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M. B. L. LIBRARY- WOODS HOLE, MASS.

-

RITISH FISHES.

VOL. II.

LONDON :
PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,

Bangor House, Shoe Lane.

*

-

HISTOEY

RITISH FISHES

BY

WILLIAM YARRELL, F.L.S. V.P.Z.S.

ILLUSTRATED BY 500 WOOD-ENGRAV
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II.
SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.

M.DCCC.XLI.

M.B.L LIBRAE -WvGiS HOLE, MASS.

BRITISH FISHES.

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

SALMON IDA.*

THE SALMON.
SMOLT, young. GRILSE, Jlrst return from sea.

Sulmo salar, LINN.EUS.

,, ,, BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 20, female.
> pt. iii. pi. 98, male in breeding season.

,, ,, Salmon, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 382.
.. M FLEM. Brit. An. p. 179, sp. 40.

. ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 421.

.. ,. Grilse, JARDINE'S Illust. Scot. Salm. pi. 8.
i> >, ., ,, 1 & 2.

,, ,, Salmon, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 7, old male, breeding-

state.

SALMO. Generic Characters- Head smooth ; body covered with scales ;
two dorsal fins, the first supported by rays, the second fleshy, without rays ;
teeth on the vomer, both palatine bones, and all the maxillary bones ; branchi-
ostegous rays varying in number, generally from ten to twelve, but sometimes
unequal on the two sides of the head of the same fish.

THE SALMON is so well known for its quality as an arti-
cle of food, as well as for the immense quantities in which

The family of the Salmon and Trout.

VOL. II.

SALMONIDE.

it is taken, that it requires no other claims to recommend
it strongly to our notice ; and probably, in no country
of the world, in proportion to its size, are the fisheries so
extensive, or so valuable, as in the United Kingdom.

The history of the Salmon, and of the species of the
genus Salmo., in this work, Avill extend to a considerable
length ; and some doubts existing as to the extent of their
identity with the species of the iSalmonidte generally which
are taken in the rivers or lakes of other countries of Europe,
from the want of specimens with which to make actual
comparative examination, the account of the species here
inserted will be confined more particularly to a detail of
what is known of them in this country only.

Of the species existing in this country, the characters and
specific distinctions admit of considerable detail : too much
reliance has been placed upon colour, without resorting
sufficiently to those external indications, founded on organic
structure, which may with greater certainty be depended
upon.

In the scale of the relative value of parts affording cha-
racters for distinction, the organs of digestion, respiration,
and motion are admitted by systematic authors to hold
high rank ; and in the hope to induce sportsmen to become
zoologists so far at least as to enable them to determine
the various species they may meet with by a reference to
those external characters which are the most important,
the specific distinctions in the genus Salmo will be illus-
trated by referring to the number and situation of the teeth,
the form of the different parts of the gill-covers, and the size,
form, and relative situation of the fins.

The outlines here introduced represent a front view of
the mouth, and a side view of the head, of a common
Trout. Of the first figure on the left hand, No. 1 marks

SALMON.

3

the situation of the row of teeth that are fixed on the cen-
tral bone of the roof of the mouth, called the vomer :
Nos. 2, 2, refer to the teeth on the right and left palatine
bones ; and the row of teeth outside each palatine bone
on the upper jaw are those of the superior maxillary bones :
No. 3, refers to the row of hooked teeth on each side
of the tongue, outside of which are those of the lower
jaw-bones. The Trout is chosen as showing the most
complete series of teeth among the SalmonideE ; and the
value of the arrangement, as instruments for seizure and
prehension, arises from the interposition of the different
rows, the four lines of teeth on the lower surface alternating
when the mouth is closed with the five rows on the upper
surface, those on the vomer shutting in between the two
rows on the tongue, &c.

The second figure represents, in outline, a side view of
the head, of which No. 1 is the preoperculuin ; No. 2,
the pperculum ; No. 3, the suboperculum ; No. 4, the
interoperculum ; No. 5, the branchiostegous rays : the four

SALMON1D.E.

last parts together forming the moveable gill-cover. The
different fins are sufficiently indicated by being coupled, when
referred to, with the name of the part of the body of the
fish to which they are attached.

The external appearance of the adult Salmon during
the summer months, when it is caught in the estuaries
of our large rivers, is too well known to require much
description. The upper part of the head and back is
dark bluish black ; the sides lighter ; the belly silvery
white ; the dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins dusky black ;
the ventral fins white on the outer side, tinged more or
less with dusky on the inner surface ; the anal fin white ;
the small, soft, fleshy fin on the back, without rays, called
the adipose, fat fin, or the second dorsal fin, is of the
same colour nearly as the part of the back from which
it emanates. There are mostly a few dark spots dispersed
over that part of the body which is above the lateral line,
and the females usually exhibit a greater number of these
spots than the males.

These colours, differing but little, are, however, in a
great degree common at the same period of the year to
the three species that are the most numerous, as well as
the most valuable ; namely, the true Salmon, the Grey
Trout, and the Salmon Trout ; which are also further dis-
tinguished from the other species of the genus Salmo by
their seasonal habit of moving from the pure fresh water
to the brackish water, and thence to the sea, and back to
the fresh water again, at particular periods of the year.
Further specific distinctions are therefore necessary ; and
those that will be pointed out as existing constantly in
these species will, it is hoped, enable observers to identify
not only each of these, but also the other species of the
genus, at any age or season.

SALMON.

The vignette above represents the form of the different
parts of the gill-cover in the three species just named ; of
which the figure on the left hand is that of the Salmon,
the middle one is the gill-cover of the Grey Trout, and
that on the right hand is the gill-cover of the Salmon Trout :
the differences are immediately apparent when thus brought
into comparison.

In the Salmon, the posterior free edge of the gill-cover,
as shown in the left-hand figure, forms part of a circle ;
the lower margin of the subopercukmi is a line directed
obliquely upwards and backwards : the line of the union
of the suboperculum with the operculum is also oblique,
and parallel with the lower margin of the suboperculum ;
the interoperculum is narrow vertically, and its union with
the operculum is considerably above the line of the junc-
tion between the suboperculum and the operculum. The
teeth of the Salmon are short, stout, pointed, and re-
curved : as stated in the generic characters, they occupy
five situations at the top of the mouth ; that is, a line of
teeth on each side of the upper jaw, a line on each palatine

6 SALMON ID.E.

bone, with one line on the vomer between the palatine bones
when young, but the Salmon loses a portion of the vomerine
teeth during the first visit to salt water. I have observed
that some specimens of the migratory or Sea Trout carry
their vomerine teeth longer than the Salmon ; and those
Trout which do not migrate appear to carry their vomerine
teeth longrer than those Trout which do migrate. The teeth

O

on the vomer of the Salmon, when the fish is old, seldom
exceed two or three in number, sometimes only one, and
that placed on the most anterior part. The Salmon has
besides these, two rows of teeth upon the tongue, and one
row along the outer upper edge of each lower jaw-bone.

The inner surface of the pectoral fin is in part dusky :
the tail very much forked when young ; the central caudal
rays growing up, the tail is much less forked the third year,
and by the fifth year it is become nearly or quite square at
the end.

The descriptions of the gill-covers of the other species
will be given in the account of the fish to which they
belong ; but it may be remarked here, that looking at
the form of the three gill-covers, it will be obvious that a
line drawn from the front teeth of the upper jaw to the long-
est backward projecting portion of the gill-cover, in either
species, will occupy a different situation in respect to the
eye ; that the line will fall nearest the centre of the eye in
the first, that of the Salmon, and farthest below it in the
second, that of the Grey Trout.

As further specific distinctions in the Salmon, I may add
that, according to Dr. Richardson, the csecal appendages are
in number from sixty-three to sixty-eight ; and several ob-
servers have stated the number of vertebrae to be sixty,
which I have repeatedly found to be correct.

Commencing, then, with the true Salmon, which ascend
the rivers, in the state as to colour before mentioned, sooner

SALMON. 7

or later in the spring or summer months, it is observed
that some rivers are much earlier than others, the fish in
them coming into breeding condition and beginning to spawn
at an earlier period.

Rivers issuing from large lakes afford early Salmon, the
waters having been purified by deposition in the lakes : on
the other hand, rivers swollen by melting snows in the spring
months are later in their season of producing fish, and yield
their supply when the lake rivers are beginning to fail.
" The causes influencing this," says Sir William Jardine, to
whom I am indebted for much valuable information on the
Salmonidec, as well as many specimens, " seem yet unde-
cided ; and where the time varies much in the neighbouring
rivers of the same district, they are of less easy solution.
The Northern rivers, with little exception, are, however, the
earliest, a fact well known in the London markets ; and
going still farther north, the range of the season and of
spawning may be influenced by the latitude.' 1 Artedi says,
" in Sweden the Salmon spawn in the middle of summer."

" It has been suggested that this variation in the season
depended on the warmth of the waters ; and that those
Highland rivers which arose from large lochs were all
early, owing to the great mass and warmer temperature of
their sources, that the spawn there was sooner hatched.
There are two rivers in Sutherlandshire which show this
late and early running under peculiar circumstances. One,
the Oikel, borders the county, and springs from a small
alpine lake, perhaps about half a mile in breadth ; the other,
the Shin, is a tributary to the Oikel, joins it about five
miles from the mouth, but takes its rise from Loch Shin,
a large and deep extent of water, and connected to a chain
of other deep lochs. Early in the spring, all the Salmon
entering the common mouth diverge at the junction, turn
up the Shin, and return as it were to their own and warmer

8 SALMONID.E.

stream, while very few keep the main course of the Oikel
until a much later period."

Dr. Heysham, in his Catalogue of Cumberland Animals,
has supplied similar evidence. " The Salmon," it is there
observed, " is plentiful in most of our rivers, in all of which
they spawn ; but they evidently prefer, during the winter
and spring, the Eden to the Esk, the Caldew, or the
Peteril. Although the Esk and the Eden pour out their
waters into the same estuary, and are only separated at the
mouths by a sharp point of land, yet there is scarcely an
instance of a new Salmon ever entering the former until
the middle of April or beginning of May. The fishermen
account for this curious fact from the different temperature
of these two rivers ; the waters of the Eden, they allege,
being considerably warmer than the water of the Esk ;
which is not altogether improbable, for the bed of the Esk
is not only more stony and rocky than the Eden, but is
likewise broader, and the stream more shallow ; consequently
its waters must be somewhat colder in the winter season.
It is an undoubted fact, that snow water prevents the Salmon
from running up even the Eden : it is probable this cir-
cumstance may have considerable effect in preventing them
from entering the Esk till the beginning of summer, when
the temperature of the two rivers will be nearly the same.
The Peteril joins the Eden a little above, and the Caldew at
Carlisle ; yet up these rivers the Salmon never run unless
in the spawning season, and even then in no great num-
bers."

The number of fish obtained in the spring in a proper
state for food is small compared with the quantity procured
as the summer advances. During the early part of the
season, the Salmon ascend the river, advancing with the flood,
and generally retiring Avith the ebb, if their progress be not
stopped by any of the various means employed to catch

SALMON. .0

them, which will be explained hereafter. It is observed
that the female fish appear before the males ; and the young
fish on their first return from the sea, called Grilse till they
have spawned once, ascend earlier than those of more adult
age. As the season advances, the Salmon ascend higher up
the river beyond the influence of the tide : they are observed
to be getting full of roe, and are more or less out of condi-
tion according to their forward state as breeding fish. Their
progress forwards is not easily stopped ; they shoot up rapids
with the velocity of arrows, and make wonderful efforts to
surmount cascades and other impediments by leaping, fre-
quently clearing an elevation of eight or ten feet, and gaining
the water above, pursue their course. If they fail in their
attempt and fall back into the stream, it is only to remain a
short time quiescent, and thus recruit their strength to enable
them to make new efforts.

These feats of the Salmon are frequently 'watched with
all the curiosity such proceedings are likely to excite. Mr.
Mudie, in the British Naturalist, describes from personal
observation some of the situations from which these extra-
ordinary efforts can be witnessed. Of the fall of Kilmorac,
on the Beauly, in Invernesshire, it is said, " The pool below
that fall is very large ; and as it is the head of the run in one
of the finest Salmon rivers in the North, and only a few
miles distant from the sea, it is literally thronged with
Salmon, which are continually attempting to pass the fall,
but without success, as the limit of their perpendicular spring
does not appear to exceed twelve or fourteen feet : at least,
if they leap higher than that they are aimless and exhausted,
and the force of the current dashes them down again before
they have recovered their energy. They often kill them-
selves by the violence of their exertions to ascend ; and
sometimes they fall upon the rocks and are captured. It
is indeed said that one of the wonders which the Frascrs of

10 SALMONID/E.

Lovat, who are lords of the manor, used to show their guests,
was a voluntarily cooked Salmon at the falls of Kilmorac.
For this purpose a kettle was placed upon the flat rock on
the south side of the fall, close by the edge of the water, and
kept full and boiling. There is a considerable extent of
the rock where tents were erected, and the whole was under
a canopy of overshadowing trees. There the company are
said to have waited until a Salmon fell into the kettle and
was boiled in their presence. We have seen as many as
eighty taken in a pool lower down the river at one haul of
the seine, and one of the number weighed more than sixty
pounds."

At the meeting of the British Association, held at Glas-
gow in September 1840, Mr. Smith, of Deanston in the
Carse of Stirling, exhibited a model, which is thus noticed in
the Report of the Proceedings of the Natural History Sec-
tion in the Literary Gazette. " Mr. Smith gave an interest-
ing account of a stair which he had invented, whereby
Salmon might be enabled to ascend streams, notwithstanding
the existence of natural or artificial obstructions, and so con-
structed as not to diminish the power of the water, or lessen
the supply to mills ; it being understood that the disputes
between the owners of mills and of salmon-fisheries had
hitherto led to much disagreement and inconveniency. He
illustrated his observations by the model of an experimental
erection which he had constructed on the Teith, near Doune,
the result of which had been so successful, that numerous
applications had been made from various quarters for erections
of the same kind. Mr. Smith mentioned that, in connexion
with this invention, he had in contemplation the construction
of an apparatus, or index, whereby the exact number of fish
that passed up the stream by the stair might be accurately
ascertained, together with the time of their so passing up,
and the size and thickness of the fish. It is difficult to give

SALMON.

11

a perfect idea of tliis ingenious contrivance without a model.
It consists of one side of the river, under a weir or ' cauld," 1
being separated from the main stream, and intersected by
transverse pieces of wood, or stone, from each side, crossing,
perhaps, two- thirds of the width, and with considerable inter-
vals between the opposite intersections. The fish, it seems,
both from the experience on the Teith, and at another dam
at Blantyre, on the Clyde, immediately adopt this staircase
in ascending the rivers, and, finding- resting-places between
the intersecting materials, abandon the other parts of the
stream for this contingency. Some amusing remarks were
made on this communication, which is one of infinite value to
local mill and fishing interests."

The fish having at length gained the upper and shallow
pools of the river, preparatory to the important operation of
depositing the spawn in the gravelly beds, its colour will
be found to have undergone considerable alteration during
the residence in fresh water. The male becomes marked on
the cheeks with orange-coloured stripes, which give it the

SALMONID.E.

appearance of the check of a Labrus ; the lower jaw elon-
gates, and a cartilaginous projection turns upwards from the
point, which, when the jaws are closed, occupies a deep
cavity between the intermaxillary bones of the upper jaw ;
the body partakes of the golden orange tinge, and the
Salmon in this state is called a red-fish. The females
are dark in colour, and are as commonly called black-fish ;
and by these terms both are designated in those local and
precautionary regulations intended for the protection and
preservation of the breeding fish.

The process of spawning has been described by various
observers. " A pair of fish are seen to make a furrow, by
working up the gravel "with their noses, rather against the
stream, as a Salmon cannot work with his head down stream,
for the water then going into his gills the wrong way, drowns
him. When the furrow is made, the male and female
retire to a little distance, one to the one side and the other
to the other side of the furrow : they then throw themselves
on their sides, again come together, and rubbing against each
other, both shed their spawn into the furrow at the same
time. This process is not completed at once ; it requires
from eight to twelve days for them to lay all their spawn,
and when they have done they betake themselves to the
pools to recruit themselves. Three pairs have been seen
on the spawning-bed at one time, and were closely watched
while making the furrow and laying the spawn." *

The following extracts are made from a paper by Dr.
Knox, published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh.

" November &. Salmon are observed to be spawning
in the various tributary streams of the Tweed which join
that river from the north, and a pair are watched. The ova

* Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon.

SALMON. I.!

observed to be deposited near the sources of the stream on
the 2nd of November, and covered up with gravel in the
usual way."

" February 25, or a hundred and sixteen days after
being deposited, the ova, on being dug up, are found to be
unchanged. If removed at this time, and preserved in
bottles filled with water, the developement of the egg may
be hastened almost immediately by being put into warm
rooms : it is not necessary to change the water. The fry so
hatched, i. e. artificially, cannot be preserved alive in bottles
longer than ten days ; they eat nothing during their con-
finement."

" March 23. The ova now changing ; the outer shell
cast ; the fry are lying imbedded in the gravel, as fishes
somewhat less than an inch in length, being now twenty
weeks from the period of their deposition."

" April 1 . On reopening the spawning-bed, most of
the fry had quitted it by ascending through the gravel.
During a former series of observations I have found the
ova imbedded in the gravel unchanged on the 10th of
April, and as fry or fishes, but still imbedded in the gravel,
on the 17th : they were taken that year, with fly, as Smolts,
on the 22nd of April, about the size of the little finger."

Some specimens of Salmon fry now before me, with a.
portion of the ovum still attached to the abdomen of each
fish, measure one inch in length : the head and eyes are
large ; the colour of the body pale brown, with nine or
ten dusky grey marks across the sides. These dusky
patches, longer vertically than wide, are common, I have
reason to believe, to the young of all the species of the
genus Salmo. I have seen them in the young of the
Salmon, Grey Trout, Sea Trout, Common Trout, and Charr.
In a specimen of the young of the Salmon six inches long,
these transverse marks are still observable when the fish is

14 SAI.MONID.E.

viewed in a particular position in reference to the light : and
if the scales are removed, the marks are much more obvious.
They are also very distinct in the Common Trout and in the
Charr for a considerable time.

There are striking examples in other animals of this
similarity in the markings, or family likeness, in the young
of the various species of the same genus, however different
may be the colours of the parent animals. The young of
the lion and the puma are as much marked for a time as the
young of the tiger and leopard, or, indeed, of any of the
other cats, whether striped or spotted ; and the young of all
deer are said, and many are known, to be spotted, though
it is also known that the greater number of the adult animals
are perfectly plain.

I am now enabled, through the kindness of Thomas
Lister Parker, Esq., to offer some remarks on the growth
of the young Salmon in fresh water, and in order to prevent
any misconception of the terms employed, I shall speak of
the young Salmon of the first year as a Pink ; in its se-
cond year, till it goes to sea, as a Smolt ; in the autumn of
the second year as Salmon Peal, or Grilse, and afterwards
as adult Salmon.

In the autumn of the year 1835, Thomas Upton, Esq. of
Ingmire Hall, situated between Sedbergh and Kendal, be-
gan to enlarge a lake on his property, and in the spring of
1836, some Pinks from the Lune, a Salmon river which runs
through a valley not far from the lake, were put into it.
This lake, called Lillymere, has no communication with the
sea, nor any outlet by which fish from other waters can get
in, or by which those put in can get out. The Pinks when
put into Lillymere did not certainly exceed three inches and a
half in length. Sixteen months afterwards, that is, in
the month of August 1837, Thomas L. Parker, Esq. then
visiting his friend, fished Lillymere, desirous of ascertaining

SALMON. 15

the growth of the Pinks, and with a red palmer fly caught
two Salmon Peal in excellent condition, silvery bright in
colour, measuring fourteen inches in length, and weighing
fourteen ounces. One was cooked and eaten, the flesh pink
in colour, but not so red as those of the river ; well flavoured
and like that of a Peal. The other was sent to me in spirit
of wine, and a drawing of it immediately taken. In the
month of July 1838, eleven months after, another small
Salmon was caught, equal to the first in condition and colour,
about two inches longer and three ounces heavier. No doubt
was entertained that these were two of the Pinks transferred
to the lake in the spring of 1836, the first of which had been
retained sixteen months, and the other twenty-seven months,
in this fresh-water lake.

Desirous of ascertaining the appearance of the young-
Salmon at periods intermediate between the states as Pinks
and Salmon Peal, other experiments were tried. Pinks in
the river Hodder in the month of April are rather more than
three inches long, and are considered to be the fry of that
year : at this time, Smolts of six inches and a half are also
taken. The Smolts are considered as the fry of the pre-
vious year, and are distinguished by the blue colour on the
upper half of their body, the silvery tint of the lower half,
and the darker hue of the fins generally 'as compared with
those of the Pink. In this state as to colour, the Smolts are
said to have assumed their migratory dress and go down to
the sea in May. In June the young Pink in the Hodder
measures about four inches ; in July it measures five inches,
and no Smolts are then found in the river. To be further
convinced of this change, and the length of time required
to produce it, a Pink put into a well at Whitewell in the
forest of Bowland in November 1837, was taken out in
the state of a Smolt of six inches and a quarter in July
183S. In another instance more Pinks by Mr. Upton's

16 SALMONID.E.

directions were put into Lillymere in September 1837, and
Mr. Parker caught five or six in the state of Smolts of seven
and a half inches in August 1838. In referring to the par-
ticular size of the Pinks in the river Hodder at stated
periods, it may be necessary to remark that the Pinks of
different rivers, and even in the same river, will be found to
vary in size, depending on the time at which the spawn was
deposited, the temperature of the season, and other causes.

