225 
COMMON TROUT. 
SHOT. 
Truita fluviatilis, 
(S H 
Salmo fario, 
(( (( 
U ti 
»( c< 
JoNSTON; Table 26, f. 1. 
Willoughby; p. 19!), Table, K 4. 
Link^ds. Ouviek. Bloch; PI. 22 and 23. 
Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 181. 
Jenyns; Manual, p. 424. 
Yakrell; British Fishes, vol. ii, p. 85. 
The Trout is the commonest fish of our rivers — the most 
widely distributed, as well as the chief object of amusement 
generally to the angler; and in the comparison of it with the 
Salmon it is only as the chase of the hare is different from 
that of the fox. The catalogue of books which have been written 
on the art and pleasure of fishing for it has amounted to a 
volume; and seldom does a season pass without the addition of 
a new one, or a new edition of one that is old; for anglers 
ai-e almost as fond of talking or reading of their art as of 
practising it. Under such circumstances the history of the 
Trout has a strong claim on our attention; and so much the 
more as this fish is liable to a wide extent of variation in 
its appearance and habits ; both of which are believed to depend 
on the situations in which they are found; as regards the water, 
whether it be swift or slow, clear or otherwise; and also with 
reference to the kinds of food, and even the degree of light, 
shade, and shelter; with respect to the last- mentioned of which 
influences we shall presently refer to the observations of the 
Swedish naturalist Nilsson; and taken together the whole of 
them aflbrd an illustration of the powers which are in constant 
exercise to modify all but the essential characters of this fish. 
It is this liability to change, in some degree in shape, but 
VOb. IV. 2 u 
