90 



MR. F. DAT ON THE LOCH-LEVEN TROUT. 



Mr. Ffenuell, writing of the Lochlevens at Mr. Andrews's 

 {Times, Oct. 14th, 1886), observed that " the Loch-Leveu trout 

 were no strangers to me ; I have killed many, and as a fresh- 

 water fish I hold them in high esteem : and I certainly think that 

 those I took from the roadside pond in Surrey were the very best 

 I had ever placed before me." 



The question whether the Loch-Leven trout is a local race 

 or a distinct species, is one of considerable practical im- 

 portance to the fish-culturists of this country, quite irrespective 

 of its scientific interest. If it is a species distinct from the 

 brook-trout, its introduction into our streams and dissemination 

 through our fresh waters would be a great source of hybridization 

 among our indigenous forms, and this would tend towards sterility 

 of the ofi"spring. On the other hand, if it is merely a local race, 

 its crossing with the brook-trout would be merely the inter- 

 breeding between two varieties of one species, which, instead of 

 beiug a cause of sterility, is more commonly a means of improving 

 a breed. 



I assume it as granted that the Howietoun fish are in every 

 respect similar to those of Loch Leven, whence the breed was 

 derived. This variety is sometimes, not always, finer shaped 

 towards the tail, and has a rather shorter head, as in the sea- 

 trout, >S'. alhus, than the ordinary brook-trout, while its form 

 is much like that of the 8almo lemanus or loch -trout of the 

 Lake of Geneva and elsewhere, which has been shown to be 

 a variety of S.fm^io. Its maxillary bones are somewhat fiuer 

 than in our ordinary river-trout ; its csecal appendages are more 

 numerous; and its colour diff'ers, being as a rule silvery with black, 

 but having no red spots up to its fourth or fifth year. Dr. 

 Griinther's observations that the male never has a knob on the 

 lower jaw, that its fins are never rounded, that the teeth along the 

 body of the vomer are always in a single row, very difi'erent from 

 those of the brook or burn trout, may be dismissed as erroneous 

 statements, probably made owing to the want of opportunity of 

 examining specimens. The Loch-Leven trout is doubtless a 

 rapid grower in its northern home, and the race at Howietoun 

 has been much improved by selection of breeders ; but removing 

 the eggs to a new locality and then rearing the young has shown 

 that the form and colour of the local race of trout is, as a rule, 

 assumed, while even the number of csecal appendages becomes 

 altered, owing to changed condition of life. 