I may here observe that I am indebted to the kindness
and liberality of Thomas Lister Parker, Esq. for a variety of
specimens, as well as for the requisite information concerning
them. Of the various fishes, when received, accurate drawings
were immediately made, and coloured representations of the
natural size of six examples at different ages, in illustration of
this subject, were published.*

A knowledge of the growth of young Salmon in a fresh-
water lake, as here described, and the experiment has suc-
ceeded elsewhere, may be useful to those gentlemen who
possess lakes near Salmon rivers from which they can supply
them with Pinks : whether the Salmon thus prevented going
to salt water will still retain sufficient constitutional power to
mature their roe, and by depositing it in the usual manner,
as far as circumstances permit, produce their species, would
be a subject worthy of further investigation. That the rate
of growth in young Salmon has some reference to the size of
the place to which they are restricted, receives further confir-
mation in these river, lake, and well specimens. The Smolt
taken from the well in July 1838, where it had been con-
fined for eight months, was rather smaller in size at that
time than the Smolts in the Hodder in the preceding April,
though both were Pinks of the same year, namely 1837.
The Smolt taken from the lake in August 1838, which then

* On the growth of the Salmon in Fresh-water. John Van Voorst: London,
1839.

SALMON. 17

measured seven inches and a half, had also grown more rapid-
ly than that in the well, but had not acquired the size it
would have gained had it been allowed to go to sea.
Further, it may be observed, that the Salmon Peal from the
lake in August 1887, then eighteen months old, though per-
fect in colour, is small for its age; while that of July 1838,
or twenty-nine months old, is comparatively still more defi-
cient in growth, supposing both fish to have resulted from
Pinks of the year 1836, and been put into the lake at the
same time ; of which there was no doubt, since the lake, the
formation of which, though commenced in the autumn of
1835, was not finished till February 1836, soon after which
the first Pinks were put in.

In another experiment, a large landed proprietor in Scot-
land, whose name I do not know that I am at liberty to
mention, wrote as follows : " In answer to your inquiry about
the Salmon fry I have put into my newly-formed pond, I must
tell you, the water was first let in about the latter end of
1830, and some months afterwards, in April 1831, I put in
a dozen or two of small Salmon fry, three or four inches long,
taken out of a river here, thinking it would be curious to see
whether they would grow without the possibility of their
getting to the sea or salt water. As the pond, between three
and four acres in extent, had been newly stocked with Trout,
I did not allow any fishing till the summer of 1833, when
we caught with the fly several of these Salmon, from two to
three pounds' weight, perfectly well shaped, and filled up,
of the best Salmon colour outside, the flesh well-flavoured
and well-coloured, though a little paler than that of new-
run fish.""

I have purposely adverted to the growth of the fry of the
Salmon in fresh water, as stated by Dr. Knox, Mr. Parker,
and others, in order to introduce the important experimental
observations of Mr. John Shaw on the development and

VOL. II. C

18 SALMONID.E.

growth of Salmon fry, from the exclusion of the ova to the
age of two years ; and that I may do justice to so interesting
a subject, I include a large portion of Mr. Shaw's paper as it
appeared in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin-
burgh.

" That the facts which I communicate regarding the natu-
ral history of the Salmon in its earlier stages, may not appear
altogether undeserving of consideration, I may premise that
my remarks have not proceeded from hasty or imperfect ob-
servation, but from the experience of many years sedulously
devoted to the subject, the whole of my life, with the excep-
tion of a few seasons, having been spent on the banks of
streams where Salmon are in the habit of depositing their
spawn, and where of course the Parr is likewise abundant.
My opportunities of observation have thus been as ample, as
my efforts have been unremitting and laborious, to discover
the true history of this invaluable species. I shall here pre-
sent a brief abstract of my earlier proceedings in relation to
the subject.

" I had long been of opinion, in opposition to the senti-
ments entertained by the majority of authors, that the fish
commonly called Parr, was the natural produce of the Sal-
mon, and that all recorded attempts to trace the history of
the latter fish were fanciful in their nature, and delusive in
their results. To enable me to watch the progressive growth
of Parr, I caught seven of these small fishes on the llth of
July 1833, and placed them in a pond supplied by a stream of
wholesome water. There they continued to thrive remark-
ably well, and were seen catching flies and other insects, and
sporting on the surface in perfect health. In the month of
April following (1834), they began to assume a different
aspect from that which they exhibited when first put into the
pond, and this change was evident enough even while they
continued swimming at large in the water ; but wishing to

SALMON. 19

examine them more particularly, and at the same time to
convince others of the fact of their having changed their
external character, I caught them with a casting-net on the
17th May, 1834, and satisfied every individual present that
they had assumed the usual appearance of what are called
Salmon smalts or fry. They were now of a fine deep blue
upon the back, with a delicate silvery appearance on the
sides, and the abdomen white ; these silvery scales came
easily off upon the hand. A circumstance occurred about
the first week of May, which it may be proper to mention, as
illustrating in some manner what may be deemed the migra-
tory instinct of these fishes. They seemed to me at this
time to be decreasing in numbers, and I found, on examina-
tion, that some had leapt altogether out of the pond, and
were lying dead at a short distance from its edge.

" In March 1835, I again took twelve Parrs from the
river of a larger size, that is, about six inches long ; they then
bore the perpendicular bars, and other usual characters of
that fish. These I also transferred to a pond prepared for
the purpose, and, by the end of April, they too assumed the
characters of the Salmon-fry, the bars becoming overlayed
by the new silvery scales, which Parrs of two years old in-
variably assume before departing towards the sea. From
these experiments I had no doubt that the larger Parrs ob-
servable in rivers in autumn, winter, and early spring, were
in reality the actual Salmon-fry advancing to the conclu-
sion of their second year, and that the smaller summer
Parrs (called in Dumfriesshire May Parrs), were the same
species, but younger as individuals, and only entering upon
their second year. This, then, I conceived to be the detec-
tion of the main error of preceding observers, who had uni-
formly alleged that salmon-fry attain a size of six or eight
inches in as many weeks, and after the lapse of this brief
period take their departure to the sea. It is the rapidity

20 SALMONID.E.

with which the two year old Parr assumes the aspect of the
salmon-fry that has led to this false conclusion, and super-
ficial or hasty observers, taking cognizance, 1st, of the hatch-
ing of the ova in early spring, and, 2dly, of the sea-ward
migration of Smolts soon afterwards, have imagined these
two facts to take place in immediate or speedy succession.
I may now mention what actually becomes of these young
fishes for some weeks after they are hatched.

" That the fish in question should not be found in the
river in an earlier state than that in which it is named the
May or summer Parr, had long appeared to me to be an
extraordinary and perplexing circumstance. I therefore made
a minute examination of the streams where the old Salmon
had spawned the preceding winter, and I there found in
vast numbers a very small but active fish, which I concluded
to be the young Parr or Samlet of the season. To prove the
fact, I scooped up with a gauze-net two or three dozen of
them, on the 15th of May, 1834. They measured about an
inch in length ; their heads were large in proportion to their
bodies, and the latter tapered off towards the tail, in the form
of a wedge. The small transverse bars, characteristic of the
Parr, were already distinctly marked. I placed them in two
ponds, each provided with a run of water, where they throve
well. In the course of the succeeding May (1835), that is,
when they were more than a year old, and had been twelve
months in my possession, I took a few of them from the
pond for the purpose of examination. They had increased to
the length of three and a half inches, on an average, and it is
important to remark, that they correspond in every respect
with the Parr of the same age which occurred in the river ;
but neither as yet indicated any approach to the silvery
aspect of the Smolt. Being satisfied, however, from the
result of my former experiments on the Parr, that they would
ultimately assume that silvery aspect, I continued to detain

SALMON. 21

them in the pond, and, accordingly, in May 1836, they were
transmuted into Smolts or Salmon-fry, commonly so called.
At this time they measured six and a half inches in length,
their colour on the back a beautiful deep blue, the sides
bright and silvery, the dorsal, caudal, and especially the pec-
toral fins, tipped with black, the abdomen, ventral, and anal
fins white. The undoubted Smolts of the river were at this
time descending sea-wards, and the most careful comparison
of these with those in my possession did not elicit the slight-
est difference between the two. Mine had completed their
second year, and is it likely that those in the river which so
identically resembled them, were only a few weeks old ?

" The minute but active fish above alluded to, is at that
early period to be no where found except in those streams
(or their immediate vicinity) in which the old Salmon had
deposited their spawn during the preceding winter. Early in
April 1835, I discovered them in one of these streams, but
so young and weak, owing to their very recent emergence
from the spawning-bed, as to be unable to struggle with the
current where it flowed with any strength or rapidity. They
therefore betook themselves to the gentler eddies, and fre-
quently into the small hollows produced in the shingle by
the hoofs of horses which had passed the ford. In these
comparatively quiet places, and covered by a slight current of
a few inches in depth, they continued with their little tails
in constant motion, till such time as my near approach was
perceived, when they immediately darted beneath the stones.
They remain with these habits, and in the situations just
mentioned, during the months of April, May, and even
June ; but as they increase in size and strength, they scatter
themselves all over the shallower parts of the river, especially
wherever the bottom is composed of fine gravel. They con-
tinue, in truth, comparatively unobserved throughout the
whole of the first summer, being seldom taken by the angler

SALMONID.E.

during that season. But when the two-year-olds have dis-
appeared (as Smolts) in spring, these smaller fishes, now
entering their second year, become bolder and more apparent,
and now constitute the May and summer Parr of anglers.
But their timid habits during the first few months of their
existence, and their consequent concealment in the shingle,
greatly screen them from observation during that period, and
have led to the erroneous belief, that the silvery Smolts were
the actual produce of the season, and were only a few weeks
old. It certainly seems singular that it should never have
occurred to any intelligent angler to inquire what had become
of the older generation of Parr, that is of the comparatively
large individuals which he might have captured late in au-
tumn and in earliest spring, but none of which he can detect
after the departure of the so-called Smolts. If the two are
not identical, how does it happen that the one so constantly
disappears simultaneously with the other ? Yet no one
alleges that he has ever seen Parr, as such, performing their
migration towards the sea. They cannot do so, because they
have been previously converted into Smolts.

" I shall here allude briefly to three different occasions on
which I have had an opportunity of witnessing the first mi-
gration of Smolts or converted Parr, that is, their descent in
small shoals towards the sea. The first of these was in the
first week of May, 1831. I was able deliberately to inspect
them as the several shoals arrived behind the sluices of a
salmon-cruive, and while they yet remained in the water, and
were swimming in a particular direction, indistinct transverse
lateral bars might still be seen, but as they changed their
position, these became as it were lost in the silvery lustre.
I also examined many of them in the hand, and could there
also, by holding them at a certain angle in relation to the
eye, produce the barred appearance, but when the fish were
held with their broad side directly opposed to view, the cha-

SALMON.

racter alluded to could not be seen. Its actual existence,
however, could be easily proved by removing the deciduous
silvery scales, when the barred markings became apparent,
and, of course, continued so to whatever light exposed. My
next opportunity occurred on the 3rd of May, 1833. The
appearance was exactly the same as that which I have just
described. They passed down the river in small family
groups or shoals of from forty to sixty and upwards, their
rate of progression being about two miles an hour. The
caution which they exercised in descending the several rapids
they met with in the course of their journey was very amus-
ing. They no sooner came within the influence of any rapid
current than they in an instant turned their heads up the
stream, and would again and again permit themselves to be
carried to the very brink, and as often retreat upwards, till at
length one or two, bolder than the others, permitted them-
selves to be carried over the current, when the entire flock,
one by one, disappeared, and then, so soon as they had
reached comparatively still water, they again turned their
heads towards the sea, and resumed their journey. The
third opportunity to which I shall here refer occurred in May
1836, at which time, as I have stated, I compared a few of
the descending Smolts with those which (having been two
years in my possession as Parr) had, in the confinement of
the Pond, assumed the corresponding silvery aspect of the
Salmon-fry. The river during this month being remarkably
low, I was thus enabled to ascertain more accurately the time
during which they continued to migrate, which I found to
be nearly throughout the whole of the month, but more
especially in the course of the second week, in which the
shoals were both larger, and more frequent in their successive
arrivals. Their external aspect was the same as that of the
former shoals, and the average length, as usual, from six to
seven inches.

SALMONID^E.

" Having thus traced the progress of the Parr from an
inch in length, through its several stages up to the period of
migration, I shall now detail my various experiments on the
ova of the Salmon, undertaken with a view to prove the
identity of these two fish. On the 10th of January, 1836,
I observed a female Salmon of considerable size (about six-
teen pounds), and two males, of at least twenty-five pounds,
engaged in depositing their spawn. The spot which they
had selected for that purpose was a little apart from some
other Salmon which were engaged in the same process, and
rather nearer the side, although still in pretty deep water.
The two males kept up an incessant conflict during the
whole of the day, for possession of the female, and, in the
course of their struggles, frequently drove each other almost
ashore, and were repeatedly on the surface displaying their
dorsal fins, and lashing the water with their tails. Being
satisfied that these were real Salmon, there being at least ten
brace of that fish engaged in the same process on the stream
at the time, I took the opportunity of securing as much of
the ova as I could possibly obtain. This I did three days
after it was deposited, the males and female still occasionally
frequenting the bed. The method by which I obtained the
eggs was by using a thin canvass bag, stitched on a slight
frame formed of small rod iron, in fashion of a large square
landing-net, one person holding this bag a few inches farther
down the stream than where the ova were deposited, and
another with a spade digging up the gravel, the current
carrying the eggs into the bag, while the greater portion of
the gravel was left behind. Having thus obtained a suffi-
cient quantity of the ova for my purpose, I placed them in
gravel under a stream of water where I could have a con-
venient opportunity of watching their progress. The stream
was pure spring water. On the 26th of February, that is,
forty-eight days after being deposited, I found on close in-

SALMON. 25

spection that they had some appearance of animation, from a
very minute streak of blood which appeared to traverse for a
short distance the interior of the egg, originating near two
small dark spots, not larger at that time than the point of a
pin. These two dark spots, however, ultimately turned out
to be the eyes of the embryo fish, which was distinctly seen
resting against the interior surface of the egg a few days pre-
vious to its exclusion. On the 8th of April, which makes
ninety days imbedded in the gravel, I found on examination
that they were excluded from the egg, which was not the
case a day or two previous. The temperature of the water
at the time was 43, the temperature of the water in the
river 45, and the temperature of the atmosphere 39. On
its first exclusion, the little fish has a very singular appear-
ance. The head is large in proportion to the body, which is
exceedingly small, and measures abovii jive-eighths of an inch
in length, of a pale blue or peach-blossom colour. But the
most singular part of the fish is the conical bag-like appen-
dage which adheres by its base to the abdomen. This bag
is about two-eighths of an inch in length, of a beautiful trans-
parent red, very much resembling a light red currant, and in
consequence of its colour, may be seen at the bottom of the
water when the fish itself can with difficulty be perceived.
The body also presents another singular appearance, namely,

26 SALMONID^E.

a fin or fringe, resembling that of the tail of the tadpole,
which runs from the dorsal and anal fins to the termination of
the tail, and is slightly indented. This little fish does not
leave the gravel immediately after its exclusion from the egg,
but remains for several weeks beneath it with the bag at-
tached, and containing a supply of nourishment, on the same
principle, no doubt, as the umbilical vessel is known to
nourish other embryo animals. By the end of fifty days, or
the 30th of May, the bag contracted and disappeared. The
fin or tadpole-like fringe also disappeared by dividing itself
into the dorsal, adipose, and anal fins, all of which then
became perfectly developed. The little transverse bars,
which for a period of two years (as I have already shown)
characterize it as the Parr, also made their appearance.
Thus, from the 10th of January till the end of May, a
period of upwards of one hundred and forty days was required
to perfect this little fish, which even then measured little
more than one inch in length, and corresponded in all re-
spects with those on which I had formerly experimented, as
well as with such as existed at that same time in great num-
bers in the natural streams.

" Although I was myself satisfied by the preceding facts
that Parr and Salmon fry were thus identical in kind, and
differed only in respect to age, I was informed that my in-
ferences were objected to, in as far as there was not suffi-
cient evidence that the spawn experimented on was actually
that of Salmon, seeing that the same streams were accessible
to other species of the genus. I therefore felt it incumbent
on me to supply this desired link in the chain of evidence,
and I accordingly repeated my experiments on ova which I
saw excluded, which, in fact, I forced the Salmon to exclude,
in the manner after mentioned, preserving at the same time
the skins of the parent fish, for the satisfaction of the curious
or sceptical.

SALMON. 27

" Before proceeding to make additional experiments, it
was necessary to lay my experimental basins dry, not only for
the purpose of removing the young Salmon of the preceding
season's produce, but also to enable me to fit them up on
such a principle as would exclude any possibility of confusion
either from the overflowing of the ponds themselves, or from
the flooding of the river Nith, on the banks of which they
are situate. Every precaution was used not only to exclude
error, but to place the young fry in circumstances as nearly
resembling the state of nature as was consistent with their
preservation.

" The ponds, which are three in number, are two feet
deep, and thickly embedded with gravel, while they are at
the same time supplied with a small stream of spring water

^

in which the larvse of insects abound. Pond No. 1 is
twenty-five feet in length by eighteen in breadth, and is fed
by the stream, which debouches into it at the fall. Pond
No. 2 is twenty-two feet in length by eighteen in breadth,
and is fed from pond No. 1, where the communication
is carefully grated with wire. Pond No. 3 is fifty feet in
length by thirty in breadth, and is fed by the stream,
having no communication with either of the other ponds.
The waste water from pond No. 1 is conducted into pond
No. 2, through a square wooden pipe covered at the mouth
with a wire grating, the bars of which are about one-eighth
of an inch apart. The waste water from pond No. 2 is con-
veyed under ground to the distance of twenty feet in a square
wooden pipe, grated in the same manner as the former.
The waste water from pond No. 3 passes down a square
wooden pipe two feet deep, covered at the top with wire-
gauze, and is conveyed under ground in a small covered
drain to the distance of twenty feet from the pond. The
water of the whole is then left to find its way to the river.

28 SALMON [D,E.

" To prevent any communication arising from an acciden-
tal overflow of the ponds themselves, I raised embankments
upon the intersecting walks of two feet in height, so that the
several families of fish which the ponds contain can have no
access, direct or indirect, to each other. Where the rivulet
is divided for the purpose of supplying the several ponds, I
have formed an artificial fall in each stream, of a construction
to prevent the fish from ascending one stream and descending
another. Finally, where the water discharges itself from the
ponds, the channels are so secured by wire-grating that it is
as impossible for the young fish to escape as for any other
fish to have access to them. The whole occupies an area of
nearly eighty feet square.

" My experimental basins being thus prepared, my next
object was to secure the fish, the progeny of which were to
form the subject of experiment. With the view, there-
fore, of securing two Salmon, male and female, while in the
very act of continuing their kind, I provided myself with
an iron hoop five feet in diameter, on which I fixed a net
of a pretty large mesh, so constructed as to form a bag
nine feet in length by five feet in width. I then attached
the hoop and net to the end of a pole nine feet long, thus
forming a landing net on a large scale. The weight of the
net with its iron hoop being upwards of seven pounds, it in-
stantly sank to the bottom on being thrown into the water.

" Being thus prepared with all the means of carrying my
experiment into practice, I proceeded to the river Nith on
the 4th January 1837, and readily discovered a pair of adult
Salmon engaged in depositing their spawn. They were in
a situation easily accessible, the water being of such a depth
as to admit of my net being employed with certain success.
Before proceeding to take the fish, I formed a small trench
in the shingle by the edge of the stream, through which I

SALMON. 29

directed a small stream of water from the river two inches
deep. At the end of this trench, I placed an earthenware
basin of considerable size, for the purpose of ultimately re-
ceiving the ova. I then, at one and the same instant, en-
closed both the fish in the hoop, allowing them to find their
way into the bag of the net by the aid of the stream. In
capturing these fish, I considered myself fortunate in secur-
ing them by one cast of the net, for, in conducting the expe-
riment of artificial impregnation, it appeared to me to be very
desirable that the male should be taken, with the female of
his own selection, at the very moment when they were mu-
tually engaged in the continuance of their species. To take
a female from one part of the stream and a male from an-
other, might not have given the same chance of a successful
issue to the experiment. Having drawn the fish ashore, I
placed the female, while still alive, in the trench, and pressed
from her body a quantity of ova. I then placed the male
in the same situation, pressing from his body a quantity of
milt, which, passing down the stream, thoroughly impregnated
the ova. I then transferred the spawn to the basin, and
deposited it in a stream connected with a pond previously
formed for its reception. The temperature of this stream
was 39, of the river from which the Salmon were taken
33, and of the atmosphere 3b'. The skins of the parent
Salmon are now in my possession.

