596 
SAL M 0. 
speaks of it at the beginning of the second century, and St. 
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, near the end of the fourth. This 
fish delights in- a rapid stream, cold and pure water, with a 
sandy or flinty bottom; hence it is found in shaded rivulets 
which are near mountains or high hills. It seems not indi¬ 
genous to Norway, as Pontopidan does not speak of it; but 
in Lapland it is so common, that the inhabitants use its en¬ 
trails in the making of cheese from the milk of their rein 
deer. It is found in Silesia in the Mountains of the Giants; 
in Prussia; in Curisch-Haff; in Pomerania, near the Baltic. 
It is found also in the Don and the Caspian Sea, and in all 
the rivers of Siberia. It feeds on snails and shell-fish, the 
shells which have been found in abundance in its stomach, 
as well as other insects, and small fish. It is particularly 
fond of the ova or spawn of the trout and salmon; hence the 
Swedish fishermen conclude the salmon to be not far off 
when they see the grayling. They grow very fast, and 
attain the length of one or two feet, weighing at that time 
two or three pounds; with us they sometimes weigh four - 
pounds or more. They spawn in April and May, depositing 
their eggs on the stones at the bottom of the water. They 
swim very fast, and are difficult to be taken except at spawn¬ 
ing-time. 
The flesh of the grayling is white, firm, soft, and very well 
tasted; the ancients esteemed it a dainty, and at present 
there are some provinces where the grayling-fishery is re¬ 
served for the lord of the domain or manor. ' That they may 
be allowed to grow to a proper size, the meshes of the nets 
for this fishery should be made wide enough to let the smaller 
fish escape. They are fattest in autumn; yet in winter they 
are better tasted, especially if the weather be very cold. The 
oil drawn from this fish has been accounted a remedy to 
take away the marks of the small-pox, and other spots on the 
skin, &c. &c. 
This fish does not increase very fast; first, because it is 
very tender and delicate; secondly, because they are much 
destroyed by water-fowl. They die soon after being out of 
the water, and even in stagnated water: hence it is difficult 
to transport them from their usual haunts, unless they are put 
into deep lakes where there are springs, or communicating 
rivulets. If you would preserve these fish in troughs, they 
must be placed in a running stream, giving them for food 
some liver, and the cakes we spoke of in describing the trout. 
A remarkably pleasant odour exhales from the body of this 
fish: Elian compares it to the smell of thyme; Ambrose to 
honey. • Pennant denies the existence of this odour altoge¬ 
ther; yet we think without reason, forthis fish devours insects 
which, have themselves a strong smell, which therefore they 
may communicate, (as we perceive in the breath of human 
beings, which is much affected by their food'); but, as they 
do not always devour these insects in equal quantities, the 
odour may exist at one time, and be imperceptible at ano¬ 
ther. One of the species of insect on which it feeds is the 
gynyrus not at or. 
In spring, the grayling quits the Northern and Baltic Seas, 
and ascends the streams like the salmon and salmon-trout, to 
deposit its spawn; and in autumn returns to those seas. No 
author but Richter speaks of this migration, which perhaps 
may have been because they are seldom taken in large rivers; 
but we are not to conclude that they do not pass into these 
rivers merely because they are seldom caught there; they 
have more chance of escaping the net in these than in smaller 
rivers. The case is the same with tire salmon and salmon- 
trout: neither of these fish are ever caught in the Netze; 
whereas in the Kuddow and Drago, which run into the 
Netze, they are found in abundance. 
The skin of the stomach is so hard in this species, as to he 
like a cartilage. The gall-bladder is small; the gall yellow 
and transparent; the other intestines do not differ from other 
fish of the genus. There are fifty-nine vertebrae in the back¬ 
bone ; and thirty-four ribs on each side. 
43. Salmo maraena, or the marena.—The upper jaw blunt 
and broad in front, and the whiteness of the body are suffi¬ 
cient to distinguish the marena from the other species, of sal¬ 
mon. There are 8 rays in the membrane of the gills, 14 in 
the pectoral fins, 11 in the ventrals, 15 in the anal, 20 in 
the tail, and 14 in the dorsal. 
