SAMLET SALMON, 55 



lateral line strait : the colour between that and the 

 top of the back is dusky and silvery intermixed ; 

 beneath the line of an exquisite silvery whiteneiss : 

 the first dorsal fin spotted with black: the tail black, 

 and much forked : the first dorsal fin has eleven 

 rays ; the pectoral thirteen ; the ventral and anal 

 nine. 



SAMLET SALMON. 



Salmo Salmulus. S. griseo-ccerulescensj maculis distantibus sub- 



rubris, caudafurcata. 

 Blueish-grey Salmon, with distant reddish spots, and forked 



tail. 



Samlet. Penn. Brit. Zool. 



Salmulus, Samlet. Will.ichth. p. \g2. 



The Samlet is^ according to Pennant, the least of 

 the British species of this genus, and is frequently 

 seen in the river Wye, in the upper part of the 

 Severn, and in the rivers that run into it, in the 

 North of England, and in Wales. It is by several 

 imagined to be the fry of the Salmon; but Mr. 

 Pennant dissents from this opinion for the following 

 reasons : first, it is well known that the Salmon fry 

 never continue in fresh water the whole year, but, 

 as numerous as they appear on their first escape 

 from the spawn, all vanish on the first vernal flood 

 that happens, which sweeps them into the sea, and 

 leaves scarcely one behind : secondly, the growth 

 of Salmon fry is so quick and so considerable as 

 suddenly to exceed the bulk of the largest Samlet ; 

 for example, the fry that have quitted the fresh 



