FEESH-WATBR TROUT— SWALEDALE FORM. 195 



(ed. 3) i, p. 283 ; Thompson, Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 154 j Ooucli, Fish. Brit. 

 Isles, iv, p. 240, pi. ccix. 



Salmo stomacMcus, Giinther, Catal. vi, p. 95 ; Houghton, Brit. F.-W. Fish, 

 p. 125, 0. fig. ; Day, Brit, and Irish Fish, ii, p. 99. 



Variety. Swaledale Trout.* Plate VIII, fig. 3. 

 Day, British and Irish Fish. vol. ii, p. 100, pi, CXV, fig. 1. 



Mr. Sachs, in 1881, thus described the gillaroo from Lough Melvin. " When taken out of the 

 water it had a rich orange-coloured belly, its back and sides spotted and shaded with all the 

 colours of the rainbow, pink being predominant. Then the shape or form of a large gillaroo ia 

 quite different to other trouts — they are more hog-backed, larger mouthed and more lusty looking. 

 We always preferred giUaroo trout for breakfast, the flesh being firm, flaky, very pink, and very 

 nice to eat. 



" The giUaroo trout are usually caught on the salmon oasts, or on the rooky points of the 

 islands, and not in the centre of the lake, where the large (Black Lough, so called) or lake trout 

 abound." He continued that there is a gillaroo at the Piscatorial Society of 7 lb., with the shell 

 contents of its gizzard on a heap in the case. " This fish, with others of my eatohirig, was 

 exhibited at the Royal Westminster Aquarium in 1877, and was caught from Lough Conn, near 

 BaUina. They call them gillaroo, or red trout ; but they are quite a different fish to those in 

 Lough Melvin ; they are not so hog-backed nor rainbow-coloured at aU. One at Moy Hotel weighs 

 14 lb." Another correspondent of The Field remarked that " the accounts given of the Lough 

 Melvin gillaroo do not at all apply to that fish in Lough Derg, where they seem to grow to a very 

 much larger size. They are rarely taken under 2 lb. weight, and are not nearly so beautifully 

 shaped and coloured as the silvery trout of the Lough. Nor do they give at all the same sport. A 

 silvery trout of 2 lb. will make a far better fight for his Ufe than a ^aroo of 6 lb., and is in every 

 respect a better fish. In fact, I look on a gUlaroo as a most inferior kind of trout, and almost 

 the worst fish that swims. His fiesh is a pale yellow, is strong, dry, and coarse. Our silver trout 

 cannot be beaten by any in the world, and, if cooked and eaten within an hour or two after 

 capture, are as near perfection as it is possible for fish to be. Though good next day, and for 

 several days after, stUl they are very far inferior to the fish when fresh out of the water. My 

 boatman, while waiting for me last June, killed a gillaroo of 8 lb., a fine-looking fish, but like all 

 his kind. I cannot understand how they can be a distinct species of fish, as they are never found of 

 small size in the lough or tributaries, and it seems as if their peculiar habits of feeding on smaU 

 sheU-fish had developed a peculiarly strong stomach and a gizzard, as it is often called. If one 

 were to judge by appearances, there are several varieties of trout in the lough ; and I have often 

 laid out three or four specimens, side by side, that it would seem rash to say were the same 

 species. We are also told that in Lough Derg, where I fished many years, and where I have 

 caught, I suppose, thousands of trout, but never, ' to my knowledge,' have I caught a gillaroo of 

 less than 3 lb. I have, however, killed them up to near 10 lb., and hooked them much larger. I 

 believe they spawn at the same time and in the same way as other trout." Again, we were told by 

 another angler that " during several years' knowledge of the lake I never saw a gillaroo above a 

 pound in weight, and once only heard of a 3 lb. fish. Still, there is no reason why this fish 

 might not have attained to greater size than at present." 



Mr. Francis Francis considered that in Loch Melvin " there are four kinds of trout — the common 

 trout, which is like the lake trout of most lakes, and does not, as a rule, run above J lb. or 1 lb. ; the 

 giUaroo, which rarely runs so small as that ; the Black Lough, which is the f erox and the young 

 of the f erox (about the only place I know where one often happens on young feroxes) ; and 

 a silvery trout, such as may be found in Loch Ard and Loch Lomond, which I believe to be a sea 

 trout which has lost his way and breeds without going to the sea. No one can fail to spot the 

 gillaroo as soon as he is taken ; his superior size, lovely colour, golden hues, big spots, and hand- 

 some shape are at once remarkable out of all the trout, and I have had all four of them in my 

 basket at the same time. I say nothing of his superior firmness and flavour, which are quite 

 as remarkable. But what I want to get at is, is it breed, or what is it ? Do they spawn at the 

 same time as other trout ? and, if so, how and where ? and what probably would be the effect 

 of introducing them into a stream ? Of course, at present they are only known in lakes ; can 

 they be advantageously introduced into rivers?" 



* B. xi, D. 12-13 (J^), P. 13-14, V. 9, A. 10-11 (j!^), L. 1. 125, CfflC. pyl. 35 : vert. 58 -f x. 



This beautiful variety, which is comparatively rather broad, was given me in 1882 by 

 Mr. G. Brooks, p.l.s., who informed me that it was found in Oxnot Beck, Swaledale, in 

 Yorkshire. On July 2lBt, 1886, 1 was again furnished with five more specimens by Mr. Brooks 

 from the same place. 



There is a considerable difference in the form and proportions of the several examples. 

 Teeth — situated in pairs along the body of the vomer, and five across the hind margin of the 

 head of that bone. Colowrs — ^it is the most beautifuUy-tinted form that I have seen, being finely 

 studded with black and red dots placed in a light circle, and likewise with numerous blue marks or 

 spots with bluish borders. Its dorsal fin is finely spotted, but the white anterior edge so constant 



13 * 