" On examining the ova on the 23rd of February (fifty
days after impregnation), I found the embryo fish distinctly
visible to the naked eye, and even exhibiting some sym-
ptoms of vitality by moving feebly in the egg. The tempera-
ture of the stream was at this time 36, and of the atmo-
sphere 38. On the 28th of April (one hundred and four-
teen days after impregnation), I found the young Salmon
excluded from the egg, which was not the case when I visited

30 SALMONID.E.

them on the previous day. The temperature of the stream
was then 44. The ova, which for some time previous to
being hatched, had been almost daily in my hand for inspec-
tion, did not appear to suffer at all from being handled.
When I had occasion to inspect the ovum, I placed it in the
hollow of my hand, covered with a few drops of water, where
it frequently remained a considerable time without suffering
any apparent injury. The embryo, however, while in this
situation, showed an increased degree of activity by repeat-
edly turning itself in the egg, an action probably produced
by the increase of temperature arising from the warmth
of the hand.

" On the 24th of May (twenty-seven days after being
hatched), the young fish had consumed the yolk, but in a
few days afterwards the whole of this family, with the excep-
tion of one individual, were found dead at the bottom of the
pond, a circumstance which has occurred more than once in
the course of my experiments, arising, I apprehend, from a
deposition of mud, the same result having previously taken
place, when the pond had not been sufficiently imbedded
with gravel.

" To show the effects of increased temperature in hasten-
ing the development of the infant fish, I may relate an ex-
periment which I made upon a few of the same ova, from
which this family proceeded. On the 20th of April (one
hundred and six days after impregnation), finding the ova
alluded to unhatched, and the temperature of the stream
being 41, I took four of them and placed them in a tumbler
of water, covering the bottom with fine gravel, in which I
imbedded the ova. I then suspended the tumbler from the
top of my bed-room window, above which I placed a large
earthenware jar, with a small spigot inserted in its side,
from which I easily directed a stream of pure spring water
into the tumbler. The waste water was carried out at the

SALMON. 31

window along a wooden channel fitted up for the purpose.
As there was no fire in the bed-room, and the window facing
the north, the temperature did not range very high, 47
being the average, while the average temperature of the water
in the tumbler was 45. During the night, however, the
temperature would be very considerably increased, and the
consequence was, the young fish in the tumbler were hatched
in thirty-six hours, while those remaining in the stream did
not hatch till the 28th of April, a difference of nearly seven
days. At this stage the little fish are so very transparent,
that their vital organs are distinctly visible, and, when placed
immediately under the eye of the observer, they present a
very interesting appearance. The pectoral fin is continually
in rapid motion, even when the fish itself is otherwise in a
state of perfect repose. They also begin to manifest an in-
creasing desire to escape observation, a principle wisely im-
planted for their better security, during so feeble and helpless
a condition. On the 24th of May (thirty-nine days after
their birth), the fish in the tumbler were completely divested
of the yolk, and the characteristic bars of the Parr had be-
come visible. At this time they measured nearly one inch
in length, and appeared to be in perfect health ; but fearing
that after the yolk was consumed, I should be unable to
supply them with appropriate food, I returned them to the
pond from which I had taken them on the 20th of April,
where they perished with the rest of the family.

" This last experiment proves, that by placing the ova
under a temporary stream of water in the house, the develop-
ment of the young may be materially accelerated, while it
also shows that they may be kept alive for a considerable
time afterwards ; at all events, until the yolk, which I pre-
sume to be their sole support at this period, is totally con-
sumed.

" The next experiment, the circumstances of which I have

32 SALMONID.E.

to relate, has been attended with more success than those
which I had previously made. The process of taking the
adult fish, and all the circumstances of attending the im-
pregnation, were entirely similar in this case to that already
narrated.

" That the pedigree of the young fish may not be called
in question, I have preserved the skins of the parents. The
weight of the male when taken was sixteen pounds, and of
the female eight pounds.

" The spawn was impregnated and deposited in the stream
immediately below the fall, pond No. 1, on the 27th of
January, 1837 ; the temperature of the water in the stream
being 40, and that of the water in the river 36. On the
21st of March (fifty-four days after impregnation), the em-
bryo fish were visible to the naked eye. On the 7th of
May (one hundred and one days after impregnation), they
had burst the envelope, and were to be found amongst the
shingle of the stream. The temperature of the water was at
this time 43, and of the atmosphere 45. It is this brood
which I now had an opportunity of watching continuously for
a length of time, that is, for more than the entire period
which was required to elapse from their exclusion from the
egg, until their assumption of those characters which distin-
guish the undoubted Salmon-fry. I therefore desire, even at
the risk of repetition, to describe their progressive growth
during these important and usually misconceived stages of
existence. But before doing so, I beg to be indulged in a
few miscellaneous remarks.

"It is indeed in no way surprising that any body of sci-
entific men, before whom a portion of these observations on
the growth of the Salmon in fresh water may have been
previously laid, should have been slow to express a decided
opinion on the subject, more especially when the result of my
experiments goes to prove facts so opposed to what has been

SALMON. 33

the received opinion botli of scientific and practical observers,
ever since the natural history of the Salmon became a subject
of inquiry. I have no wish to attempt removing these
opinions by the substitution of others which may be equally
destitute of a correct foundation, but by the statement of
facts resulting from the most careful and repeatedly verified
experiments experiments which, I believe, have been made
by no other individual on the same principle for a similar
purpose ; for had they been so, I am persuaded the real
history and economy of this valuable and interesting fish
would long ere now have been more correctly understood by
the community. However, should similar observations have
been made, the results of which tend to support any material
facts contradictory of those here stated, it would be most
desirable that the scientific public should be immediately
apprised of them.

" It has been asserted, with some appearance of truth, in
support of the old school theory, that owing to the com-
paratively limited range of my experimental ponds, that
the young Salmon reared in them have not had a ' sup-
ply of food sufficiently varied, or in sufficient quantity, to
insure an equally rapid growth to those in the open river. 1
This objection, I must repeat, is by no means tenable, as the
streams and ponds in which they have existed from their
birth abound with every species of insect food peculiar to the
river, and, at the same time, the fishes themselves (which are
certainly the best test), are in the highest possible health and
condition, and correspond in every respect Avith those in the
river. I have already stated that the young of the Salmon
remain in the river for the first two years after their birth,
being then known under the various local denominations of
Parrs, Pinks, Fingerlings, &c. However, in order to pre-
vent any misconception of the terms employed in the course
of these details, I shall adhere to the name Parr, as being

VOL. II. D

84t SALMONID<E.

the designation by which this fish is most generally known in
Scotland.

" The early or late hatching of the Salmon-spawn in the
river is no doubt in a great measure regulated by the tem-
perature which may prevail after its deposition. In severe
winters, when the temperature of the river for many weeks
barely exceeds the freezing point, the ova remain in the
gravel at the bottom of the stream during that period with
the living principle comparatively suspended, until the more
genial temperature of the spring brings that principle into
more active operation. In the course of experiments made
in the beginning of 1838, I had an opportunity of observing
the different effects of temperature in facilitating or retarding
the development of the Salmon-spawn. In ova placed in a
stream of spring water, the average temperature of which was
40, the embryo fish was visible to the naked eye by the end
of the sixtieth day, and was hatched on the hundred and
eighth day after impregnation. That which the same parent
deposited the same day in the river, the average temperature
of which during the eight following weeks did not exceed
33, was not visible to the naked eye until the ninetieth day,
and was not hatched until the 10th of May, that is, one
hundred and thirty-one days after impregnation. The tem-
perature of the river, however, during the last forty days of
that period, had considerably increased, and on the day on
which the fishes were hatched, it had attained an elevation of
60. Were it, then, the fact that the young Salmon migrate
to the sea the same season they are hatched, the effects of a
mild or a rigid winter would alone regulate the period of
their departure from the river. This, however, is not the
fact, as the main body of the Salmon-fry regularly quit our
rivers about the first or second week in May, whatever may
have been the temperature of the previous winter, and in
this particular instance they were actually descending the

SALMON. 35

river in shoals on the very day (10th of May) on which that
season's produce were only emerging from the ova.

" Owing to the great family likeness which is known to
exist amongst the young of the several species of the genus
Salmo in their early stages, an idea has been entertained that
unscientific observers are in the practice of confounding the
progeny of the whole of the migratory species indiscriminately
under the too general name of Parr. To obviate this in-
convenience, and to mark the distinction of species in their
earlier stages, recourse has been had to very fanciful and ill-
defined attributes ; and I am of opinion that in almost every
instance these vague characters have been applied to indivi-
duals of the young of the real Salmon, of which the charac-
ters had not been so fully developed as those of others, rather
than to the young of any distinct species. With the view,
therefore, of affording scientific men an opportunity of com-
paring the young of the Salmon Trout with that of the
Salmon, with which they are supposed to have been con-
founded, I have taken this opportunity of laying before the
Royal Society a brood of the former produced by artificial
impregnation, and exhibiting five successive stages, from the
day on which they were hatched to the age of nine months,
accompanied by the skins of the parent fishes. At the age of
six months they bear no very marked resemblance to the
young of the real Salmon either in the Parr or fry state, and
as they advance in age and size, the resemblance becomes
still slighter. However, on comparing them with the com-
mon Trout, the resemblance is very striking, the general out-
line of the fish being much less elegant than that of the
young Salmon or Parr, the external markings being also more
peculiarly those of the Trout species, so that, in the absence
of the parent skins, it would be a matter of difficulty to
determine to which kind of Trout they actually belong. A
specimen of the young Common Trout of this season's pro-

D 2

36

SALMONID^E.

duce, taken from the Clyde above the Falls, is also exhi-
bited ; so that the young of the three species most common
to this locality (and of corresponding age), viz. Salmo salar,
Salmo trutta, and Salmo fario, may be carefully compared.
The ova of the Salmo eriox, which is less common in these
tributaries, I have not as yet had an opportunity of experi-
menting upon.

" To resume my history of the so-called Parr. Having
brought the series of experiments on the ovum of the Salmon,
begun in January 1837, to a satisfactory conclusion, it may
be gratifying to those who have taken an interest in this
curious inquiry, to be put in possession of the results. I

1. Young Salmon. 2. Young Sea Trout. 3. Young River Trout.

SALMON. 37

have already detailed the particulars regarding the mode
practised in capturing the parent Salmon, the process of
fecundating the ovum artificially with the milt from the male,
and the appearance it presents from that period up to the
exclusion of the young fish from the capsule of the ovum,
which took place on the 7th of May, one hundred and one
days after impregnation. A complete series of specimens
from the egg until the commencement of the third year,
illustrates the following descriptive notes.

" Specimens taken from the pond, when ten days old
(16th of May), had still a considerable portion of the vitel-
line bag attached to the abdomen. Specimens removed
when forty-eight days old (24th of June) had no recognisable
bag, but the symmetry of the form was as yet but imper-
fectly developed. After the lapse of two months (7th of
July) the shape was found to be materially improved, and to
exhibit in miniature much of the form and proportions of a
mature fish. At the age of four months (7th of September)
the characteristic marks of the Parr were clearly developed.
Two months later (six months 1 old, 7th of November) an
accession both of size and strength was apparent, and on com-
paring the pond specimens with the Parr of the river, no
marked difference was perceptible. The average length at
this time was three inches.

" During the winter months, the general temperature of
the rivers is so low, and the consequent deficiency of insect
food so great, that the whole of the Scottish Salmonidte
which inhabit the fresh waters during that season, are well
known to lose, rather than gain, in point of condition. The
same rule holds in regard to the young Salmon in the expe-
rimental ponds, although not to the .same degree, they having
maintained comparatively a superior condition throughout the
winter to those found in the river of a corresponding age and
size. The temperature of the ponds, averaging about 40

38 SALMONID.E.

during the winter, not only keeps the young fishes which
occupy them in a more active condition, but the insects
themselves are also more abroad, and thus afford a convenient
supply of food not to be obtained by those at that time in
the river, the average temperature of which, in ordinary win-
ters, barely exceeds 84."

" A specimen twelve months old, taken from pond No.
1, on the 10th of May, 1838, is much improved in con-
dition, as well as in external appearance, in comparison to
those taken in February, and has exchanged its dusky au-
tumnal and winter's coating for that which may be called its
summer dress.* It measures about three inches and three
quarters in length, and is denominated, along with those of a
corresponding age and size in the river, the ' May Parr." 1
Immediately after the migration of the two-year old Parr
(which the latter always effect about the beginning of May,
under the name of Salmon-fry), there is no other Parr, be-
sides such as have been recently hatched, to be found in the
river save those which correspond with this specimen, which
is the Pink of the river Hodder, alluded to by Mr. Yarrell.-f-
As the summer advances they increase in size, and are
actually the little fish which afford the angler in Salmon rivers
so much light amusement with the rod, during the months of
August, September, and October. They remain over the

* " On the approach of autumn, the whole of the Salmonida;, resident as well
as migratory, while in fresh water, acquire a dusky exterior, accompanied by a
considerable increase of mucus or slime. The fins also become more muscular.
However, on the return of spring, they resume their wonted beautiful colouring,
and the fins, the cartilaginous portions of which are frequently damaged during
the winter floods, grow up and acquire their former outline.

f- " ' Pinks in the river Hodder, in the month of April, are rather more than
three inches long, and are considered to be the fry of that year ; at this time
Smolts of six inches and a half are also taken.' " See Yarrell's Supplement to
British Fishes, page 6. The fry of the same year, in mild winters, are only
quitting the gravel in April, at which stage they measure not more than one
inch. T. S.

SAL3ION. 39

second winter in the river, during which period the males
shed their milt, and are found continuing their kind along
with the female adult Salmon, although still bearing all the
external markings of the Parr, as I shall afterwards more par-
ticularly mention. A specimen eighteen months old, taken
from pond No. 1, on the 1-ith of November, 1838, measures
six inches in length, and has now attained that stage when
all the external characteristic markings of the Parr are strik-
ingly developed, and, in point of health and condition, can-
not be exceeded by any taken from the river. All the males,
at the age of eighteen months, of the several broods in my
possession, last autumn (1838) attained a most important
corroborative stage, viz. that of showing a breeding state, by
having matured the milt, which could be made to flow freely
from their bodies by the slightest pressure of the hand.
The females of the same broods, however, although in equal
health and condition, did not exhibit a corresponding appear-
ance in regard to the maturing of roe. The male and female
Parrs in the river, of a similar age, are found respectively in
precisely a corresponding state, which may surely be admitted
as most important evidence in support of the fact, that all
these individuals are, in truth, specifically the same.

" A specimen, two years old, taken from pond No. 1, on
the 20th of May, 1839, is six inches and a half long, and
has assumed the migratory dress. The commencement of
the change, which was perfected by the whole of the broods
about the same time,* was first observable about the middle
of the previous April, by the caudal, pectoral, and dorsal fins

* " One or two of each of the three broods assumed the migratory or Smolt
dress at the age of twelve months. This circumstance I am disposed to attribute
to the high temperature of the spring-water ponds, which I have no doubt has
hastened the change. I am greatly strengthened in this opinion by the fact of
no instance of a similar change having occurred with individuals reared in
similar ponds supplied with water from a rivulet, the temperature of which
throughout the year ranges pretty nearly with that of the River Nith.

40 SALMONID^E.

assuming a dusky margin, while, at the same time, the whole
of the fish exhibited symptoms of a silvery exterior, as well
as an increased elegance of form. The specimen in question,
so recently a Parr, exhibits a very perfect example of the
Salmon-fry or Smolt.

" When the migratory change takes place in the young
Salmon in the ponds, a marked alteration also occurs in their
habits. While in the Parr state, they show no disposition to
congregate, but each individual occupies a particular station
in the ponds, and should any one quit his place with the
view of occupying the position already possessed by another,
the intruder is at once expelled with an apparent degree of
violence. But so soon as the whole brood has perfected the
migratory dress, they immediately congregate into a shoal,
and exhibit an anxious desire to effect their escape, by scour-
ing all over the ponds, leaping and sporting, and altogether
displaying a vastly increased degree of activity."

" I have elsewhere stated that ' the circumstances attending
the developenient and growth of the brood in pond No. 3, so
exactly correspond with those of the preceding brood in pond
No. 1, that their history would only be a repetition of the
former. I may, however, state, that the individuals in pond
No. 3 are considerably larger than those in pond No. ] , the
difference, at the age of six months, amounting to an inch.''
This superiority in point of size, for the first six months, of
those in pond No. 3 over those reared in pond No. 1, was
not, however, maintained, with the exception of two indivi-
duals, much beyond the first six months, as by the period at
which they assumed the migratory dress (two years), no dif-
ference existed in regard either to size or condition."

" The circumstance of the male Parrs with the milt ma-
tured, and flowing in profusion from their bodies, being at all
times found in company with the adult female Salmon while
depositing her spawn in the river, and the female Parrs being in

SALMON. 41

every instance absent, suggested the idea that the males were
probably present with the female Salmon at such seasons for
a sexual purpose. And to demonstrate the fact, I, in Ja-
nuary 1837, took a female Salmon weighing fourteen pounds
from the spawning bed, from whence I also took a male Parr
weighing one ounce and a half, with the milt of which I im-
pregnated a quantity of her ova, and placed it in the stream
of pond No. 2, where, to my great astonishment, the process
succeeded in every respect as it had done with that which had
been impregnated by the adult male Salmon, and exhibited,
from the first visible appearance of the embryo fish up to
their assuming the migratory dress, the utmost health and
vigour. The very extraordinary results of these experiments,
although made with the utmost possible care, induced me to
defer giving them publicity until I had repeatedly verified
the fact. I, therefore, removed this brood to another pond,
apart from all other fish, where they had an abundant supply
of insect food and wholesome water ; and again, early in the
following January (1838), I repeated the experiment by
taking another female Salmon, weighing fourteen pounds, and
two male Parrs from the same spawning bed, and impreg-
nated two lots of her ova with the milt from the two Parrs,
and afterwards placed them in two different streams, inclosed
in boxes open at the top, temperature 45. The extreme
severity of the weather which succeeded had, however, nearly
proved fatal to the whole. On the evening of the 8th of
January, the day on which I took the parents from the river,
the frost set in, and continued with such intensity for a suc-
cession of many weeks, that the wild fowl generally, and the
wild ducks in particular, suffered severe privations, and in
the course of their wanderings in search of food they unfortu-
nately stumbled on my boxes of ova, one lot of which they
wholly devoured, to the amount at least of five hundred.
My feelings of mortification and disappointment on the dis-

42 SALMONID.E.

covery of this unforeseen disaster may readily be conceived.
However, on examining my other box, I found there were
still a few remaining, which I carefully collected, and put
into a place of greater safety. The progressive growth of
these, from the impregnation of the ova up to the age of
eighteen months, has also been uniformly the same as those
produced by male and female adult parents, and reared under
similar circumstances.

" As a further illustration of the singular economy of the
Salmon in their native streams, I have yet to detail another
experiment or two, not less interesting than conclusive. In
December last (1838) I took a female Salmon from the river
weighing eleven pounds, and four male Parrs from the same
spawning bed. After impregnating four different lots of her
ova, one lot to each individual Parr, I placed the four Parrs
in a pond, where they remained until the following May, at
which period they assumed the migratory dress. The ova
were placed in streams to which no other fish had access, and
where they became mature in a similarly progressive manner
to those already detailed, thus clearly demonstrating that the
young Salmon of eighteen months old, while yet in the Parr
or early state, actually perform the duties of a male parent
before quitting the river.*

" While the males of the three several broods which occu-
py ponds Nos. ], 2, and 3, continued in a breeding state,
which lasted throughout the whole of the winter of 1838-39,
I impregnated the ova of three adult female Salmon from the

* " As I believe it has been objected to my views, or rather practice, regarding
this mode of impregnation, that the generative influence may have been in some
other way effected than through the medium of the Parr, I therefore took every
means to prove the truthful results of my experiments by varying in some mea-
sure their conditions. Thus, in two instances, I took a portion of the ova from
a female Salmon, and placed them, without impregnation, in a stream of pure
water. The result was as I anticipated : up to the termination of the general
hatching season they exhibited no appearance of vitality. The female from

SALMON. 43

river with the milt of a male taken from each of the three
ponds, the whole of which ova matured. This at once re-
moves any doubt which may have been entertained regarding
the constitutional strength of individuals reared under such
circumstances.

" One of the males used in the above experiments is itself
the produce between a male Parr and female adult Salmon
taken from the river on the 4th of January, 1837, and reared
in pond No. 2, as already mentioned. The result of the
experiment practised with this specimen and the female Sal-
mon from the river, being of the utmost importance in estab-
lishing the identity of the species (on a principle recognised
by physiologists as a law of nature), every necessary precau-
tion to avoid error or confusion was observed. It was taken
from pond No. 2 on the 5th of January, 1839, being then
twenty months old, with the milt flowing from its body. A
female adult Salmon weighing twelve pounds was taken at
the same time from the river, in the act of spawning in the
absence of the male. A quantity of her ova was impregnated
in the same manner in every respect as practised in the pre-
ceding experiments, and, for the better security of the lot,
the whole was placed in a wooden trough, over which a sheet
of fine copper-wire gauze was fixed. The trough was then
placed in a stream of water previously prepared for its recep-
tion, and the results were precisely of a corresponding nature
to those already detailed, the embryo fish becoming visible
after fifty-five days, and being excluded from the egg at

which one lot of ova was taken, and placed in water without impregnation, was
the female with which the four Parrs above alluded to were spawned. They
were placed in the same stream but in a separate vessel from the four lots im-
pregnated. The other lot was taken from the female with which the male from
pond No. 3 was spawned. The unimpregnated lot was placed in the same
stream with the former. The impregnated lot was placed in the stream of pond
No. 3. To avoid contact the unimpregnated lots were in each case taken first,
and removed to a distance.

