The Salmon Family 



657 



perils of travel, and became so much altered in constitution by the liberal diet they found 

 as to establish themselves as separate species. 



Among the stay-at-homes there are many interesting and beautiful fishes. None of them 

 exhibit the variable nature of the fanrily more than the common Brook-trout of British 

 waters, and not long since men of science dignified each of these varieties by a separate 

 title, treating them as distinct species. However, experiment and observation have now led to 

 the almost unanimous conclusion that the pygmy denizens of some hungry Highland burn, 

 whereof the weight must be reckoned in fractions of ounces, are of precisely the same 

 species as the lordly trout of deep lakes, which sometimes scales as much as 25 lbs., 

 and as all the other innumerable varieties, such as the trout of the Thames, of the 

 English chalk-streams, and of the Irish loughs. The quality of the soil affects the food- 

 supply, which in turn regulates the size and appearance of the fish. Moreover, Nature seems 

 indifferent to the number of individuals composing the population which the water is to 

 sustain. If there are no pike, and spawning-ground is abundant, there will be many and small 

 fish ; if the contrary is the case, there will be few and large ones ; the aggregate weight per 

 acre of water will remain the same, proportioned to the food-supply. The American equivalent 

 of the British brook-trout is the Rainbow-trout, a beautiful creature which has lately been 

 widely distributed in European waters. What is known as the brook-trout in America really 

 belongs to the Char group, fish of the Salmon Family, closely resembling trout, but distinguished 

 from them by extraordinary brilliancy of colour. Common trout, like salmon, lose all their 

 beauty as the sj^awning-season approaches. Char, on the other hand, take gaudy colouring 

 at that time, the whole of the under-parts becoming clear red or flame-colour. Unlike trout, 

 British char never enter rivers, but spawn in lakes. In Norway, however, char descend to 

 the sea. The distribution of char is indeed mysterious, nor has any explanation been offered 

 why they inhabit certain waters, while other lakes in the neighbourhood, apparently equally 

 suitable, contain none. 



The Grayling is an elegant member of the Salmon Family, and a deserved favourite with 

 fly-fishers. Instead of the golden tints and scarlet spots of the brook-trout, this fish displays 

 the silvery colouring of the salmon-trout. It is not at all uncommon to meet with grayling 

 in the chalk-streams of Southern England weighing 3 lbs. and upwards. 



The PowAN is the type of another large group of salmon-like fishes, inhabiting lakes in the 



temperate and sub- 



arctic regions of both 

 hemisphei-es. There 

 are four species in 





Fhoto by ]V. Reid] [Wishaio, N.B. 



AMERICAN SALMON-TBOITT FROM DIAMOND LAKE, NEW ZEALAND. 

 These fish were taken out of the water to "be photographed, and then put back again. 



Great Britain, among 

 which may be men- 

 tioned the mysterious 

 Vendace of Loch- 

 maben, unkno^vn to 

 exist elsewhere. 



Lastly, the 

 Salmon Family is 

 closed by the delicate 

 Smelt, called in Scot- 

 land the Sparling, 

 which is netted in 

 vast numbers in the 

 estuaries of suitable 

 rivers. It never 

 ascends beyond the 

 ■ highest point of the 

 83 



