192 SALMONIDiE OF BEITAIN. 



Variety. Orkney Trout.* 



TJie Salmon, Low, Fauna Oread, p. 220 (part). 



Salmo orcadensis, Giinther, Catal. vi, p. 91 ; Hottghton, Brit. Fresh-water 

 Fishes, p. 121 ; Day, British and Irish Fishes, ii, p. 96, pi. cxiv, f. 1. 



Variety. Cornish Trout.f 



Trout, Borlase, Cornwall, p. 263, pi. xxvi, f. 1. 



Salmo corrmibiensis, Walb. Artedi, iii, p. 66 ; Bl. Schn. p. 421 ; Day, British 

 and Irish Fish, ii, p. 97, pi. cxiii, fig. 2. 



Salmo nigripinnis, Giinther, Catal. vi, p. 96 ; Houghton, British Fresh-water 

 Fishes, p. 120, c. fig. ; Day, Brit, and Irish Fish, ii, p. 98, pi. cxv, f. 2. 



* Mr. Low stated tliat in the Looli of Stennis, Orkneys, as well as in Zetland, were found the 

 gray trout : also a trout of 36 lb. weight or more, along with the common trout. This large form 

 Biohardson considered identical with Salmo ferox with saline proclivities, but Giinther found in 

 it another new species which he termed S. orcadensis. This loch is the largest in the Orkneys, 

 about 9 miles long and 1^ broad, fresh in the upper portion, brackish or even salt in the lower. 

 Dr. Giinther beUeved the fish very similar to S. nigripinnis, but distinguished from it by a broader 

 and stronger maxillary, larger scales on the tail and a greater number (60) of pyloric appendages, 

 instead of from 36 to 42, while S. ferox has at least 49. The teeth along the body of the vomer 

 form a single or double row which are more or less persistent. This fish is an estuary form of 

 the brook trout similar to that already described. 



Life history. — I cannot here do better than give Low's account of the Orkney Salmon — a fish 

 which he observed ought almost to be denied a place in his Natural History, because the nature 

 of the country will not allow salmon fishing in fresh waters as there is not a single stream in the 

 country where a salmon would be safe, even for an hour, except in the loch of Stennis. There 

 can be no doubt but that there are sahnon in the salt water although he had only heard of four 

 instances of such, and three (if they were salmon) were killed and brought on shore by otters 

 from the sea and picked up subsequently by the country people, while the fourth stuck in a 

 mill-wheel and was caught by the miller. In his time, however (prior to 1795), Low had been 

 informed of a salmon fishery which had formerly existed at the mouth of the Loch of Stennis, 

 and of heritors who have such fishing in their charters, the old people still showing a place where 

 cruives were placed, but such had long since been give up. Vast quantities of salmon, he continued, 

 were caught in the rivers of Caithness, which are right against and only separated from the 

 Orkneys by the Pentland Frith, and from thence he supposed stragglers came. 



When Mr. A. Young held an inquiry into the Orkney Salmon Fisheries in 1860 : it was said 

 that there seems no doubt but that a close time is much needed in Orkney, as the trout were taken 

 at every time of the year, whether in spawning season or not, and any or every instrument was 

 used that was the most destructive, from the otter to the sweep net. Some six years ago an 

 epidemic took place among the fish in the Loch of Stennis, when they were to be found in the 

 houses of all the small farmers in close proximity to the loch hanging up in the tops of their houses, 

 like so many red herring. This loch is the largest of the Orkney lochs ; it is about nine miles 

 long by one and a half broad, at its greatest breadth. It is divided by a bridge, called the Bridge 

 of Brogar : some people call the upper loch the Loch of Harray, and the lower one Loch of 

 Stennis, but it is generally known as the Loch of Stennis. The water in the lower loch is brackish, 

 while the upper one is fresh. The water in the lower loch runs in a rapid stream towards the 

 sea, which connects it with the Bay of Ireland. A great number of sea trout come up this stream 

 in autumn for the purpose of spawning. There are many estuaries or burns running into this loch, 

 where the fish are caught in large quantities, sometimes as large as from 7 lb. to 14 lb. 



Respecting the size attained by the Orkney fresh-water or estuary trout, one in excellent 

 condition was reported having been taken in Graemshall Loch with a fly, early in May, 1886, 

 which weighed 8 lb. 2 oz. ; about 10 lb. seems to be the largest lately recorded. Mr. Eeid, Land 

 and Water, September 11th, 1886, observed, " Mr. Cowan, Kirkwall, in giving evidence, said that 

 the largest trout he had caught was 4 J lb., but they were got up to 8 lb., 9 lb., and 10 lb. He had 

 heard of a sea trout caught in a net in Orkney and weighing 20J lb., and had seen one so caught 

 12J lb. Mr. Bruce stated that he had seen one so caught weighing 141b., and Mr. Bobert TuUoch, 

 merchant, Kirkwall, said the largest trout he had caught weighed 4 J lb., but they were taken up 

 to 8 lb., 9 lb. and 10 lb. 



t The Cornish trout of Borlase is a form mostly residing in small streams, and in which the par 

 finger marks are continued through life, unless under changed and improved conditions, it increases 

 beyond its general size, when with augmented size these markings disappear. It and the black- 

 finned trout of Dr. Giinther are evidently nearly if not quite identical and might be included with 

 the great lake trout, Salmo ferox, into which it may develop in suitable localities, a subject which 

 win be alluded to further on. In six examples of black-finned trout, Salmo nigripinnis, the 

 CiEoal appendages varied from 85 to 44. In some of these fish the posterior margin of the 

 preopercle was rounded and had no distinct lower limb. These Cardiganshire fish in the Tivi 

 are found to 4 lb. or 5 lb. weight, but rarely if ever take a fly when so large, but are to be caught 



