NOTE VI. 



THE GKAYLING. 

 (Salmo Thymallus, or Thymallus Vulgaris.) 



" Effugieus oculis celeri Umbra natatu." — Ausonius. 



" And here and there a Grayling." — Tennyson. 



" Trout and Grailing to rise are so willing" 



The Angler's Ballad. — Cotton. 



Heke is another member of the numerous salmon family, 

 as distinguished by the second back fin, soft, flabby, and 

 without rays. The Thymallus of ^Elian was probably 

 our grayling. This distinctive name of the grayling 

 was given him in consequence of the smell of "thyme" 

 which the fish is said to emit when first taken from the 

 water. The association of this odour with the grayling 

 dates very far back. Walton speaks of it, and says 

 that some persons think the fish feed on water thyme, 

 and so smell of it; "and they may think so with as 

 good reason," he adds, "as we do that our smelts smell 

 like violets at their being first caught, which I think is a 

 truth/'' He also refers us much further back, viz. to the 

 time of St. Ambrose, " the glorious Bishop of Milan, 

 who lived when the Church kept fasting days, who calls 

 him the ' flower- fish ' or ' flower of fishes/ and was so far in 

 love with him that he would not let him pass without the 



