488 Fisuinc in AMERICAN WATERS. 
ble height. It is only necessary to compare him with other 
fishes for judging why he is so fortunately conformed for 
easy and rapid swimming. Fishermen are often ready at 
seeing the fishes traverse the limpid stream, but the gray- 
ling renders unavailing the exercise of the eyes. It has 
passed like a shadow—comme une ombre.”—EMILE BLANcH- 
arp, Member of the Institute, Professor of Natural History, 
ete., Paris. 
The dress of the grayling, though extremely modest in 
tone, being a shining steel-color, and its polished scales with 
borders of yellowish tinge, are so exactly placed as to ap- 
pear like mosaic; and the yellowish ends and black base, 
with the top of head black, and the dorsal fin divided by 
small transversal stripes of black, with its abdomen lke 
white satin, and white inferior fins shaded with yellow at 
their base, renders this fish so peculiar that no one could 
mistake it. The number of scales in a line from head to tail 
vary from eighty-five to ninety along the lateral line, and 
there are from seven to eight rows each side of said line. 
The scales are detached with the utmost ease, when each 
one is a gem of beauty. They are a trifle wider than long, 
with angular borders gracefully festooned and regularly 
concentrated. The number of rays of the dorsal fin exceeds 
those of any other of the Salmonide tribe, there being from 
sixteen to eighteen. The tail is forked, long, and narrow. 
The second dorsal is adipose, and the pectoral, anal, and ven- 
tral fins are large for the size of the fish, and as transparent 
as gauze. 
The grayling remains on its reddes, or spawning- beds, 
during winter, and lays its eggs during the latter half of 
February and the first half of March. The eggs are very 
numerous, and they hatch in about a fortnight, being a short- 
er time than is consumed by any other of the Salmonide. 
The grayling is eminently a summer and autumn fish. It 
is generally regarded as a good table fish, and “ Father 
Izaak” says that it should be scaled with the hands, without 
