SALMO SALAR. 
THE SALMON. 
Nec te puniceo rutilantem viscere, Salmo 
Transierim, latse cujus vaga verbera caudse 
Gurgite de medio summas referuntur in undas, 
Occultus placido cum proditur sequore pulsus. 
Tu loricato squamosus pectore, frontem 
Lubricus et dubiae facturus fercula coense 
Tempora longarum fers incorrupta morarum, 
Prsesignis maculis capitis, cui prodiga nutat 
Alvus, opimatoque fluens abdomine venter. * 
Ausonius : The Moselle, 97-105. 
«TN the countrey of Aquitaine or Guienne in Fraunce, the River Sal¬ 
mon passeth all other sea fishes whatsoever. ’ ’ So wrote Pliny eighteen 
hundred years ago, and his was the first allusion in literature to Salmo 
salar . Hundreds of members of the family are now known to science, 
but this one species still stands preeminent, like a Highland chieftain, 
needing no name save that of his clan. The Salmon streams of ancient 
Britain and Gaul were known to the Romans, who appreciated fully the 
worth of their scaled treasures, and our early British ancestors were equally 
familiar with the Salmon, as we know from the Saxon names which were 
applied to it, many of which still survive both in England and America— 
parr, peal, penk, smolt, grilse, kipper, bagget, and a dozen more. The 
reader will recall Walter Scott’s generalization, that while our names for 
animals as served upon the table,—beef, veal, mutton, pork,—are of Nor¬ 
man origin, the names of the animals themselves are still those by which they 
* “ Nor will I pass thee, O Salmon, blushing with thy red flesh, the roving strokes of whose broad tail are 
borne from the middle of the stream to the top of the water, at such time as the hidden lash betrays itself on 
the calm surface. Now, clothed in scaly armor, slippery as to thy fore part, aud able to constitute a remove 
for a most excellent dinner, dost bear keeping fresh for a long time; thou art conspicuous with thy spotted 
head ; thy full paunch trembles, and thy belly overflows with abdominal fat.” Literal translation by 
Houghton. 