44 SALMONID.E.

the end of one hundred and nine days after impregnation,
under a temperature of 40.

" It has been maintained by individuals whose opinions
are opposed to mine on this question, that the Parr is a dis-
tinct species, and that, by a forced connection between it and
the female Salmon, I was producing a hybrid. This idea at
once brings the importance of the last experiment more im-
mediately into view, from the circumstance of the male
parent of the specimen being actually a Parr, while the al-
leged hybrid, in its turn became the parent of a numerous
brood.

" Were these two species, then, really distinct, it would
follow that the produce would be hybrids, and ' nature her-
self has provided against the confusion of different species by
a conservative law, according to which all hybrids are barren :'
consequently, upon this principle a law in the economy of
nature the Parr and Salmon are really identical in species,
as proved by the fact now narrated, of the young produced
between them having actually the power of reproducing their
kind.

" Apart from these experiments, it was at one time held,
that the Parrs found in their native streams were hybrids,
from the anomalous circumstance of the males being always
found in the autumn with the milt matured, while females,
of a corresponding size, could at no season be found exhibit-
ing the least approximation to a breeding state.* However,
this idea, if it ever was seriously entertained by scientific

* " Solitary instances have occurred of large female Parrs having been found in
Salmon rivers with the roe considerably developed, and I find, by detaining the
female Smolts in fresh water until the end of the third winter, that individuals
are found in this comparatively mature condition. From this fact, therefore, it
maybe inferred, that the large Parr, either male or female, of nine and ten
inches in length, which are occasionally found in rivers, are the young of the
Salmon, which, for some natural reason, had not been prepared to migrate at the
ordinary period, and had, therefore, remained for another year in the fresh
water.

SALMON. 4-5

men, has now given way to the opinion ' that they are a dis-
tinct species, and have no connection whatever with the mi-
gratory Salmon. 1 * Were the Parr a distinct species, the
result of their attendance on the female Salmon would have
the effect of producing universal confusion among the migra-
tory inhabitants of rivers, from the circumstance of the male
Parrs in a breeding state occupying in great numbers the
very centre of the Salmon spawning bed, while the female
Salmon herself is at the same instant pouring thousands of
her ova into the very spot where they are thus genially con-
gregated.

" Had these extraordinary results proceeded from a soli-
tary experiment, there might have been some ground for be-
lieving that I was probably deceiving myself, and, consequent-
ly, misleading others, a fear I myself at first entertained.
But after such a series of experiments, made with all possible
care, and uniformly ending in the same results, the fact can
no longer, I conceive, admit of doubt. Having altogether
within these last two years, made eight distinct experiments
by artificially impregnating the ova of the Salmon with the
milt of a corresponding number of male Parrs from the river,
besides three experiments with those of eighteen-month-old
Parrs from the pond each with perfect success I trust
that I have thrown some interesting light on the breeding of
Parrs, a subject which has hitherto defeated all inquiry
when sought after on the principle of their breeding among
themselves as a distinct species.

* " Recent experiments having been made on the young of the Salmon by
very competent individuals, it is now admitted that they ' remain one year
in the river before they go to the sea as Smolts.' However, owing to these
fishes having escaped the observation of those individuals during the interme-
diate stage, that is, from the ovum up to the length of three inches, they were
actually twelve months old at the commencement of the experiments referred to
by Mr. Yarrell, in place of being the ' fry of that year.'" See Mr. Yarrell's
Supplement to British Fishes.

46 SALMONID.E.

" The fact of the young Salmon propagating its kind while
it is yet itself in other respects in an immature condition, is
certainly an extraordinary departure from the ordinary laws of
nature, so far, at least, as land animals are concerned. From
certain observed facts, however, there is reason to believe that
the economy of the class of fishes differs in this respect from
that of land animals a disparity which, in consequence of
the medium they inhabit, has hitherto escaped the observation
of the naturalist. As the young of the other migratory spe-
cies do not quit the river during the first year, it is probable
that they also observe a similar economy to that of their more
valuable congener.

" It has been generally supposed that the male Salmon,
during the spawning season, assists the female in forming the
spawning bed. This idea is, I think, founded in error, as,
during the whole course of my experience, I have never been
able to detect the male taking any share whatever in the more
laborious portion of these parental duties. The only part he
performs, beyond the mere sexual function, consists in the
unwearied vigilance which he exhibits in protecting the
spawning-bed from the intrusion of rival males, all of which
he assiduously endeavours to expel. The female, regardless
of the occasional absence of the males during these contests,
and probably satisfied with the presence of the male Parrs,
proceeds with her operations by throwing herself at intervals
of a few minutes upon her side, and while in that position, by
the rapid action of her tail,* she digs a receptacle in the
gravel for her ova, a portion of which she deposits, and, again
turning upon her side, she covers it up by a renewed action

* I am aware it has been a matter of dispute amongst observers as to which
of the two extremities of the fish is employed in the formation of the spawning-
bed. However, from late opportunities of observation, which rarely occur,
owing to the turbid state of the river in the spawning season, I am now satisfied
that it is by the action of the caudal extremity alone that the gravel is removed.

SALMON. 47

of the tail, thus alternately digging, depositing, and cover-
ing ova, until the process is completed by the laying
of the "whole mass, an operation Avhich generally occupies
three or four days. In the course of these experiments,
it has been ascertained that the milt of a single male Parr,
whose entire weight may not exceed one and a half ounce, is
capable, when confined in a small stream, of effectually im-
pregnating all the ova of a very large female Salmon. On
the spawn first quitting the body of the female, it is found to
be enveloped in a thin coating of viscous matter, which the
action of the water does not immediately destroy, but which
continues to admit of a partial adherence to the gravel at the
bottom of the spawning bed, where the ova receives the ne-
cessary fecundation of the milt, and are afterwards covered
with gravel by the instinctive efforts of the female parent, in
the manner above described.

" How long these ova will remain excluded from the body
of the female, and yet continue capable of receiving with
effect the fecundating action of the milt, I have not hitherto
ascertained. I have, however, made several experiments on
the ova after the parent had been a considerable time dead,
and removed from the*river. In one particular instance, the
female had been dead for nearly two hours without the vital
principle of the spawn being in the least degree affected,
as, on being afterwards placed in water, and the milt of a living
male poured upon it, it exhibited within the usual period the
same healthy and progressing vivification, under a similar
temperature, as that taken and impregnated the moment it
quitted the body of the living parent. I have merely stated
this fact as being in part corroborative, so far as relates to the
Salmon, of similar experiments made by M. Jacobi on indivi-
duals of the same genus.

" The extraordinary nature of the experiments made with
the Parr and Salmon, I have no doubt will tend to stagger

48 SALMONID:E.

the belief of many who may be disposed to admit the truth
of the facts resulting from the experiments upon the adult
fishes. Nevertheless, they are strictly true ; and I would
strongly recommend that all those interested should imme-
diately turn their attention to a subject so curious in a zoolo-
gical point of view, and so important in its bearings on the
history of the most highly prized of all the species which
ever sojourn in our river waters."

It will be recollected, then, from these details, commencing
with the observations of Dr. Knox, that the young Salmon was
believed by some to go down to salt water when only two or
three months old, or in its first spring. By others it was con-
sidered that the young fish did not go down to the salt water
till it was fourteen months old, or in its second spring ; and the
experiments of Mr. Shaw go to prove that they do not go down
to the salt water till they have completed their second year, and
are in their third spring. If Mr. Shaw is correct that a Pink
of three inches and a half in the month of April is twelve
months old, which there is now from his various experi-
ments no reason to doubt, it will be found that Mr. Par-
ker's observations, commencing with Pinks from the Hodder
in April, then twelve months old, subsequently corroborate
the views of Mr. Shaw both as to growth and colour.

To return to the Salmon when in a natural state. The
adult fish having spawned, being out of condition and unfit
for food, are considered as unclean fish. They are usually
called Kelts ; the male fish is also called a Kipper, the female
a Shedder, or Baggit. With the floods of the end of winter
and the commencement of spring they descend the river from
pool to pool, and ultimately gain the sea, where they quickly
recover their condition, to ascend again in autumn for the
same purpose as before ; but always remaining for a time in
the brackish water of the tide- way before making either de-
cided change ; obtaining, it has been said, a release from

SALMON.

certain parasitic animals, either external or internal, by each
seasonal change ; those of the salt water being destroyed by
contact with the fresh, and vice versa.

The fry are observed to collect in small pools and mill-dam
heads preparatory to quitting the river. The specimen from
which the figure on the page was taken was obtained in the
Thames, in which river they are occasionally caught in the
season, with other fry of Salmonidtf, by fishermen who work
at night with a casting-net on the gravelly shallows for Gud-
geons to supply the London fishmongers.

My own specimens of the young of the Salmon having
been preserved in spirits, and the colours thereby affected,
the following description is from Dr. Heyshanv's Catalogue
before referred to, premising that some differences in colour
may be expected in specimens from different rivers.

" Length seven inches and a half; circumference three
inches and one-eighth : head dark green ; gill-covers fine
silvery white, marked with a dark-coloured spot ; belly and
sides up to the lateral line of the same silvery colour ;
back and sides down to the lateral line dusky, inclining to
oreen ; sides above the lateral line marked with numerous

o

blackish spots ; along the lateral line, and both a little above
and beneath it, several dull obscure red spots : dorsal fin has
twelve rays, marked with several blackish spots ; pectoral fin has
twelve rays, of a dusky olive colour ; ventral fin eight rays of

VOL. II. E

50 SALMONID.E.

a silvery white ; anal fin ten rays of the same colour. When
the scales were carefully taken off with a knife, the obscure
red spots became of a fine vermilion, and were nineteen in
number ; and ten obscure oval bars of a dusky bluish colour
appeared, which crossed the lateral line. In a young fry
these bars are very distinct."

Whether the river be considered an early or a late river,
the descent of the fry is said to take place much about the
same time in all. It begins in March, and continues through
April and part of May. The Smolt, or young Salmon, is by
the fishermen of some rivers called a Laspring ; and various
couplets refer to the fish, as well as to the time and circum-
stances under which the descent is made.

The last spring floods that happen in May,
Carry the Salmon fry down to the sea.

And again,

The floods of May
Take the Smolts away.

But the uncertainty of popular or provincial names is a source
of great perplexity to the naturalist. The Laspring of some
rivers is the young of the true Salmon ; but it must also be
recollected that the fry of two other species probably descend
to the sea about the same time as those of the Salmon.

The Salmon fry at first keep in the slack water by the
sides of the river ; after a time, as they become stronger,
they go more towards the mid-stream ; and when the water is
increased by rain, they move gradually down the river. On
meeting the tide, they remain for two or three days in that
part where the water becomes a little brackish from the mix-
ture of salt water, till they are inured to the change, when
they go off to the sea all at once. There, their growth
appears to be very rapid, and many return to the brackish
water, increased in size in proportion to the time they have

SALMON. 51

been absent. Fry marked in April or early in May have
returned by the end of June weighing from two to three
pounds and upwards. The London markets during the latter
part of June, and the months of July and August, exhibit
young fish varying in weight from two to six pounds. I have
one, here figured, that weighed only fifteen ounces, which,
judging from its appearance when I bought it, that it had
been to sea, is the smallest specimen I have ever seen that
had been once to salt water.

These small-sized fish, when under two pounds' weight,
are called by some of the London fishmongers Salmon-Peal ;
when larger, Grilse. These fish breed during the winter ;
they return from the sea with the roe enlarged ; the ova in a
Grilse being of nearly the same comparative size as those
observed in a Salmon, but they mature only a much smaller
number. The Grilse visit the estuary, remaining for a consi-
derable time in the brackish water, afterwards in the tide-way
above, ultimately pushing up to the sources of the tributary
streams, and, as before observed, rather earlier in the season,
in the same river, than the more adult fish.

It has been a constantly received opinion, that all the
young fish after their first visit to the sea return to the
rivers in which they had been bred ; and numbers of marked
fish are stated to have been retaken in their native rivers :

E 2

SALMONID.E.

but it is equally certain that some have been taken in other
rivers not far off. The difficulty of supposing that they
could find and return to the same spot after roving for miles
along the coast remains to be solved. That they do thus
rove for miles is proved by the thousands that are taken in
nets placed in the bays along the coast. Very many Tweed
Salmon have been caught opposite Hopetoun House on the
Forth ; and a very successful fishing there is generally fol-
lowed by a scarce one in the Tweed. It is therefore very
probable, from the remarks of Dr. Heysham and Sir William
Jardine, that if the fish happen to have roved far from the
estuary of their native river, they run at the proper season
up any stream, even the first they encounter, the temperature
and condition of which are congenial to them.

The growth of the Salmon from the state of Smolt to that
of Grilse has been shown to be very rapid ; and the increase
in weight attained during each subsequent year is believed to
be equal, if not to exceed, the weight gained within the first.
The increase in size is principally obtained during that part
of the year in which the fish may be said to be almost a con-
stant resident in the sea. That the food sought for to pro-
duce and sustain so rapid an increase of size must be very
considerable in quantity, as well as most nutritious in quality,
cannot be doubted. That the Salmon is a voracious feeder,
may be safely inferred from the degree of perfection in the
arrangement of the teeth, and from its own habits, of which
proof will be adduced, as well as from the well-known habits
of the species most closely allied to it ; yet of the many
observers who have examined the stomach of the Salmon to
ascertain the exact nature of that food which must constitute
their principal support, few have been able to satisfy them-
selves. Dr. Knox states, " that the food of the Salmon, and
that on which all its estimable qualities, and, in his opinion,
its very existence, depend, and which the fish can obtain only

SALMON. 53

in the ocean, lie has found to be the ova or eggs of various
kinds of echinodcrmata, and some of the Crustacea. From
the richness of the food on which the true Salmon solely sub-
sists, arises, at least to a certain extent, the excellent qualities
of the fish as an article of food. Something, however, must
be ascribed to a specific distinction in the fish itself: for
though he has ascertained that the Salmon-Trout lives very
much in some localities on the same kind of food as the true
Salmon, yet under no circumstances does this fish acquire the
same exquisite flavour as the true Salmon."

That they occasionally, however, take other food, is also
well known. Fabcr, in his Natural History of the Fishes of
Iceland, remarks, " The common Salmon feeds on small
fishes, and various small marine animals." Dr. Fleming says,
" Their favourite food in the sea is the Sand Eel ;" and I
have myself taken the remains of Sandlaunce from the sto-
mach. Sir William Jardine says, " In the north of Suther-
land a mode of fishing for Salmon is sometimes successfully
practised in the firths, where Sand Eels are used as bait : a
line is attached to a buoy or bladder, and allowed to float
with the tide up the narrow estuaries. The Salmon are also
said to be occasionally taken at the lines set for Haddocks,
baited with Sand Eels. At the mouths of rivers they rise
freely at the artificial fly within fifty yards of the sea ; and
the common earth-worm is a deadly bait for the clean Salmon.
All the other marine Salmon are known to be very voracious ;
and there is nothing in the structure of the mouth or strong
teeth of the common Salmon, to warrant us in supposing that
there is any material difference in their food." The follow-
ing is an extract from a letter sent me by Sir William Jar-
dine, dated St. BoswelFs, 15 April 1835 : " The fisher-
man who rents this part of the Tweed, fishing with worm one
day last week, had his hooks and tackle taken away by a fish.
He put on a new set, and again with worm in ten minutes

54 SALMONID.E.

hooked and killed a Salmon with his former hooks and bait
in his mouth. This will either prove extreme voracity, or
little sensibility in the parts of the mouth. I have often
heard fishermen mention a similar fact, but never before
knew an instance on which I could depend."

Several observers have borne testimony to the partiality of
the Salmon to the Sandlaunce as food ; and I have a record
by an angler of Salmon caught in the Wye with a Min-
now. In a prize essay published in the Transactions of the
Highland Society, vol. ii. page 392, Mr. Alexander Morrison
says, " I have taken Salmon, within flood mark, some of
which had two, and others three, full-sized Herrings in their
stomachs."

The London season of 1835 was more than usually re-
markable for large Salmon. I saw ten different' fish varying
from thirty-eight to forty pounds each. A notice appeared
in the public papers of one that weighed fifty-five pounds ;
and, from the inquiries made, there is reason to believe most
of these large-sized Salmon were sent from the Tay. Sal-
mon, however, of much larger size have been occasionally
taken. Mr. Mudie has recorded one of sixty pounds. In a
note to the history of the Salmon in several editions of Wal-
ton, one is mentioned that weighed seventy pounds ; Pennant
has noticed one of seventy-four pounds : the largest known,
as far as I am aware, carne into the possession of Mr. Groves,
the fishmonger of Bond-street, about the season of 1821.
This Salmon, a female, weighed eighty-three pounds ; was a
short fish for the weight, but of very unusual thickness and
depth. When cut up, the flesh was fine in colour, and
proved of excellent quality.

The Salmon of the largest size killed by angling, of which
I have been able to collect particulars, are, In the Thames,
October3, 1812, at Sheppcrton Deeps, Mr. G. Marshall, of
Brewer-street, London, caught and killed a Salmon with a

SALMON. 55

single gut, without a landing-net, that weighed twenty-one
pounds four ounces.

Sir H. Davy used occasionally to visit the Tweed for the
sake of angling for Salmon. This river is famed for afford-
ing amusement to the Salmon-fisher, more especially from
the middle of March to the beginning of May. " We have
heard," says Mr. Stoddart, in his Art of Angling as prac-
tised in Scotland, " that on one occasion Sir H. Davy hap-
pened by good fortune to hit upon an immense fish, weigh-
ing about forty-two pounds, immediately above Yair-bridge,
and captured him after a severe struggle. Tin's feat he
makes no mention of in his Salmonia, although certainly wor-
thy of some notice."

Mr. Lascelles, in his Letters on Sporting, Part I. Angling,
says at page 21, " The largest Salmon I ever knew taken
with a fly was in Scotland : it weighed fifty-four pounds and
a half."

Sir Hvde Parker with a rod and line killed a Salmon in

/

Sweden that weighed sixty pounds : and the Earl of Home,
the uncle of the present Earl, killed a Salmon in the Tweed
with a rod which weighed sixty-nine pounds and three
quarters.

It may be stated generally, that Salmon pass the summer
in the sea, or near the mouth of the estuary : in autumn they
push up rivers, diverging to the tributary streams ; in winter
they inhabit the pure fresh water, and in spring descend
again to the sea. The question has frequently arisen, Could
Salmon be preserved permanently in fresh water ? and from
the facts already adduced, it appears that they might, but not
without some diminution in size or quality, or both.

Mr. Lloyd, in his Field Sports of the North of Europe,
vol. i. p. 301, says, " N,^ar Katrineberg there is a valuable
fishery for Salmon, ten or twelve thousand of these fish being
taken annually. These Salmon are bred in a lake, and, in

56 SALMONID/E.

consequence of cataracts, cannot have access to the sea. They
are small in size, and inferior in flavour. The year 1820
furnished 21,817."

It remains to describe the different modes by which the
Salmon are taken ; and these are as various, and the fisheries
are as numerous and as extensive, as the value and quantity
of the fish would lead us to expect. The rights of the
proprietors, which have arisen in various ways, some by
royal grants, others by possession or occupation of the soil,
are generally farmed or hired at a rent depending on the
extent or value of the local stations. The first attack made
upon the fish is in the summer months, when the Salmon
rove along the coast in quest of the mouths of the different
rivers, in which they annually cast their spawn. " On these
expeditions, the fish generally swim pretty close to the shore,
that they may not miss their port ; and the fishermen, who
are well aware of this coasting voyage of the Salmon, take
care to project their nets at such places as may be most con-
venient for intercepting them in their course."

" It so happens that Carrick-a-rcde (the rock in the road),
between Ballycastle and Portrush, eastward of Ballintoy,
is the only place on this abrupt coast (the northern coast of
the county of Antrim) which is suited for the purpose. The
net is projected directly outward from the shore with a slight
bend, forming a bosom in that direction in which the Salmon
come. From the remote extremity of the net a rope is
brought obliquely to another part of the shore, by which
the net may be swept round at pleasure and drawn to the
land : a heap of small stones is then prepared for each per-
son. All things being ready, as soon as the watchman
perceives the fish advancing to the net, he gives the watch-
word. Immediately some of the fishermen seize the oblique
rope, by which the net is bent round to enclose the Salmon,
while the rest keep up an incessant cannonade with their

SALMON.

57

ammunition of stones, to prevent the retreat of the fish till
the net has been completely pulled round them ; after which
they all join forces, and drag the net and fish quietly to the
rocks."*

Pursuing a course along the shore and arrived at an estu-
ary, on each side of the mouth, and for miles up on both sides,
stake-nets are used, of which the engraving above represents
the form. The distance between high and low water mark
on the shore is the site occupied. The shallow extremity
of the net on the left hand in the figure, which is fixed and
supported by stakes, is placed on the shore at high-water
mark ; the deepest part of the net, at low-water mark ; the
concavity of the sweep of the net between its two ends,
called the court, being opposed or open to the flood-tide
running up the river, the Salmon which in their passage up
along-shore strike against any part of the net are conducted
by its form through the chambers into the trap, from whence
they can find no retreat.

Many fish, in the wide part of the estuaries, ascending
with each flood-tide and returning with the ebb, it is not

* Letters concerning the Natural History of the Basalts on the Northern
Coast of the County of Antrim, by the Rev. William Hamilton, A.B.