The head is blunt; the mouth toothless, and small in pro¬ 
portion to others of the same genus; the under jaw is nar¬ 
rower and shorter than the upper, which hides it when the 
mouth is shut; at the edge of the upper jaw are two little 
round holes. The nose and front are black, as well as the 
back, which is round. The chin and belly are white. The 
eyes are large; the pupil is black, and forms an acute angle 
towards the snout; the' iris is silver-coloured. The cheeks 
are yellow; the coverings of the gills blueish edged with 
white. The sides are blueish above the lateral line, inclin¬ 
ing to yellow; below it, they are silvery. “ In the lake 
Madui,” says Fleming, Jagerb. p. 450, “where this fish is 
indigenous, on one side of. the lake the fish taken are of a 
silver colour, and those on the other grey.” The lateral iine, 
whereon are forty-four white dots, bends a little towards the 
head. The fins of the breast, belly, back, and anus, are 
large; the rays end in several ramifications; they are violet 
at bottom; the rest blueish, edged with black; and they end 
in a point. The adipous fin is blackish; the tail forked; 
and there is an appendage to the ventral fin. The body is 
oblong; and the scales are large, thin, shining, and easily 
rub off. 
There are two kind of marena known in Germany, the 
present species, sometimes called the Marena of Madui , 
from the lake of that name mentioned above. This lake 
greatly abounds in fish; it is situated in the bailliwic of 
Kolbatz, near Stargard, in Lower Pomerania, three leagues 
from Stettin; it is four leagues long, and from one to two 
wide, from 20 to 25 fathoms deep, with a marly bottom. 
It has been an erroneous opinion that the marena is found 
only in that lake: it is taken also in the lake of Hitzdorfen, 
near a village of the same name, in the bailliwic of Marien- 
walde; and in that of Calliser, near the little town of Callies, 
on the frontiers of Poland. - 
The small kind is found in various places, and is better 
known; but the large one has entirely escaped the notice of 
all systematic writers before Bloch, who calls it le grande 
marcne. The fish he describes, which he received from the 
lake of Madui, was two feet three inches in length from the 
snout to the extremity of- the tail; its greatest breadth five 
inches, its thickness four; it weighed four pounds and a half; 
sometimes, however, they grow to the length of four feet. It 
is reckoned good food; being white, tender, and well-tasted, 
and not encumbered with little bones. They delight in 
deep waters, with a bottom of sand or clay ; they seek the 
deepest places, and keep together in shoals. They rige 
nearer to the surface in spawning-time which happens in 
November, and in spring to devour small shell-fish and 
little snails. They die soon after being out of the water, and 
are often ill in summer. When, in pursuit of an insect, or 
itself endeavouring to escape from the pike, they come too 
near the surface of the water, become dropsical, and die 
by degrees. 
The marena does not begin to produce its like till about 
five or six years old ; it is then a foot long. They seek 
places covered with sea weeds or other herbage to deposit 
their spawn. They multiply greatly; they are caught in the 
spring, autumn, and in winter under the. ice; taking 3000 
in a year in the lake Madui; in autumn they are taken with- 
a net eight fathoms long. The spawning begins about St. 
Martin’s day, the eleventh of November, and lasts about 
a fortnight. If a storm arises, they disappear all at once. 
Their enemies whil e they are yet young, are the sander, the 
pike, the perch, and the sea-gull which pursues them with 
avidity, and points out to the fishermen where they may be 
found, and. they place their nets accordingly. 'These fishes 
are much sought after, and are transported to distant towns 
packed up in snow, and they will keep good a month: those 
taken in spring aTe the best, as being fattest. 
The internal conformation of this species differs from the 
preceding in that the gall-bladder is smaller, and the gall 
very pale; the beginning of the intestinal canal exhibits 
from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty 
appendages; 
