food, climate, 

 circumstances, and the quality of the water 