58 SALMON1D.E.

unusual to have stake-nets placed in the reverse position,
with the courts open to the ebb-tide, on purpose to meet this
disposition in the Salmon ; and they do actually sometimes
catch as many fish in their downward as in their upward
course.

The central portions of the streams, many of which are
very wide, are worked incessantly by fishermen in boats
called cobles, with long sweeping seine-like nets. Another
mode of fishing is with a net dropped into the water from
the stern of a boat, as the boat is rowed away from the shore.
Men are stationed at particular places near the river, where
the water is shallow, to watch the fish coming up ; and so
habituated are they to this, that they can discover by a
ripple on the surface of the water even a solitary fish making
his progress upward. When a fish is thus discovered, an
alarm or signal is instantly given to the men at the shicl or
house where the fishermen lodge : and immediately a boat is
rowed off by one man with great celerity, having a net at-
tached to it, and ready prepared for dropping gradually into
the water, one end of which is tied to the boat, and the other
is dragged with a rope by men on shore ; and by taking a
considerable sweep, an endeavour is made to surround the fish.
When thus discovered coming up, they seldom escape.

Higher up the river, and in parts that are narrow, weirs
or dams are built across the stream. At certain intervals
along these weirs, cruives are placed. Cruives are enclosed
spaces formed in the dam wall ; the fish enter these spaces,
through which the water rushes, as they push up the stream,
and are prevented by a grating of a peculiar contrivance from
returning or getting out. All the wide and open pools of
the river between these artificial, or any other natural con-
tractions of the stream, are fished with the coble and sweep
net.

In the work by the Rev. William Hamilton already

SALMON. 59

quoted, and in the second series of Mr. Jesse's Gleanings in
Natural History, an interesting account is related of the
assistance afforded by a water-dog to some Salmon fishermen
when working nets in shallow pools. The dog takes his
post in a ford or on a scour where the water is not very
deep, and at a distance below the net : if a Salmon escapes
the net, the fish makes a shoot clown the river in the direc-
tion towards the sea : the dog watches and marks his ap-
proach by the ripple on the water, and endeavours to turn
the fish back towards the net, or catch him ; if he fails in
both attempts, and the fish passes him, the clog then quits
the water, in which the pace of the fish is too fast for him,
and runs with all his speed down the bank of the river to
intercept the fish at the next shallow ford, where another
opportunity and a second diverting attempt occurs. I learn
also from Mr. Bicheno, that clogs are occasionally used when
trying for Salmon in that part of Glamorganshire where he
now resides. These dogs appear to take great pleasure
in the pursuit, exhibiting by turns the most patient watch-
fulness, persevering exertion, or extraordinary sagacity, as
either quality may best effect the wishes of the master.
In some parts of Wales, where the rivers are narrow, and
the Salmon are caught in a net drawn by men on each bank,
dogs are trained to swim over from side to side with the
head and ground lines of the net, as required. From a cor-
respondent in Devonshire I learn that a clever poacher at
Totness on the Dart, admitted that he had killed many Sal-
mon in the night by setting a trammel, or three-wall net, at
the lower end of the deep pools in the river Dart, and by
sending in a Dog at the upper end of the pool, which dog he
had trained to dive like an otter. The Salmon, as soon as
the dog dived, immediately clashed down the stream, and
were taken iu the trammel-net at the lower end of the
pool.

60 SALMONID.E.

Sir Walter Scott, in his novels of Redgauntlet and Guy
Mannering, has described with his well-known skill and
effect the animated scenes which occur when parties are
engaged in spearing Salmon cither by daylight or torchlight,
as practised in the North. These works are familiar to
all, and repetition would be useless. For the following de-
scription of two other modes of taking Salmon I am indebt-
ed to the kindness of Dr. Richardson.

A particular kind of fishing is peculiar to the Solway
Firth, or at least can be practised with success only where
the tide flows, as it does there, over extensive flats. The
instrument used is termed a "halve," and consists of a fun-
nel-shaped net ending in a pocket or bag. The mouth of
this net is stretched on an oblong frame about three yards
wide, to which there is attached a handle or pole. When
the tide begins to flow, a number of fishermen proceed over
the sands, and range themselves in a close line across the
current of the flood, each with the " halve " resting on the
bottom, and its pole against his shoulder : as the tide rises,
it becomes too deep for the man farthest from the shore,
who then raises his net and places himself at the other ex-
tremity of the line, where he is shortly succeeded by another
and another, the whole thus changing places continually.
When a fish strikes the halve, its mouth is instantly elevated
above the surface by the fisherman, so as to prevent its re-
treat until it can be carried into shallow water and secured.
During the ebb a similar plan is pursued in a reversed order ;
the mouths of the nets are still turned to the current, but the
fishermen now move in turn to the end of the line which
stands deepest in the water. Flat-fish are the principal re-
turns of this fishing ; but prime Salmon are occasionally taken
botli on the flood and ebb.

This kind of fishing being as yet open to all, and unfet-
tered by parliamentary enactments, there is scarcely a cot-

SALMON. ()1

tagc on the shores of the Sol way Firth where the halve-net
inay not be seen suspended. The fishermen have all some
other employment by which they maintain their families,
being mostly artisans ; and they generally consume the
produce of the halve-net at home, unless they chance to take
a fish whose value is sufficient to compensate them for the
time spent in going to market, sometimes ten or twelve
miles distant.

Somewhat akin to this is the Salmon fishery in the
Frith of Forth. Narrow stages or platforms, supported on
wooden pillars, are carried from the shore for a considerable
distance into the river. Upon each of these half-a-dozen
or more fishermen station themselves with bag-nets, which
are dropped down from the side of the stage with the current
of the tide. The owner concealed, and also sheltered by a
straw hurdle, such as is used in decoys for water-fowl, watches
his net, and on a fish being taken, instantly secures it.
When the tide ebbs, the net is shifted to the opposite side
of the stage.

" A singular method of taking Salmon is practised at
Invermoriston, in the county of Inverness, where the river
flows in a narrow chasm between two projecting rocks.
The fisherman seats himself on a cleft of this rock, right
over the cascade, with a spear in his hand, which has a line
fixed to the upper end of the shaft, similar to the practice
of fishing for whales with harpoons. Whenever the Salmon
makes a spring to gain the ascent over the cataract, the
spearman strikes the fish and lets the shaft go, holding only
by the line until the fish has exhausted his strength ; then
the spear and fish are thrown ashore by the stream, and taken
out at the lower side of the pool."

The mode of fishing for Salmon in the Severn, and other
rivers of Wales, with coracles and nets, requires a short and
concluding notice. The coracle is a small boat constructed

SALMONID.E.

with willow twigs in the manner of basket work, or with
split slips of elastic wood, both the form and the material
varying in different counties. In the neighbourhood of
Shrewsbury, the framework is covered with canvass and
painted ; in Cardiganshire it is covered with flannel, and
afterwards with a coating of tar. The boat is something
less than six feet long, and about four feet wide, with a seat
across the middle. The form of the paddle with which this
little boat is impelled and guided along is also varied : in the
Severn, the blade is square, but a more elongated blade
is the form in use on the Dec. The boat, which in appear-
ance is not unlike one half of a walnut-shell, is so light
and portable that the fisherman carries it to and from the
water on his back. These coracles,* so called, it is said,

t This word is sometimes written coriacle, and may be derived from coriagv,
hide-bound.

SALMON. 63

from corium, the hide of the beast with which they were
formerly covered, are of great antiquity : they were known in
Caesar's time, and are described by Lucan to be very nearly
the same as in our own days.

" With twisted osiers the first boats were made,

O'er which the skins of slaughter'd beasts were laid ;
With these the Britons on the oceans row,
And the Venetians on the swelling Po."

The custom of alternately carrying or being carried, as
practised by the fisherman and his boat, is whimsically
alluded to in the following lines, extracted from an old
MS. history of Shropshire.

" Some sportsmen in pursuit of prey,
Their horses on their shoulders lay ;
But seizing of their booty, then
They sit their steeds like other men.
Returning home when all is o'er,
Their steeds they carry as before."

The coracle is in frequent request with fly-fishers,*
the banks of the rivers being in some places very rugged
and steep, in others overgrown with wood to the water's
edge.

The fishing for Salmon in coracles is performed by two
men, each in his little boat, drawing between them down
the stream a single-walled trammel, called there a horn-net,
from its sliding by means of rings of horn, instead of corks,
along the top. Through these rings runs a line, the end of
which is held by one of the fishermen. By pulling upon
this running line, which is distinct from the drag-line, the
net is quickly closed when a fish strikes it. Various mo-
difications of this sort of net occur in different rivers. Cap-
tain Medwin, in his Angler in Wales, says, " We stood
on the bridge at Machynllcth for some time, to watch the
operations of two fishermen in coracles. They were about

* Hansard's Trout and Salmon Fishing in Wales, pages 145 and 184.

SALMONID.E.

to drag for Salmon ; and it must have been difficult to
preserve the balance in such frail and fragile machines.
The net was attached to the two boats, and connected
them. When all was clear, the fishermen made with their
paddles a considerable circle, and then reunited, drawing
in cautiously the sweep. They seemed very dexterous in
the management of their canoes, and perfectly unconscious
of danger. The first essay was a failure ; a Salmon of
ten or twelve pounds 1 weight leaped over the corks." Long
doubly-walled trammel-nets are now in use near Shrewsbury.

The length of the head of the Salmon, as compared to the
whole length of the fish, is as one to five : the eye rather small,
placed nearer to the point of the nose than to the posterior
edge of the gill-cover : the peculiarities of the teeth and the
parts of the operculum have been already described ; the origin
of the last ray of the dorsal fin about half-way between the
point of the nose and the end of the tail ; the first two rays
simple and shorter than the third, which is the longest and
branched ; all the other rays of this fin branched ; the last
ray double, but arising from a single origin, is only counted
as one : the posterior edge of the base of the adipose fin is
half-way between the origin of the last dorsal fin-ray and the
end of the tail, and over the origin of the last ray of the anal
fin. The pectoral fin two-thirds of the length of the head ;
ventral fin in a vertical line under the middle of the dorsal
fin, with an axillary scale two-fifths of the length of the
ventral fin itself; the anal fin commences about half-way
between the origin of the ventral fin and the commencement
of the lower caudal fin-rays, the third ray the longest, the first
two rays simple, the others branched : the form of the tail
has been already noticed. The body is elongated ; the
dorsal and abdominal line about equally convex ; the lateral
line near the middle of the body, dividing it equally ; the
fleshy portion of the tail slender, and ending in the form

SALMON. 65

of one half of a hexagon ; the scales moderate in size, oval
and thin, easily removed when young, adherent when old.
The fin-rays in number are

D. 13 : P. 12 : V. 9 : A. 9 : C. 19. Vertebrae 60.

Salmon, and indeed all the Salmonidte, like other fish that
swim near the surface of the water, cannot be eaten too fresh ;
its fine flavour, as well as its value, diminish rapidly after
capture. In London a Thames' 1 Salmon commands the high-
est price : the next is that sent up either from Woodmill
or Chris tchurch in Hampshire ; then those fish received from
the Severn, which are usually brought up by the mail from
Gloucester.

A Thames' Salmon is a prize to a fisherman, -which, like
other prizes, occurs but seldom. The last Thames' Salmon I
have a note of was taken in June 1833. The appearance of
the Common Tern, or Sea-Swallow, which on its arrival in
May wings its flight for miles up the Thames, is the signal
to the fishermen to keep a good look-out for a Salmon : the
occasionally coincident reappearance of a Tern and a Salmon
has induced some of the Thames'* fishermen to apply to the
former the name of the Salmon-bird.

Soon after the publication of the History of British Fishes
the Earl of Home did me the favour to write various com-
ments and notes on the Salmonida of the Tweed, in the
form of a letter to the Earl of Montague, dated January 10,
1837, and has since been kind enough to give me permission
to use them. The following refer to the Salmon :

" Mr. Yarrell is correct as to the time of the spawning
of the Salmon in the Tweed. I must, however, be allowed
to make a remark on this subject : that in the Tweed a very
great change has taken place within these twenty or thirty
years : a considerable portion of the breeding-fish not coming
into breeding condition till long after the time they had

VOL. II. F

66 SALMONID^.

formerly been in the habit of doing so. On the 2nd of
November, 1835, I killed, with fly, fourteen Salmon, from
ten to twenty pounds' weight, every one of which was in as
fine condition as fish caught in the end of July.

"It is singular enough that in the early part of the sea-
son, when the first show of young Salmon comes up the
Tweed, however small they may be, they are all denominated
Salmon. I have killed them under three pounds ; yet that
fish was called a Salmon, and the fishermen, I mean those
above Berwick or Norham, all allege that no Grilses ascend
the river till the second great shoal come up about the be-
ginning of June. The Berwick people are, however, now
convinced that the Grilse is neither more nor less than a young
Salmon, and accordingly call it so.

" I have always considered the Salmon as a sea fish,
leaving it for the river for the sole purpose of spawning.
That during the period they remain in the fresh water, they
are not only nearly stationary as to growth, but lose, and
rapidly top, their fine condition, and their flesh its fine and
delicate flavour. This I consider chiefly occasioned by their
not being able to obtain the more nutritious food of various
kinds which they find in the sea.

" The Salmon is no doubt a very voracious feeder at
times.

" The first Salmon I ever caught was with the minnow,
in the month of June, 1783, when I was a boy of thirteen,
fishing for Trout. That fish weighed eighteen pounds ; and
since that time I have frequently killed ten or twelve Salmon
in one day with a minnow ; the worm also is a very deadly
bait, when the river gets low in summer, and in the upper
parts of the river the worm is the principal bait used during
the whole of the spring fishing season. In the summer, too,
numbers of Salmon are caught with the parr tail.

" I have often known a Salmon Kelt take away a set of

SALMON. 07

minnow-tackle, consisting of three large hooks at least, and
caught with another set as soon as it could be put on ; but
the instances of clean Salmon being so caught are very rare.

" During the latter part of last season, 1886, there were
more Salmon in the river than I ever remember to have seen,
with the exception of one season, about twenty years ago,
and certainly a much greater proportion of very large fish by
far than I can remember.

" I observed many oversetting, (the term used when Sal-
mon jump out of the water for their own amusement,) which
must have weighed from thirty to forty pounds, and one
which I am sure must have exceeded fifty pounds at least.
I never saw so large a fish in our streams. It is a curious
fact that on both these occasions, when there were such
multitudes of fish, they would not take any fly or bait that
could be offered to them : some few were caught, no doubt,
but only here and there one ; and this was more or less the
case the whole way from the foot of Gala-water down to my
fishing-ground, where I may say the rod-fishing ends. I may
here mention that I have killed, and all with the fly, many
hundreds of Salmon weighing twenty-five pounds and up-
wards. The two largest I ever killed weighed, one forty-five
pounds, in July 1795, the other forty pounds. The latter
fish was sent to the late Duke of Buccleugh, at Bowhill.
When his old cook saw the fish he declared it was abso-
lutely impossible that any man could kill such a fish with the
rod, and to this moment does not believe I caught it. The
fish, which weighed forty-five pounds, killed also in the month
of July 1795, was a fresh run fish, with what arc called tide-
lice on it, and the finest I ever tasted.

" My uncle, my father's elder brother, caught a Salmon
with a rod which weighed sixty-nine pounds and three-
quarters.

" For a number of years, however, there has been a great

68 SALMONID.E.

scarcity of large fish in the river, few exceeding eighteen
pounds having been caught, and my present fisherman told
me he had never seen a clean Salmon above twenty pounds.
The reason for this scarcity of large fish was, first, the river
down at Berwick was over-fished ; and secondly, all the
large spawning-fish were killed during clo.se time by poachers
in the upper parts of the river, particularly in the small
streams to which the fish resort in such numbers to deposit
their spawn. Of course very few were allowed to return to
the sea, and consequently few of the old or large fish could
return to the river the next season.

" I may here be permitted to mention that in the month
of April 1795, I killed thirty-six Salmon in one day, rod-
fishing, one of which, eighteen pounds, I took home. Mr.
Yarrell may form some idea of the size and quality of the
fish when I tell him that the fisherman received twenty-five
guineas for that day's work, not including the fish I took
home. The day after, I caught twenty-six.

" In the month of June of that year, 1795, I killed in one
week, between the Monday morning and Saturday night,
eighty-two clean Salmon, all in the finest condition, and
many of them large fish, which averages near fourteen per
day, all but two Salmon.

" But, alas ! those halcyon days in Tweed are ended ; rod-
fishing is all but entirely over, and is now reduced to a few
days in spring and a few days in autumn, when the net-
fishing ends on the 15th of October. This change has been
brought about by draining the sheep farms on the hills, the
effect produced being that a little summer flood which took
a fortnight or three weeks to run off previous to 1795, is now
completely run out in eight hours. The rain which formerly
filled the bogs or sides of the hills, and which then kept
giving a constant and regular supply to the river, is now
carried off at once by these drains to the different feeders,

SALMON. 69

causing sudden and violent floods, and short as they are
sudden, so that the flood is all run off before the river has
had time to clear itself, too IOAV for a Salmon to rise, and
not clear enough to see hook, even were there Salmon to take
one. But the worst effects produced by these drains, and
consequent diminution in the volume of water, is the advan-
tage it gives to the fishermen below, near the mouth of
the river, who now hardly allow a fish to escape, and indeed
in summer the river becomes so low that it cannot clear
itself, as a quantity of filth and sludge is constantly floating
backwards and forwards with the flood and ebb tides, which
prevent the Salmon taking the river at all. Sir Humphrey
Davy in his Salmonia compares the Tweed as it was for-
merly to what it is now, to two houses, the one covered
with thatch, and the other with slate ; the one dripping for
hours after rain has fallen, the other ceasing when the rain
ceases. In short, Salmon-fishing in the Tweed is quite at an
end ; except in some particular years when there is rain
enough to ruin the crops and create almost a famine in
our harvest time, September, but that is all. What I regret
also, almost as much as the loss of Salmon-fishing, is our
Trout-fishing, that, too, is at an end. Last year, 1836,
we had not one single opportunity, and in 1835, it was much
the same ; for, of course, the draining has affected the smaller
streams as well as the Tweed itself.

" My uncle, the same who caught the seventy pound
Salmon, had a Newfoundland dog which was celebrated for
catching Salmon. He knew the Monday mornings as well
as the fishermen themselves, and used to go to the cauld or
mill-dam at Fireburn mill on those mornings. He there
took his station at the cauld slap, or opening in the clam, to
allow the Salmon to pass, and has been known to kill from
twelve to twenty Salmon in a morning. The fish he took
to the side. The then Lord Tankerville instituted a process

70

SALMONID/E.

against the dog. I had a copy of the proceedings, but I
regret to say it was lost when the old library was altered.
This case was brought before the Court of Session, and the
process was entitled, the Earl of Tankerville, versus a Dog,
the property of the Earl of Home. Judgment was given in
favour of the dog."

The vignette below represents the bones of the head in the
Salmon.

GREY TROUT. 71

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGII. SALMON1DX.

THE GREY TROUT.

J",

THE BULL TROUT, OR ROUNDTAIL.

Salmo eriox, LINNJEUS.

,, cinereus out griseus, WILLUGHBY, p. 193.

,, griseus sen cinereus, RAY, p. 63, A. 3.

,, eriox, Grey, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 394.

,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 180, sp. 46.

,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 422.

THE GREY TROUT is distinguished from the Salmon
and Salmon Trout by several specific peculiarities. The
gill-cover differs decidedly in form, as examination of the
central figure of the illustration at page 5 will show. The
operculum is larger ; the free vertical margin much more
straight ; the inferior posterior angle more elongated back-
wards ; the line of union with the suboperculum not so
oblique, but nearly parallel with the axis of the body of
the fish : the inferior edge of the suboperculum parallel to
the line of union with the operculum : the interopcrculum

SALMONID^E.

much deeper vertically ; the vertical edge of the preoper-
culum more sinuous. The teeth in the Grey Trout are
longer and stronger than those of the Salmon ; but, like
the Salmon, the two or three teeth that may be seen on
the vomer in the adult fish occupy the most anterior part
only. The tail becomes square at the end in this species
at an earlier period than in the Salmon ; and the central
caudal rays continuing to increase with age, the posterior
edge from being concave becomes convex. The Warkworth

o O

Trout and Coquet Trout of Northumberland and Durham
are the young of the Grey Trout.

The Grey Trout, in all its stages of growth, is probably
better known in the Tweed than elsewhere : it is there
as abundant as the Salmon. I have had proof of the ex-
istence of this species in some of the rivers of Dorsetshire
and Cornwall : it occurs in the estuary of the Severn, and
I have seen it from the rivers of South Wales. Dr. Hey-
sham includes this fish among those of the rivers of Cumber-
land that run into the Solway. Sir William Jardine, Bart.
mentions it as occurring sometimes in the Annan in Dum-
fries-shire. Mr. Low says it is found in the loch of Stenness,
Orkney. In Ireland this species occurs on every side of the

GREY TROUT. 73

northern portion of the island, but its distribution in other
parts is yet to be determined.

