THE SALMON FAMILY 
259 
perils of travel, and became so much altered in constitution by the liberal diet they found 
as to establish themselves as separate species. 
Among the stay-at-homes there are many interesting and beautiful fishes. None of them 
exhibit the variable nature of the family more than the common Brook-trout of British 
waters, and not long since men of science dignified each of these varieties by a separate 
title, treating them as distinct species. However, experiment and observation have now led to 
the almost unanimous conclusion that the pygmy denizens of some hungry Highland burn, 
whereof the weight must be reckoned in fractions of ounces, are of precisely the same 
species as the lordly trout of deep lakes, which sometimes scales as much as 25 lbs., 
and as all the other innumerable varieties, such as the trout of the Thames, of the 
English chalk-streams, and of the Irish loughs. The quality of the soil affects the food- 
supply, which in turn regulates the size and appearance of the fish. Moreover, Nature seems 
indifferent to the number of individuals composing the population which the water is to 
sustain. If there are no pike, and spawning-ground is abundant, there will be many and small 
fish; if the contrary is the case, there will be few and large ones; the aggregate weight per 
acre of water will remain the same, proportioned to the food-supply. The American equivalent 
of the British brook-trout is the Rainbow-trout, a beautiful creature which has lately been 
widely distributed in European waters. What is known as the brook-trout in America really 
belongs to the Char group, fish of the Salmon Family, closely resembling trout, but distinguished 
from them by extraordinary brilliancy of colour. Common trout, like salmon, lose all their 
beauty as the spawning-season approaches. Char, on the other hand, take gaudy colouring 
at that time, the whole of the under-parts becoming clear red or flame-colour. Unlike trout, 
British char never enter rivers, but spawn in lakes. In Norway, however, char descend to 
the sea. The distribution of char is indeed mysterious, nor has any explanation been offered 
why they inhabit certain waters, while other lakes in the neighbourhood, apparently equally 
suitable, contain none. 
The Grayling is an elegant member of the Salmon Family, and a deserved favourite with 
fly-fishers. Instead of the golden tints and scarlet spots of the brook-trout, this fish displays 
the silvery colouring of the salmon-trout. It is not at all uncommon to meet with grayling 
in the chalk-streams of Southern England weighing 3 lbs. and upwards. 
The Powan is the type of another large group of salmon-like fishes, inhabiting lakes in the 
temperate and sub- 
arctic regions of both 
hemispheres. There 
are four species in 
Great Britain, among 
which may be men- 
ticned the mysterious 
Vend ACE of Loch- 
maben, unknown to 
exist elsewhere. 
Lastly, the 
Salmon Family is 
closed by the delicate 
Smelt, called in Scot- 
land the Sparling, 
which is netted in 
vast numbers in the 
estuaries of suitable 
rivers. It never 
ascends beyond the 
highest point of the 
Fhoto by Rgid] \_lViihaiu^ N,B, 
AMERICAN SALMON-TROUT FROM DIAMOND LAKE, 
NEW ZEALAND 
These fish -were taken out ofi the water to be photographed, and then put back again 