The Grey Trout appears to be the Salmo mac.ulis cinereis
caudae extremo tequali of Artedi, page 23, sp. 2 ; and pro-
bably also, as quoted, the Graia Salmo cinereus seu griseus
of Willoughby and Ray, whose specific names have pre-
cedence of ertox. This fish sometimes attains the weight of
twenty pounds ; but it more commonly occurs under fifteen
pounds 1 weight. It ascends rivers for the purpose of spawn-
ing, in the same manner as the Salmon, but earlier in
the season ; and the fry are believed to go down to the
sea sooner than the fry of the Salmon. This species affords
good sport to anglers ; and, from its great muscularity, it is
a powerful fish when hooked, frequently leaping out of the
water. It is not, however, held in the same degree of es-
timation as food as the Salmon or Salmon Trout : the flesh,
even when the fish is in season, is paler in colour, yet its
quality as food may depend on the particular stream in which
the fish has been caught. Sir Walter Scott says, " There
is an old rhyme, which thus celebrates the places in Liddes-
dale, remarkable for game :

' Billhope braes for bucks and raes,

And Carit haugh for swine,

, And Tanas for the good bull-trout,

If he be ta'en in time.'

The bucks and rocs, as well as the old swine, arc now ex-
tinct ; but the good Bull Trout is still famous." Notes (o
the Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto IV.

The following are the notes of Lord Home on this fish :
" The Bull Trout has increased in numbers prodigiously
within these last forty years, and to that increase I attribute,
in a great measure, the decrease of Salmon Trout, which for-
merly abounded when I was a boy. It is now a rare thing
to sec a Salmon Trout or Whitling, for the Whitling in

74 SALMONID.E.

the Tweed was the Salmon Trout, not the young Bull Trout,
which now go by the name of Trouts simply. The Bull
Trout take the river at two seasons. The first shoal come
up about the end of April and May. They are then small,
weighing from two to four or five pounds. The second, and
by far the more numerous shoal, come late in November.
They then come up in thousands, and are not only in fine
condition, but of a much larger size, weighing from six to
twenty pounds. The Bull Trout is an inferior fish, and is
exactly what is called at Dalkeith and Edinburgh, Mussel-
burgh Trout. Mr. Yarrell is mistaken when he says these
fish afford good sport to anglers ; quite the contrary : a clean
Bull Trout, in good condition, is scarcely ever known to take
fly or bait of any description.* It is the same in the Esk at
Dalkeith. I believe I have killed as many, indeed I may ven-
ture to say I have killed more Salmon with the rod, than any
one man ever did, and yet put them all together I am sure I
have not killed twenty clean Bull Trout. Of Bull Trout
Kelts, thousands may be killed. The great shoal of these
Bull Trout, not taking the river till after the commencement
of close time, are in a great measure lost both to the pro-
prietor and the public."

The description is taken from an adult male of thirty-two
inches in length, from which the cut at the head of this
article was drawn and engraved.

The length of the head compared to that of the body
only is as one to four ; the teeth and the form of the
parts of the gill-covers have been already described ; the
elongation of the under jaw is peculiar to the males only,
but is not in the Grey Trout so conspicuous as in the
Salmon ; the dorsal fin commences half-way between the
point of the nose and the origin of the short upper caudal

* A mistake as to season, or time of year, not of the species.

GREY TROUT. 75

rays ; the base of the dorsal fin longer than the longest of
its rays : the adipose fin large, and nearer to the end of the
tail than to the origin of the last dorsal fin-ray ; the form of
the tail at different ages has been noticed ; the length of the
pectoral fin very little more than half the length of the
head. The scales of the Salmon are thin in substance, oval,
with numerous concentric lines only : the number of scales
forming an oblique line from the lateral line up to the base
of the anterior part of the dorsal fin, following the oblique
arrangement of the scales, about twenty ; and the number
in a row from the axillary scale of the ventral fin up to the
lateral line about eighteen. The scales of the Grey Trout
are rather smaller than those of the Salmon in fish of equal
size, the number forming a continuous oblique row from the
lateral line up to the base of the dorsal fin being about
twenty-six ; the number of those forming a row from the ven-
tral axillary scale up to the lateral line, whether taking the
line that ascends obliquely forward or backward, is about
twenty-five ; the axillary scale of the ventral fin nearly half as
long as the fin itself : the anal fin nearer the tail than in the
Salmon ; all the fins muscular.

The fin-rays of this Trout in number are

D. 11 : P. 14 : V. 9 : A. 11 : C. 19. Vertebrae 59.

In six specimens out of seven, the number of vertebrse was
fifty-nine ; in the other, sixty. Fifty-nine will probably
prove to be the normal number in the Grey Trout.

The form of the body of this fish is similar to that of the
Salmon, but the nape and shoulders are thicker, the fleshy
portion of the tail and the base of each of the fins more mus-
cular : the males are the stronger in the water, but the fe-
males are the more eager for bait, and their teeth are rather
smaller. The colours of the males in the spawning season

70 SALMONID/E.

are the head olive brown, the body reddish brown or
orange brown, that of the females a blackish grey ; the dorsal
fin reddish brown, spotted with darker brown ; the tail dark
brown ; the other fins dusky brown. The general colour at
other times like that of the Salmon Trout.

The vignette below is a view of Rothbury Bridge, over
the Coquet, looking from the south.

SALMON TROUT.

77

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYG1I.

SALMON IDA.

THE SALMON TROUT.

Salmo trutta, LINNA;US.

Trutta salmonata, WILLUGHBY, p. 193.

,, ,, Salmon Trout, RAY, p. 63.

Salmo trutta, BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 20, adult.

,, schiefermulleri, ,, pt. iii. pi. 103, young.

,, trutta, Sea Trout, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 397.

,, albus, Phinock, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 180, sp. 42.

,, trutta, Sea Trout, ,, ,, ,, sp. 45.

,, ,, ,, ,, JKNYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 423.

JARDINE'S Illust. Scot. Salm. pi. 11. 3. 10. 9.*

THE SALMON TROUT is, of the migrating species in this
country, the next in value to the Salmon. It is most
abundant in the rivers of Scotland, and its flesh is excellent.
It is distinguished by the gill-cover being intermediate in
its form between that of the Salmon and the Grey Trout.
The representation on the right hand of the vignette at
page 5 is that of the Salmon Trout male. The posterior
free margin, it will be observed, is less rounded than that

* The numbers of the plates are here arranged according to the age of the
specimens figured.

78 SALMONIDJ:.

of the Salmon at the left hand, but more so than that of the
Grey Trout, which is represented by the middle figure. The
line of union of the operculum with the suboperculum, and
the inferior margin of the suboperculum, arc oblique, forming
a considerable angle with the axis of the body of the fish.
The posterior edge of the preoperculum rounded, not
sinuous, as in the Grey Trout. The teeth are more slender
as well as more numerous than in the Salmon or Grey
Trout ; those on the vomer extending along a great part of
its length, and indenting the tongue deeply between the
two rows of teeth that are there placed, one row along each
side. The tail is less forked at the same age than that of
the Salmon, but becomes ultimately square at the end. The
size and surface of the tail also is much smaller than that
of the Salmon, from the comparative shortness of the caudal
rays. The figure at the head of this article represents the
Salmon-Trout in its fourth year; the second figure represents
this species in its third year.

This fish is the White Trout of Devonshire, Wales,
and Ireland; it is found in the Severn, in the rivers of
Cornwall, and is plentiful in the Esk and the Eden,
which communicate with the Solway, where it is called Sea
Trout.

The habits of this species are also very like those of

SALMON TROUT. 79

the Salmon, and the females are said to run up the rivers
before the males. Sir William Jardine says, " In approach-
ing the entrance of rivers, or in seeking out, as it were,
some one they preferred, shoals of this fish may be seen
coasting the bays and headlands, leaping and sporting in
great numbers, from about one pound to three or four
pounds in weight ; and in some of the smaller bays the
shoal could be traced several times circling it, and appa-
rently feeding. In these bays they are occasionally taken
with a common hang-net stretched across ; and when angled
for in the estuaries, with the ordinary flies which are used
in the rivers of the South for Grilse, rose and took so
eagerly that thirty-four were the produce of one rod, en-
gaged for about an hour and a half. They enter every
river and rivulet in immense numbers, and when fishing
for the Salmon are annoying from their quantity. The
food of those taken with the rod in the estuaries appeared
very indiscriminate ; occasionally the remains of some small
fish, which were too much digested to be distinguished ;
sometimes flies, beetles, or other insects, which the wind
or tide had carried out ; but the most general food seemed
to be the Talitris locusta, or common sand-hopper, with
which some of their stomachs were completely crammed.
It is scarcely possible to arrive with any certainty at the
numbers of this fish. Two hundred are frequently taken
at a single draught of a sweep-net, and three hundred have
occasionally been counted. 1 '' They are much more numerous
in the Don, the Spey, and the Tay, than in the Tweed.

Great quantities of this Salmon Trout are sent to the
London market ; those from Perth, Dundee, Montrose, and
Aberdeen appear, from their comparative depth of body,
to be better fed, are higher in colour, and considered to be
finer in flavour than from some other localities. The Ford-
wich Trout of Isaac Walton is the Salmon Trout ; and

80 SALMONID.E.

its character for affording " rare good meat," besides the
circumstance of its being really an excellent fish, second
only to the Salmon, was greatly enhanced, no doubt, by
the opportunity of eating it very fresh. Fordwich is about
two miles east-north-east of Canterbury. The stream called
the Stour was formerly very considerable ; it communicates
with the sea opposite the back of the Isle of Sheppy, and
from Fordwich one branch going eastward, again enters the
sea at Sandwich. The ancient right to the fishery at Ford-
wich was enjoyed jointly by two religious establishments :
it is now vested in six or seven individuals, who receive a
consideration for their several interests. It was formerly the
custom to visit the nets at Fordwich every morning to
purchase the fish caught during the night. I have seen
specimens of the Salmon Trout from the Sandwich river
exposed for sale in the fishmongers 1 shops at Ramsgate,
during the season for visiting that watering-place ; and the
Salmon Trout is also occasionally taken in the Medway by
fishermen who work long nets for Smelts during the autumn
and winter. I have obtained a young specimen in the
Thames from the men who fish for Shads above Putney-
bridge in the months of June and July.

The following are the notes of Lord Home on the Salmon
Trout : " Of this excellent species I can only repeat that
in the Tweed they have almost entirely disappeared. These
latter afford good sport to the angler ; but I never saw one
above seven pounds' Aveight. Of the Phinock of the Spey,
the Hirling of the Nith and Annan, the Whitling or Whi-
ting of the Esk, all one and the same fish, I can say nothing.
There is a little fish, however, which makes its appearance
about November and December, but in very small numbers,
few only being caught, and of course with the hook. They
are called here Silver Whites, and also Black Tails, from a
dusky blue spot in the centre of the tail fin. It is a beau-

SAL3ION TROUT. 81

tiful little fish, resembling much a small Salmon-Trout, and
if not a young Salmon-Trout, I know not what they are.
When caught, the scales, which are of a beautiful silvery
whiteness, separate so easily from the fish, that on taking
it up they stick to the hand, leaving almost the impression
behind. The flesh pink-coloured, and the flavour very
good."

Dr. Mac Culloch states, that " the Salmon-Trout, or Sea
Trout, as it is called in Scotland, is now a permanent
resident in a fresh-water lake in the island of Lismore,
one of the Hebrides, and without the power of leaving
it or reaching the sea. There it has been known for a long
course of years, perfectly reconciled to its prison, and pro-
pagating without any apparent difficulty."*

The length of the head is, when compared with the length
of the body alone, as one to four ; the depth of the body
compared to the whole length of the fish is also as one
to four : the teeth small and numerous, occupying five
rows on the upper surface of the mouth ; those of the cen-
tral row on the vomer extending some distance along it,
the points turning outwards alternately to each side ; one
row upon each side of the under jaw, and three or four
teeth on each side of the tongue, strong, sharp, and curving
backwards, well calculated to assist in holding a living
prey, or to convey food towards the pharynx : the middle
of the eye situated half- way between the point of the nose
and the posterior edge of the preoperculum : the form of
the parts of the gill-cover have been already described and
figured. The first ray of the dorsal fin is short ; the second
ray long, equal to the length of the base of the fin ; the
articulation at the base of the last dorsal fin-ray exactly
half-way between the point of the nose and the end of the
tail ; the fleshy fin on the back being also half-way between

* Journal of the Royal Institution, No. xxxiv. p. 211.
VOL. II. G

0< SALMONIIXE.

the base of the last ray of the dorsal fin and the end of the
tail. The body of the fish rather deep for its length ;
the lateral line very nearly straight, and passing along the
middle of the body : the scales adhering closely ; in form
rather a longer oval than those of the Salmon, and having
about twenty-three in the usual line up to the dorsal fin, and
twenty-two below it. The fin-rays in number are

D. 12 : P. 13 : V. 9 : A. 10 : C. 19. Vertebra 58.

The upper part of the head and back dark bluish black,
becoming lighter on the sides, which are marked with nu-
merous spots, somewhat resembling in form the letter X :
these spots are mostly above the lateral line. The lower part
of the sides and belly silvery white ; cheeks and gill-covers
silvery white ; the dorsal fin, fleshy fin, and tail, nearly as
dark as the colour of the back ; the pectoral fin rather small
and bluish white ; the ventral fins white, arising in a vertical
line under the middle of the dorsal fin ; the anal fin white,
the base of the fin one-third shorter than the longest of its
fin-rays. When the Salmon Trout is placed by the side of
a Salmon, it is, in comparison, darker in colour in the body,
but lighter in the colour of the fins.

The specimens of the Phinock or Hirling of the North,
the Salmo albus of Dr. Fleming, which I have received, so
exactly resemble the young of the Salmon Trout on its first
return from salt water that I am unable to point out any
sufficiently distinguishing specific character.

The coloured Illustrations of the Scottish Salmonidte by
Sir William Jardine, Bart., represent this species, and also
the Salmon in various stages of growth.

PARR. 83

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGll. SALMONIDJE.

THE PARR.

Salmo salmultts, WILLUGHBY, p. 192.
,, RAY, Syn. p. 63, sp. 2.

, ,, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 404.

THIS little fish, one of the smallest of the British Sal-
monida, has given rise to more discussion than any
species of the genus. Abounding in our Salmon rivers,
and conspicuous for those lateral marks which are known
to be borne for a time by the young of the Trout as well
as the fry of the other Salmonidte, and this fish always
appearing of small comparative size, it has frequently been
insisted upon as the young of the Salmon ; and local regu-
lations have as generally been invoked for its preservation.

The fry, however, of the different species of migratory
SalmonideE are probably even now only known accurately
to a few persons : their great similarity when very small,
as shown at page 36, has so frequently deceived even those
who have lived the greater part of their lives on the banks
of Salmon rivers, that the fry marked by them, in their
experiments, believing them all to be what they considered
the young of the Parr, have been retaken as Grilse, Grey
Trout, Salmon Trout, and River Trout. The transverse
dusky bars from which this fish has obtained the name of
Brandling and Fingerling are family marks, borne by all the
species of the genus for a time, and it has been remarked on
this subject by the late M. Fries, the Ichthyologist of Stock-
holm, that the more natural the genus the more difficult it is
to characterise the species while young.

G 2

84

Mr. Shaw's experiments and observations, already given at
length in the article on the Salmon, have gone very far to-
wards convincing many that the Parr, as a distinct species,
does not exist. Further experiments are in progress by Mr.
Shaw and others, and it is hoped their observations will be
made public, and the Natural History of our Salmanida
clearly made out.

The vignettes below represent three states of the May-fly
and two states of the Stone-fly of anglers.

*$

s

mr

i ir '

i-i *

COMMON TROUT. 85

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGII. SALMONID.E.

THE COMMON TROUT.

Salmofario, LINN/EUS.

BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 22 & 23.
,, Goodemi, pt. iii. pi. 102.

., fario, River-Trout, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 399, pi. 70.
,, Trout, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 85.

,, ,, Common Trout, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 181, sp. 47.

,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 424.

JARDINE, Illust. Scot. Salm. pi. 5 & 12.

THE COMMON TROUT is too widely diffused and too
generally known to make any enumeration of particular
localities necessary ; it is an inhabitant of most of the
rivers and lakes of Great Britain, and so closely identified
with the pursuits and gratifications of sportsmen, that those
landed proprietors who possess streams of water favourable
to the production and growth of Trout preserve them with
great care and at considerable expense. The Trout, though
a voracious feeder, and thus affording excellent diversion
to the experienced angler, is so vigilant, cautious, and
active, that great skill as well as patience are required to

86 SALMON [Dl.

ensure success. During the day, the larger sized fish move
but little from their accustomed haunts ; but towards evening
and during the night they rove in search of small fish,
insects, and their various larvse, upon which they feed with
eagerness. The young Trout fry may be seen throughout
the day sporting on the shallow gravelly scours of the
stream, where the want of sufficient depth of water, or the
greater caution of larger and older fish, prevent their ap-
pearance.

Though vigilant and cautious in the extreme, the Trout
is also bold and active. A Pike and a Trout put into a
confined place together had several battles for a particular
spot, but the Trout was eventually the master.

The season of spawning with the Trout is generally in
the month of October, at which period the under jaw of the
old male exhibits in a smaller degree the elongation and
curvature observed to obtain in the male Salmon, of which
an instance will be shown.

Sir Humphrey Davy in his Salmonia particularly alludes
to the experiments of Mr. Jacobs, a German gentleman, on
the breeding of Trout by artificial impregnation of the ova.
The Rev. Dr. Walker, Professor of Natural History in the
University of Edinburgh, thus refers to the experiments of
Mr. Jacobs in his paper printed in the second volume of the
Transactions of the Highland Society. " He found that in
Salmon and Trouts the roe is not fecundated till after ejec-
tion. That when both are extracted from dead fishes, the
roe by mixture can be fecundated by the milt, and when
placed under water in a proper situation can be brought forth
into life. He further discovered that this artificial fecunda-
tion can be accomplished with the roe and milt of fishes that
have been dead two and even three days."

By the kindness of Mr. Pickering, of Chancery Lane, I
am enabled to insert here a translation of Mr. Jacobs' paper,

COMMON TROUT. 87

Avhich appeared in 1763 in the form of a letter to the editor
of the Hanover Magazine.

" SIR, I have thought it a duty incumbent on me to
lay my observations on the breeding of Trouts and Salmon,
as well as on other subjects, before the public. It would be
needless, and not to my present purpose, to mention every
trifling experiment which I made within the last sixteen
years, before my discovered invention ; and in twenty-four
years more afterwards, on the artificial increase of Trouts and
Salmon, perhaps I may be induced to give a more circum-
stantial account on this subject. The box, trough, or water-
bed in which the eggs, animated with the milk or sperma of
the male Trout, are scattered, needs no particular form, yet
it will be necessary to give a description how those which I
use are made.

" SECTION I.

"I.I had boxes made of various woods, but I found oak
to be the best, of about twelve feet long, one foot and a half
wide, and six inches deep.

" 2. At the head of the trough where the water is to run
in, is laid a thick board about two and a half or three inches
thick, about a foot wide, and as long as the trough is wide ;
in the middle of this board is made a hole six inches long,
and about four inches wide in the clear, with a ravet on all
the four sides of this hole, about an inch and a half wide and
deep, so as to admit a square frame, with an aperture of six
inches by four inches, or of the same size as the hole, which
frame must be covered with a brass grating of a moderate
strength, and close enough to prevent the smallest water-
shrew from passing through, otherwise all the spawn and
young fry will be in danger of being devoured by them.

" 3. Near the middle of this box or trough lay another
piece of thick board across, as long as the width of the

88

SALMONID.E.

trough, and about six inches or more wide, Avhich, when
nailed upon the edges of the side pieces, will keep them more
steady and firm.

" 4. Let the lower end board, where the water is to run
off again, be at least three inches thick, as the greatest pres-
sure is against it, have an opening cut at the top six inches
wide and four inches deep ; have a ravet made on the outside
and another on the inside, deep enough to leave at least an
inch thick of the solid board in the middle, and wide enough
to admit a frame with a brass-wired grate, like No. 2, on the
outside, which can be pushed in from the top ; the wires
should not be above a line and a half asunder, no more than
those at the top, for the same reason as mentioned before.
In the inside, opposite this opening, push a bit of board
downwards into the groove to stem the water either entirely
or to regulate its running off, according as you find it neces-
sary, or to pull it entirely out when the whole of the water is
to run off.

"5. There must be two strong covers, one between the
two cross pieces described in 2, 3, and the other below the
middle cross quite to the lower end, 4 ; both covers must be
fastened behind with strong hinges, and before with handles,
to lift them conveniently up by ; and as these boards are apt
to warp, on account of the water within and the air without,
it is requisite to have each clamped with two or three cross
pieces.

COMMON TROUT. 89

" 6. If you think fit to give the young fish more air than
what enters at the two brass grates, you may have in each
cover a hole made of the same size, and guarded with a brass-
wire grate, as 3 ; and for the same reasons, I have done this
out of precaution, but have found it, in the end, to be unne-
cessary.

" SECTION II.

" 1. Spring water out of rocks or stony ground is the
properest for breeding of Trout and Salmon ; but where it is
not to be had, other spring water may do, provided the cur-
rent is strong enough, so as not to freeze in hard frosty
weather.

" 2. If the spring has not fall enough, you must raise a
dam around it, one or two feet higher than the top of your
trough ; convey the water from thence through a pipe or
gutter, to the first grate in the opening, on the head part of
the trough, Section I. 2, of one square inch diameter, and
determine its length at least two inches above the grate ;
the remaining water from the spring can be led off sideways.

" If you have an inclination for more breeding troughs
than one, they should be fixed in the same direction as the
first, and a larger pipe must be placed to the head of the
spring, which must empty itself into smaller pipes, laid across
the water troughs, so that each trough may have its proper
quantity of water conveyed into it ; or it may be managed by
means of brass cocks ; but this is left to the choice of every
one's own pleasure, as the most convenient method will be
soon found out.

" 3. After the box or trough is properly finished, it must
be placed horizontally upon two legs of wood, stone, or
brick ; and within upon its bottom put some clean washed
gravel, about the size of peas and beans, two inches high ;
afterwards sprinkle some coarse gravel or pebbles over it, the

90 SALMONID/E.

smallest of them of the size of beans, and some larger than
hazel-nuts. This last is done, that upon the surface of the
smaller gravel many deep holes may be formed, that the
continual motion of the water may not carry away the eggs,
but that they may remain where they were at first
sprinkled in.

" 4. Then let the water run into the trough as directed in
2, and raise it higher or lower, according to the instructions,
Section I. 4, so that the water covers the gravel always one
or two inches.

" This done, you have accomplished all that is necessary
to the apparatus for breeding Trouts and Salmon.

" SECTION III.

" 1. The time of spawning begins the latter end of No-
vember, and commonly ends the latter end of January, or
beginning of February. But the spawning time of each
separate Trout continues only about eight days, as the eggs
of the female and sperma of the male become in some sooner
in others later ripe.

" Trouts meet in rivulets in great numbers, in the before-
mentioned months, and such as are ready for spawning fix
upon a place where there is large gravel, and where the water
has a quick current ; there they rush and rub their bellies
against the stony bottom, and so violent, that they often
make great holes ; and by means of this motion both female
and male get rid of their spawn and sperma.

" As a single drop of sperma contains vast numbers of
animalcula sufficient to animate hundreds of eggs, and as the
water is loaded at this time with the sperma, it is no wonder
that almost every egg becomes a fish.

" Every egg or spawn in the female comes to its perfec-
tion and ripeness at the same time and day ; but it is not so

COMMON TROUT. 91

with the sperma of the male, for the sperma, or white roe, lies
like a solid substance divided into two parts in its body close
to the back, and grows gradually liquid, and dissolves itself
into a creamy fluid, beginning at the lowest part, and dis-
charges about the sixth part of each division every day, so
that within eight days all the sperma becomes liquid and
runs off.

" SECTION IV.

"1. To breed young Trouts, according to this invention,
you must have some Trouts taken out of the rivulet in
December and January when they gather together to spawn ;
as in some rivulets their spawn becomes later ripe, you may
in the latter end of January let part of the water drain off,
by stemming the water above, that you may take as many
out as you want ; if after stroking their bellies with the
fingers, some spawn or sperma goes off, it is a sign that both
are ripe, and those must be put into a large pail or tub
for use.

" 2. Then take a wooden, earthen, or copper bowl, put
into it a pint, quart, or more of clear water ; take out of your
pail one fish after another, stroke them with the hand or
fingers downwards till the spawn discharges into the bowl :
you need not fear that it will hurt them, for they can without
danger bear great pressing ; then rub the belly of the male
Trout in the same manner till some of its milk discharges
into the water, a little is sufficient, then stir the whole
with your hand so as to mix it well, and all the eggs and
spawn will be fructuated ; then mix more clear water with
them to disperse them more asunder: after the eggs are
impregnated with the sperma they are apt to clog together,
which hurts them in the end ; it is therefore necessary to thin
them with more water, and to sprinkle them into the breed-
ing trough.

92 SALMONID.E.

" A small space will receive a great quantity of spawn, yet
they must not lie too thick, otherwise when many touch each
other too closely, they will get in a few clays into putrefac-
tion, and have the appearance as if a fine downy wool was
spread over them ; if they remain in this state they are unfit.
To prevent this, take a thin slice of wood, or a paddle about
the breadth of a hand, and paddle with it backwards and
forwards on the spot where the spawn lies too thick, to spread
by this motion the spawn asunder.

"3. It will be necessary to repeat this manoeuvre twice a
week, or at least once a week, and by paddling with your
wooden slice in all parts, you will bring the water upon the
eggs in motion ; for let the water be ever so clear, there will
adhere to the eggs in a few days a subtle filth, which lays the
foundation of their corruption, even when the young fish is
already alive in the egg ; therefore it is necessary to clean
them by this gentle means.

" 4. After the eggs have been about three weeks in this
state, one may perceive through the hard skin a divided black
spot, which are the eyes of the young fish ; the body is too
transparent to be seen with the naked eye, but after four
weeks, if you squeeze one of the eggs between your fingers,
you will see the fish make a motion and turn within, then
you perceive his form.

" At last, after lying five weeks in this state, and under a
continual current of running water, the young fishes will bore
their heads through the shell of the egg, and under motion
with their bodies will, in about half an hour, free themselves
entirely from the shell, with the yolk of the mother egg
hanging to their bellies like a small bag ; so soon as they are
out of the egg, they will still be in the cavities between the
gravel, and have then the appearance as if the head of a pin
was fastened to a reddish field pea, on account of these hang-
ing bags. For three or four weeks they receive their nou-

COMMON TROUT. 93

rishment from the substance contained in this bag, till by
degrees, as the fishes grow larger, the bag disappears, then
they begin gradually to assume the shape of fishes, and
having no further sustenance from this bag, they will seek for
food themselves. But as in so small a compass as this breed-
ing trough, there cannot be a sufficient quantity of small
insects to be found for their sustenance, they seek for more
room where they may meet with them in greater abundance ;
they follow then the current of the water, and slip through
the brass grate at the end of the box, where you should have
a large wooden tub, like a brewer's cooler, or a small clean
fish pond, covered with gravel to receive them, in which they
will grow in about six months considerably.

" SECTION V.

" To instruct my readers as much as possible, I shall add
several observations on the formation of these young Trouts.

" 1. After an egg has been fluctuated by the sperma of
the male, which slips through an invisible opening into it, it
lodges in the white liquor under the shell and round the yolk,
which last is liquid and transparent, tending to a yellowish
colour, and seems to fill up the greatest space in the egg,
except the little white round it.

" 2. So soon as this little animalcule has assumed the
nature and form of the fish, it appeareth that the yolk in the
egg is separated by a very thin skin from the outward hard
membrane.

" 3. The fish itself, except the eyes, is very transparent,
and as liquid as a little mucilaginous water, yet in shape
longish ; it lies bent within the outward harder membrane of
the egg, and round the thin skin that covers the yolk.

" 4. From this time the fish is to be considered as one
body grown to the yolk from the gills downwards to the

0-t SALMONID.E.

outlet, which is in length about the quarter part of the inward
circumference of the egg ; this yolk, which looks like a bag,
becomes the belly, and without entrails.

" 5. On this expanded belly, especially in the Salmon
Trout, are plain to be seen many blood-vessels, divided into
smaller branches, and so plain, that the arteries may be dis-
tinguished from the veins with the naked eye. And it is no
wonder, for as it has been mentioned that this hanging belly
is larger in proportion to the fish, so the blood-vessels are in
proportion expanded, and are to be seen very plainly, so long
as the fish remains in a state of transparency like water.

" 6. If you open one of these bags with a needle, a liquor
runs out of a yellowish colour, which is the nutriment of the
fish, then the bag shrinks in like an empty bladder, and the
fish dies.

" After the fish has been out of its egg about a fort-
night, a thin skin separates from the inward coat of this
hanging belly, and then it shrinks so much that it appears as
entirely vanished. After the belly is entirely shrunk to its
proportionable size, this inward skin shrinks likewise, and
becomes the intestines ; from the mouth it forms a passage
into the stomach, and continues more narrowly contracted
and formed into intestines which lay one over another to the
outlet in the belly.

" It is farther to be observed that the heads of the Trout,
when they first have the shape of fishes, have not yet all the
usual shape or form, they look as if the snout was chopped
off near the eyes ; but as their bellies shrink, their heads
grow, the mouths are formed, and after about three weeks
the heads get their proper shape.

" Lastly, I shall make a few additions, which flow from
the former observations, and are the result of experiments,
which at this present occasion I have no inclination to
publish.

COMMON TROUT. !)")

" SECTION VI.

" 1 . According to the course of nature, no T routs or Sal-
mon are generated in ponds or standing waters.

" 2. They cannot be bred there if millions of pregnant
eggs were put into them.

" 3. The young Trouts have, in the first two or three
weeks, great tenacity of life, for after the head is dead, the
body will live two days before they are quite dead ; this is to
be understood of healthy fish, kept in a current of fresh run-
ning water.

" 4. Although the young Trout love to swim with the cur-
rent within the six weeks out of their breeding trough, yet
they can be kept within them six or more weeks longer, by
particular management.

"5. They are not easily caught, on account of their small
size and rapid motion, notwithstanding they may be collected
in a pail.

" 6. They may then be put into proper water, or can be
put through a funnel into bottles, and carried to any part
provided the water don^t freeze.

" 7. The ripe eggs of a Trout, after they are four or five
days apparently dead, and gone into a kind of putrefaction,
so that the stench is intolerable, may yet be recovered and
bred out into fishes.

" 8. The eggs of Trouts will not produce fishes so long as
they remain connected with the egg stock.

" 9. The natural causes, why it is possible that a hen may
bring a live chicken into the world may very easily be ac-
counted for, from observations I have made in the breeding
of Trouts.

" 10. The natural disposition of the animalcule of the
sperma, which enters the egg, may be considerably increased.

"II. I have made many experiments, in which I found

96 SALMONID.E.

that two animalcules had slipt into the egg, and that double
fishes have been generated ; and although they had two
bodies, they had but one common stomach : how this hap-
pens, see Section V. 1.

" 12. Of these monstrous productions the most of them
were opposite to one another, and had their stomach in com-
mon between them : yet, in a strict sense, the stomach only ;
the rest of the intestines divided in about three weeks sepa-
rately.

"13. Some of these double fishes were fixed by their sides
together, when two animalcules of the sperma enter the egg in
a direct line 90 degrees one from another.

" 14. I have seen only one of these double fishes where
the backs were crossed nearest the tail in a direct angle, so
that this fish formed a kind of cross. This happens when
two animalcules enter one egg, and are placed opposite each
other from their direct line to 90 degrees.

" These monsters, 12, 13, were grown together from the
head to the opening in the belly, and that 14 had in some
degree a joined body, but the backs were distinguished one
from another.

" 15. All these kind of monstrous productions die in
four or five weeks, after their joint bag or belly is emptied ;
for as each endeavours to follow its own direction in pursuit
of food, and both hinder one another, neither of them is
capable of performing its intention; it is impossible that either
head can receive its proper nourishment, therefore they must
starve.

"16. All monstrous productions in the human and other
animal creations, with a joint stomach, are produced when
an egg is fructuated by more than one spermatic animalcule.

" 17. All observations made on the Trout, and i}s artifi-
cial method of breeding, hold good with regard to Salmon.

(Signed) " S. L. JACOBS."

COMMON TROUT. !>7

The Trout varies considerably in appearance in different
localities ; so much so, as to have induced the belief that
several species exist. It is, indeed, probable that more
than one species of River Trout may exist in this country ;
but when we consider geologically the various strata tra-
versed by rivers in their course, the effect these variations
of soil must produce upon the water, and the influence
which the constant operation of the water is likely to pro-
duce upon the fish that inhabit it ; when we reflect also
on the great variety and quality of the food afforded by
different rivers, depending also on soil and situation, and the
additional effect which these combined causes in their various
degrees are likely to produce ; we shall not be much sur-
prised at the variations both in size and colour which
are found to occur. That two Trout of very different
appearance and quality should be found within a limited
locality in the same lake or river, is not so easily explained ;
and close examination of the various parts which afford
the most permanent characters should be resorted to, with
a view to determine whether the subject ought to be con-
sidered only as a variety, or entitled to rank as a species.
In these examinations the character of the internal organs
also, and the number of the bones forming the vertebral
column, should be ascertained. The normal number of ver-
tebra? in Salmo fario, our Common Trout, I believe to be
fifty-six.

The remarks of Lord Home on the Common Trout are
as follows : " I am much inclined to think there is but one
kind of River Trout ; the large Lake Trout may be different,
but of that I can be no judge, having never caught or seen
them ; but to the variation in size, colour, and appearance of
the River Trout I can speak. It has often happened to me,
when fishing in the height of the season for Trout in Tweed,
that, out of two or three dozen I have caught, there should be

VOL. II. H

98 SALMONID/E.

five or six differing not only from the common Tweed Trout,
but from each other. The reason of this difference in my
opinion is easily explained. These Trout come down into
the Tweed during the winter and spring floods from its dif-
ferent feeders, viz. the Ettrick, Yarrow, Jed, Kale, Eden,
Leet, &c. ; all differing completely from each other. These
Trout retain enough of their original appearance to distin-
guish them from Tweed Trout, which, with the exception
of the Whitadder Trout, are the leanest and worst-flavoured
of any in this part of the country ; but, after a few months'"
stay, these Trout from the small burns gradually lose their
original marks and excellence of flavour, and become like the
common Tweed Trout in every respect. There can be no
doubt that the nature of the soil through which the different
streams flow is the cause of the difference of appearance, not
only as to colour and size, but also particularly in the supe-
rior excellence of their flesh to that of the Tweed and Whit-
adder Trout. For example, the Eden and Leet, flowing
through a rich loamy and often marly soil, afford Trout of
very superior size and quality ; their bodies beautifully
marked with bright red spots, their fins orange-coloured, as
well as their sides, and their flesh fully a deeper red than that
of the Salmon, and almost as high-flavoured, particularly the
Leet Trout, which I have killed weighing seven pounds.
The largest Tweed Trout I ever saw was one I caught with a
salmon-fly : it weighed just five pounds.

" There are two considerable streams in this county which
take their rise at no great distance from each other, the
Whitadder and the Blackadder, the latter tributary to the
former. The Whitadder from head to foot flowing along a very
rocky and gravelly bed ; while the Blackadder (Blackwater)
rises in the deep mosses near Wedderlea and the Dorrington
laws (High hills), and flows for about half its course through
mosses ; the rest of its course through a rich and highly cul-

COMMON TROUT. 99

tivated district. The Trout of Whitadder (Whitewater) are
a beautiful silvery fish, but good for nothing ; those of the
other, dark, almost black, with bright orange fins, and their
flesh excellent. Nothing can be more different than the
appearance of the Trout of these two rivers ; and surely no-
thing can be more easy than at once to see the cause of this
difference. The Trout in neither of these streams are of a
great size. In the Blackadder they would attain a large
size, say three or four pounds ; but the river is over-
fished, and poached to perfection.

" I have ascertained that the Tweed Trout, after haying
been a month or two in the Leet, change their colour, and
soon assume the appearance of those of the Leet : while,
again, not only the Leet Trout, but those of the other small
burns, soon lose their beauty and other good qualities after
they have been any time in the Tweed. I may mention that
the food in the two little rivers Leet and Eden afforded the
Trout, is the principal cause, in my opinion, of their superior
size and excellence. This food consists of small shells, cadis
bait, &c. and clouds of flies produced by the marl on the
sides of the brooks and the woods on their banks.

" Once, while fishing in the Tweed for Trout with minnow,
a Trout rose and missed. I threw the minnow over him at
least twenty times ; each time the fish rose eagerly, and made
the most unfishlike (if I may use the expression) attempts to
seize the minnow ; at last a tail-hook took hold of him, and I
got him out. It proved to be a Trout with the upper jaw
formed exactly, or very nearly, like that described in the 59th
page of vol. ii. ; and resembling as near as possible the
vignette at the bottom of that page.* This Trout was lank
and thin, but weighed a pound and a half. Unluckily I did
not preserve it."

Sir William Jardine, Bart, in a paper on the

* See page 108 of the present volume.

H

100 SALMONID.E.

published in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal
for January 1835, has described at considerable length the
variations observed in the Trout of some of the lochs of
Sutherlandshire. Other lochs abound with Trout which are
reddish, dark, or silvery, according to the clearness of the
water. Mr. Neill, in his Tour, has noticed the black-
moss Trout of Loch Knitching, and Loch Katrine is said
to abound also with small black Trout ; an effect considered
to be produced in some waters by receiving the drainings
of boggy moors. In streams that flow rapidly over gravelly
or rocky bottoms, the Trout are generally remarkable for
the brilliancy and beauty of their spots and colours. Trout
are finest in appearance and flavour from the end of May
till towards the end of September ; an effect produced by
the greater quantity and variety of nutritious food obtained
during that period. Two specimens of the Common Trout
taken early in January were unusually fine in colour for
that season of the year ; their stomachs on examination
were distended with ova of large size, which, from circum-
stances attending the capture of the Trout, were known
to be the roe of the Bull Trout. The albuminous nature
of this sort of food, which the Trout availed themselves
of, was believed to be the cause of their colour ; since other
Trout, procured at the same time from localities where no
such food could be obtained, were of the usual dark colour
of that season of the year.

The author of Wild Sports in the West of Ireland refers
particularly to the differences observed in the Trout of that
country in this 35th letter : " The fishing party had been
successful, and returned late in the evening with two baskets
of Trout, which, although of small size, were remarkable for
beautiful shape and excellent flavour.

" It is a curious fact, that the loughs where the party
angled, though situate in the same valley, and divided only
by a strip of moorland not above fifty yards across, united by

COMMON TROUT. 101

tlic same rivulet, and in depth and soil at bottom to all
appearance, precisely similar, should produce fish as different
from each other as it is possible for those of the same species
to be. In the centre lake, the Trout are dull, ill-shapen, and
dark-coloured ; the head large, the body lank, and though of
double the size, compared to their neighbours, are killed with
much less opposition. In the adjacent loughs, their hue is
golden and pellucid, tinted with spots of a brilliant vermilion.
The scales are bright, the head small, the shoulder thick,
and, from their compact shape, they prove themselves, when
hooked, both active and vigorous. At table they are red and
firm, and their flavour is particularly fine ; while the dark
Trout are white and flaccid, and have the same insipidity of
flavour which distinguishes a spent from a healthy Salmon.
The red Trout seldom exceed a herring-size ; and in looking
through the contents of the baskets, which amounted to at
least twelve dozen, I could only find two fish which weighed
above a pound.

" The dark Trout, however, from their superior size, are
more sought after by the mountain fishermen. They rarely
are taken of a smaller weight than a pound, and sometimes
have been killed, and particularly with a worm, or on a night-
line, of a size little inferior to that of a moderate Salmon.

" I never observed the effect of bottom soil upon the
quality of fish so strongly marked as in the Trout taken in a
small lake in the county of Monaghan. The water is a long
irregular sheet of no great depth ; one shore bounded by a
bog, the other by a dry and gravelly surface. On the bog
1 side, the Trout are of the dark and shapeless species peculiar
to moory loughs ; while the other affords the beautiful and
sprightly variety, generally inhabiting rapid and sandy
streams. Narrow as the lake is, the fish appear to confine
themselves to their respective limits ; the red Trout being
never found upon the bog moiety of the lake, nor the black
where the under surface is hard <n % avel. v

102 SALMONID.E.

Mr. Stodclart, in his u Art of Angling as practised in Scot-
land," mentions an interesting experiment made with Trout,
some years ago, in the south of England, in order to ascertain
the value of different food. " Fish were placed in three
separate tanks, one of which was supplied daily with worms,
another with live minnows, and the third with those small
dark-coloured water-flies which are to be found moving
about on the surface under banks and sheltered places.
The Trout fed with worms grew slowly, and had a lean
appearance ; those nourished on minnows, which, it was
observed, they darted at with great voracity, became much
larger ; while such as were fattened upon flies only, attained
in a short time prodigious dimensions, weighing twice as
much as both the others together, although the quantity of
food swallowed by them was in nowise so great."

Of four Trout fed in a stew together, three of them
weighed fifteen pounds each, the fourth attained the weight
of seventeen pounds ; but neither the food nor the time
consumed was recorded.

A writer on fishes and fishing in the New Sporting Maga-
zine for November 1840, says, page 275, "An acutely ob-
serving friend of mine, who has paid close attention to the
growth of Trout, having regard to Mr. Shaw's experiments on
Salmon, concludes that Trout are rarely visible the first year;
that they congregate with Minnows, and other fry, the
second ; are found on shallows the third summer, about seven
or eight inches long, and subsequently increase rapidly to a
pound or a pound and a half, dependent on the quantity and
quality of their food, the season, and other circumstances.
This gentleman has, for years, kept Trout in a kind of store
stream, and, having fed them with every kind of food, has had
some of them increase from one pound to ten pounds in four
years. T found, says lie, that one of the Trout I had fed
and weighed regularly for the last six years, was not improving

COMMON TROUT. 103

in size and colour; I therefore killed it. The fish is a
female, and weighed exactly seven pounds. The accompany-
ing schedule will show its gradual increase :

Date of weighing. 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840

April 1st Olb. 12oz. lib. 12oz. 31b. 4oz. 51b. 4oz. 71b. Ooz. 71b. 4oz-

October 1st 1 4 205-05 12 78 70
Littlecot, Oct. 1840."

Stephen Oliver the younger, in his agreeable Scenes and
Recollections of Fly-fishing, mentions a Trout " taken in
the neighbourhood of Great Driffield, in September 1832,
which measured thirty-one inches in length, twenty-one in
girth, and weighed seventeen pounds." A few years since,
a notice was sent to the Linnean Society of a Trout that was
caught on the llth of January 1822, in a little stream, ten
feet wide, branching from the Avon, at the back of Castle-
street, Salisbury. On being taken out of the water, its
weight was found to be twenty-five pounds. Mrs. Powell,
at the bottom of whose garden the fish was first discovered,
placed it in a pond, where it was fed and lived four months,
but had decreased in weight at the time of its death to
twenty-one pounds and a quarter.

The age to which Trout may arrive has not been ascer-
tained. Mr. Oliver mentions, that in August 1809, " a
Trout died which had been for twenty-eight years an inha-
bitant of the well at Dumbarton Castle. It had never
increased in size from the time of its being put in, when it
weighed about a pound ; and had become so tame, that it
would receive its food from the hands of the soldiers."" In
August 1826, the Westmoreland Advertiser contained a
paragraph stating that a Trout had lived fifty-three years
in a well in the orchard of Mr. William Mossop, of Board
Hall, near Broughton-in-Furness.

The Thames at various places produces Trout of very
large size. Among the best localities may be named Kings-

104.

SALMONID.E.

ton, opposite the public-house called the Angler, Hampton-
Court bridge and wear, and the wears at Shepperton and
Chertsey. These large Trout are objects of great attraction
to some of the best London anglers, who unite a degree
of skill and patience rarely to be exceeded. The most usual
mode practised to deceive these experienced fish is by trolling
or spinning with a small Bleak, Gudgeon, or Minnow ; and
Trout of fifteen pounds' weight are occasionally taken.

On the 21st of March in the present year, 1835, a
male Trout of fifteen pounds 1 weight was caught in a net.
The length of this fish was thirty inches. On the 14th of
April following, a male Trout of eleven pounds" weight,
and measuring twenty-eight inches in length, was also caught
in a net. From this second fish the representation above
shown was taken, by permission of Mr. Groves, who allowed
a drawing to be made, which was engraved for this work.

Several deep pools in the Thames above Oxford afford
excellent Trout, and some of them of very large size. I
have before me a record of six, taken by minnow spinning,
which weighed together fifty-four pounds, the largest of them
thirteen pounds. Few persons are aware of the difficulty of
taking a Trout when it has attained twelve or fourteen
pounds 1 weight, and it is very seldom that one of this size is
hooked and landed except by a first-rate fisherman : such a

COMMON TROUT.

105

fish, when in good condition, is considered a present worthy a
place at a royal table.

Among performances in Trout catching, the following
may be mentioned, as found in the MS. of the late Colonel
Montagu.

" Mr. Popharn, of Littlecot, in the county of Wilts, was
famous for a Trout fishery. They were confined to a certain
portion of a river by grating, so that fish of a moderate size
could not escape. To the preserving and fattening these fish
much trouble and expense were devoted, and fish of seven and
eight pounds" weight were not uncommon. A gentleman at
Lackham, in the same county, had a favourite water-spaniel
that was condemned to suffer death for killing all the Carp in
his master's ponds, but was reprieved at the desire of Mr.
Popham, who took charge of him, in the belief that so shy
and so swift a fish as a Trout was not to be caught by a dog.
However, in this he was mistaken, for the dog soon convinced
him that his largest Trout were not a match for him." Mr.
Stoddart also, in his Scottish Angling, page 119, has recorded
the propensities of a fish-catching dog.

I am indebted to William Thompson, Esq. of Belfast,
for a very fine specimen of the Gillaroo Trout of Lough
Ncagh, measuring twenty-two inches in length, from which
fish the representation on this page was taken. The internal

106

SALMONID.K

surface of the stomach presented an indurated cuticle, but the
parietes were not thicker than those of other Trout ; the
cavity was filled with some dozens of the Paludina impura of
Lamarck, The fin-rays and vertebrae were

D. 12 : P. 14 : V. 9 : A. 11 : C. 19. Vertebra 56.

So little difference appeared to exist between this and
English specimens of S.fario, as to induce the belief that
the Gillaroo is only a variety of the Common Trout, as
stated by Pennant.

Several loughs in Ireland produce this fish, which some-
times attains the weight of ten or twelve pounds. The teeth
are remarkably small, but in number and situation like those
of S. fario.

The figure of the Trout at the head of this article, and
the following description, were taken from a Hampshire fish
of twelve inches in length.

The length of the head compared to the length of the
head and body, not including the caudal rays, was as one
to four ; the depth of the body rather more than the length
of the head ; the dorsal fin commenced half-way between the
point of the nose and the commencement of the upper caudal
rays ; the third ray of the dorsal fin, which is the longest,
longer than the base of the fin : the origin of the adipose fin
half-way between the commencement of the dorsal fin and the
end of the upper half of the tail ; the pectoral fin two-thirds
of the length of the head ; the ventral fins under the middle
of the dorsal fin, and half-way between the origin of the pec-
toral fin and the end of the base of the anal fin ; the anal fin
begins half-way between the origin of the ventral fin and the
commencement of the inferior caudal rays. The tail but
slightly forked, and growing slowly up to square in old fish,
or even very slightly convex, as seen in the figure of the large
Thames Trout.

COMMON TROUT. 107

The fin-rays in number are

D. 14 : P. 14 : V. 9 : A. 11 : C. 19. Vertebra 56.

The form of the head blunt ; the eye large, placed one
diameter and a half from the end of the nose ; the iridcs
silvery, with a tinge of pink : the lower jaw in the Salmo-
nid(E appears to be the longest when the mouth is opened,
but it shuts within the upper jaw when the mouth is closed ;
the teeth numerous, strong, and curving inwards, extending
along the whole length of the vomer ; the disposition of the
teeth and the form of the gill-cover shown in outline at
page 3 ; but throughout the Salmonida the teeth of the
males are larger than those of the females : the convexity
of the dorsal and ventral outline nearly similar ; the colour
of the back and upper part of the sides made up of numer-
ous dark reddish brown spots on a yellow brown ground ;
eleven or twelve bright red spots along the lateral line, with a
few other red spots above and below the line ; the lower part
of the sides golden yellow ; belly and under surface silvery
white ; the spots on the sides liable to great variation in
number, size, and colour ; dorsal fin and tail light brown,
with numerous darker brown spots ; the adipose fin brown,
frequently with one or two darker brown spots, and edged
with red ; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins uniform pale
orange brown. The number of scales in a row above and
underneath the lateral line about twenty-five

Deformed Trout are not uncommon. " In 1829," says
the writer of the article on Angling in the seventh edition of
the Encyclopaedia Britannica, " we received some very sin-
gular Trouts from a small loch called Lochdow, near Pitmain,
in Inverness-shire. Their heads were short and round, and
their upper jaws were truncated, like that of a bull-dog.
They do not occur in any of the neighbouring lochs, and
have not been observed beyond the weight of half a pound."

108 SALMON1D.E.

Such a Trout from Loclidow was presented to the Museum
of the Zoological Society by the Honourable Twiselton
Fienncs : the figure is a representation of the head of that
specimen.

Mention of deformed Trout, as occurring in some of the
lakes of Wales, is also made by Pennant, Oliver, and Han-
sard. I am indebted to the kindness of P. Buckley Wil-
liams, Esq. of Pennant House, Montgomeryshire, for a notice
of the Hog-backed Trout of Plinlimmon, which is taken
occasionally in Bagail Lyn, ShepherdVpool, about one-third
up the Plinlimmon mountains, on the Machynllaith, or west-
ern side. This Trout, of which a figure is given in the Cam-
brian Quarterly Magazine for July 1833, is not unlike in
appearance that form which Perch sometimes assume, as men-
tioned in vol. i. page 5.

L. W. Dillwyn, Esq. sent me a copy of the following
paragraph, which appeared in a Cambrian newspaper of the
28th of November, 1829. " As Abraham Harries and
George Stephens, who reside at Llangattock, Carmarthen-
shire, were fishing with their nets in the river Towey on
Friday last, they caught a fine fish of the Salmon species
which had two heads and two tails. The heads are joined
on one neck, and the tails meet about the centre. This fish
is now to be seen alive in a small pool at Llangattock."

I have seen one very young specimen of our common Small
Spotted Shark with two distinct heads : the whole fish was
only about six inches long.

COMMON TROUT.

100

Malformations from deficiency in the number of bones of
the month, or of other parts of the head, are not uncommon.
One such instance in the Sea Bream is represented in vol. i.
page 110, of the first edition of this work, and I have seen
other instances among the flat fishes.

The vignette below represents a fishing cottage on the
Inny, in Cornwall, the property of Georgiana, Duchess of
Bedford.

110 SALMONID.E.

ABDOMIKAL

MALACOPTERYG11. SALMONW/E.

THE GREAT LAKE TROUT. < J7 ^

Salmoferox, JARDINE'S Illust. Scot. Salm. pi. 4.

,, lacustris, Lake Trout, BERKENHOUT'S Syn. Edit. 1795, vol. i. p. 79,

sp. 3.
,, ferox, Great Lake Trout, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 425.

THE GREAT LAKE TROUT of Loch Awe, to which
attention has lately been drawn by the various notices that
have appeared in print of the fish, as well as of the beauties
of the locality, was shortly noticed by Pennant, in the
editions of the British Zoology, as a native of Ullswater
Lake in Cumberland, and of Lough Neagh in Ireland, and
was considered to be identical with the Great Trout of the
Lake of Geneva. Berkenhout includes this fish in his
Synopsis of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ire-
land, as quoted above. Dr. Heysham records it in his
Catalogue of Cumberland Animals as the Ullswater Trout
and Grey Trout, some specimens of which were said to

GREAT LAKE TROUT. Ill

weigh between fifty and sixty pounds ; and the Rev. Mr.
Low, in his Fauna Orcadensis, mentions a Trout of thirty-
six pounds' 1 weight or more, which, besides the Common
Trout, occurs both there and in Shetland. Mr. William
Thompson of Belfast, when at the meeting of the British As-
sociation at Edinburgh in 183-i, saw a specimen of the Great
Trout of Loch Awe, and recognised it as identical with the
Great Trout, or Buddagh, of Lough Neagh. Two examples
of large size, about thirty-five inches each in length, were
lately exhibited at the Zoological Society by Mr. Thompson.*
These were obtained from Lough Neagh, where the younger
and smaller sized fish of this species are called Dolachans.
Mr. Thompson has since learned that this fish exists in
Lough Corrib, in the county of Galway, and also in Lough
Erne, in the county of Fermanagh, thus proving it, to use
Mr. Thompson's words, to be an inhabitant of the three
largest lakes in Ireland ; and it will probably yet be found
in most of the lakes of any considerable extent in that
country. Mr. Thompson has very kindly supplied me with
a young fish of this species from which the representation
below was taken, and which, differing from specimens of large
size in having the spots more numerous, may be an accept-
able addition.

* See the Report of the Proceedings of the Society for June 9th, 1835.

112 SALMON1D.E.

According to Sir William Jarcline, this fish, as far as can
be traced, seems to have been first noticed about forty-five
years since by the late Mr. Morrison of Glasgow, who
used to exhibit them to his friends as the trophies of his
expeditions. The first specimens taken in Loch Awe by
Mr. Selby and Sir William Jardine were considered as a
species undescribecl and new to Britain ; and the name of
Salmo ferox was given to it from its extreme voracity and
rapacious habits. M. Agassiz, who saw specimens of this fish
when he was in Edinburgh, pronounced it to be different
from any of the large Continental species.

" In Scotland this fish appears to be generally distributed
in all the larger and deeper lochs. Loch Awe, Loch Lag-
gan, the upper end of Loch Shin, Lochs Loyal and Assynt,
they certainly inhabit, roving indiscriminately, and feeding
almost entirely upon the smaller fish. By persons residing
on the banks they are taken by night-lines, few rising at the
artificial fly ; but they may always be taken by strong troll-
ing tackle, baited with a small Trout. They are extremely
voracious, and, having seized the bait, they will allow them-
selves to be dragged by the teeth for forty or fifty yards ;
and, when accidentally freed, will immediately again seize
it."

This Great Trout is almost entirely confined to the lochs,
seldom venturing far either up or down any of the streams
communicating with them, and never descending to the sea.
It is known to spawn in September.

The most usual mode of fishing for this Great Lake Trout
is from a boat, which is rowed gently through the water ; the
bait, as before mentioned, a small Trout, guarded by six or
eight large hooks ; the rod and line of great strength ; for this
fish is considered to be even stronger than a Salmon of the
same size, but not so active. Young fish from one to two
pounds' 1 weight rise freely to the usual Trout flies.

GREAT LAKE TROUT. 113

For the opportunity of obtaining a drawing of this fish
I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Selby and Dr.
Richardson.

The length of the head is to the whole length of head,
body, and tail, as one to four and a half; the depth of the
body not equal to the length of the head : the teeth large,
strong, and numerous, occupying five lines above and four
below, thus extending along the length of the vomer : the
free edge of the gill-cover rounded in the female, more angu-
lar below in the males ; the inferior edge of the suboperculum,
and the line of its junction with the operculum, oblique. The
commencement of the dorsal fin is half-way between the
point of the nose and the origin of the first upper caudal
ray ; the third dorsal fin-ray, which is the longest, equal to
the length of the base of the dorsal fin ; the soft fleshy fin
half-way between the last dorsal fin-ray and the end of the
caudal rays, and in a line over the origin of the last ray of
the anal fin : the ventral fins each with an elongated axillary
scale ; the fins rather small in size, but very muscular.
The fin-rays in number in this specimen from Loch Awe
were

D. 13 : P. 14 : V. 9 : A. 11 : C. 19.

The specimens examined from Lough Neagh had one
ray less in the dorsal, pectoral, and anal fins, and one ray
more in the caudal fin. For an excellent account of this
fish, see the article Angling in the seventh edition of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, from which I derive the following
description of the colours of this species, which was probably
taken from a recent specimen.

" When in perfect season and full-grown, it is a very
handsome fish, though the head is always too large and long
to be in accordance with our ideas of perfect symmetry in a
Trout. The colours are deep purplish brown on the upper

VOL. II. I

114 SALMONID.E.

parts, changing into reddish grey, and thence into fine orange
yellow on the breast and belly. The whole body, when the
fish is newly caught, appears as if glazed over with a thin
tint of rich lake colour, which fades away as the fish dies,
and so rapidly, that the progressive changes of colour are
easily perceived by an attentive eye. The gill-covers are
marked with large dark spots ; and the whole body is covered
with markings of different sizes, and varying in number in
different individuals. In some these markings are few, scat-
tered, and of a large size ; in others they are thickly set, and
of smaller dimensions. Each spot is surrounded by a paler
ring, which sometimes assumes a reddish hue ; and the spots
become more distant from each other as they descend be-
neath the lateral line. The lower parts of these fish are spot-
less. The dorsal fin is of the same colour with the upper
part of the fish ; it is marked with large dark spots ; the pec-
toral, ventral, and anal fins are of a rich yellowish green
colour, darker towards their extremities. The tail is remark-
able for its breadth and consequent power. In adults it is
perfectly square, or might even be described as slightly
rounded at its extremity : in the young it is slightly forked,
and appears to fill up gradually as the fish advances in age/'

" The flavour of this great lacustrine species is coarse and
indifferent. The colour of the flesh is orange yellow, not
the rich salmon-colour of a fine Common Trout in good
season." Pennant states from experience that it is but an
indifferent fish. The stomach is very capacious, and is al-
most always found gorged Avith fish. I have not had an
opportunity of ascertaining the number of vertebrae.

The form of the scales is decidedly different from that of
the Trout, and more circular than those of any of the migrat-
ing species : they are thin, flexible, and covered with a
delicate membrane.

I have reason to believe that this same species of Great

GREAT LAKE TROUT. 115

Lake Trout is an inhabitant of some of the large lakes of
Scandinavia.

Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, Bart, visited Sweden last
summer, ascending the Gota river in his yacht, the Siren, and
passing through the celebrated sluices of Trollhattan, cruised
and fished in Lake Wenern, visiting his friend Mr. Lloyd,
who resides near the southern extremity of this noble lake.

Sir Thomas M. Wilson brought back with him five or six
skins of the Great Trout of the Lake, which were caught by
spinning with a bleak, and must, from their large size, have
afforded some excellent diversion. The largest of these
specimens measured forty-two inches in length, and weighed
about thirty-four pounds : the next largest weighed thirty-
two pounds : the third twenty-seven pounds, besides others of
smaller size. These large Trout, and larger than these are
seldom seen, are observed to be males ; the females, accord-
ing to Mr. Lloyd, who has lived for some years on the
borders of the lake, rarely exceed twenty or twenty-two
pounds.

The number of fin-rays in these specimens averaged

D. 13 : P. 14 : V. 9 : A. 11 : C. 19.

Among other fish taken by Sir Thomas Wilson, was a large
specimen of the Ide, Leuciscus idus of authors. This fish,
which resembles our English Chub, was caught in the Gotha
Elf, a short distance above the falls of Trollhattan, whilst
trolling for Pike on a windy day : its weight was between four
and five pounds. The skins of these various specimens were
effectually preserved and mounted after they were brought to
England.

Sir Thomas M. Wilson did me the favour to show me his
numerous sketches of scenery, taken during this trip, which
include views of the Gota river, the cities and country on its
banks, the celebrated falls of Trollhattan and parts of Lake

i 2

116

SALMONJD.E.

Wenern at different points of view ; very kindly allowing me
the use of a coloured drawing, from which the vignette below,
on a reduced scale, was taken. This view represents Mr.
Lloyd's cottage on the eastern bank of the Gota ; the yacht
of Sir Thomas Wilson lying at anchor immediately opposite ;
with the remarkable and finely wooded hills of Hunneberg
and Halleberg, so much celebrated for the peculiarity of their
geological structure, bounding the distance.

LOCHLEVEN TROUT. 117

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGIL SALMON IDA'.

THE LOCHLEVEN TROUT.

Levenensis, WALKER.
,, ctcci/'er, PARNELL.

I AM indebted to Dr. Parnell for the loan of a beautiful
specimen of this Trout from which the figure was taken, and the
following account of it by Dr. Parnell is from the seventh
volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History
Society of Edinburgh.

" This fish is considered by most writers on British Ich-
thyology to be identical with Salmo fario, the Common
Trout, differing from it only in the colour of the flesh, and
in having no red spots on the sides. It is true that food and
season may have a great share in diminishing or increasing
the external markings and colour of the flesh ;* but they can
have no effect in shortening or lengthening the rays of the
fins, or in adding numbers to the crecal appendages."

" The differences that exist between S. c&cifer and S.

* James Stuart Menteath, Esq. of Closeburn, caught a number of small river
Trout, and transferred them to a lake (Loch Ettrick) where they grew rapidly ;
their flesh, which previously exhibited a white chalky appearance, became in a
short time of a deep red, while their external appearance remained the same from
the time they were first put in.

118 SALMONID.E.

fario are very striking. The pectorals in S. ceecifer when
expanded are pointed, in S. fario they are rounded. The
caudal fin in S. ceecifer is lunated at the end ; in S. fario it
is sinuous or even. S. ceecifer has never any red spots; S.
fario is scarcely ever without them. The caudal rays are
much longer in ctecifer than in fario., in fish of equal length.
In S. cacifer the tail fin is pointed at the upper and lower
extremities ; in S. fario they are rounded. The flesh of S.
ctecifer is of a deep red, that of S. fario is pinkish and often
white. The csecal appendages in S. cacifer are from sixty
to eighty in number ; in S. fario I have never found them to
exceed forty-six."

" Lochleven (of which the barren isle and now dismantled
castle are famous in history as the prison-place of the beauti-
ful Queen Mary) has long been celebrated for its breed of
Trout. These, however, have fallen off of late considerably
in their general flavour and condition, owing, it is said, to the
partial drainage of the Loch having destroyed their best feed-
ing ground, by exposing the beds of fresh-water shells, the
animals of which form the greater portion of their food.*
They spawn in January, February, and March.""

" The fish described does not appear to be peculiar to this
Loch, as I have seen specimens that were taken in some of
the lakes in the county of Sutherland with several other Trout,
which were too hastily considered as mere varieties of *S*.
fario. It is more than probable that the Scottish lakes pro-
duce several species of Trout known at present by the name
of S. fario, and which remain to be further investigated."

Dr. Richardson, who has had opportunities of examining
very fine specimens of this celebrated Trout, considers it dis-
tinct from S. fario, and has pointed out some of the differ-
ences between them : the scales are thick, and when dry

1 There are two or three varieties of S. fario in Lochleven with white and
pinkish flesh, which are much inferior in flavour to S. c&cifer. Encyc. Brit.

LOCHLEVEN TROUT. 119

exhibit a small ridge in the centre of each, not perceived in
other Trout : in its large and strong fins, and in its habit, as
stated by Dr. Parnell, of spawning in spring, it differs from
S. fario, which spawns in autumn, and resembles some of the
large species of Trout of the great northern lakes. Three in-
dividuals of the Lochleven Trout dissected by Dr. Richard-
son had each seventy-three pyloric cseca, and in one of them
fifty-nine vertebrae were counted. The largest of the speci-
mens measured twenty inches and a quarter, including the
caudal fin, and two inches less to the end of the scales.

Dr. ParnelFs description, taken from a specimen measuring
one foot in length, is as follows : " Head rather more than
one-fifth of the whole length, caudal fin included ; depth be-
tween the dorsal and ventral fins less than the length of the
head. Gill-cover produced behind; basal margin of the
operculum oblique ; preoperculum rounded ; end of the max-
illary extending back as far as the posterior margin of the
orbit. Colour of the back deep olive green ; sides lighter ;
belly inclining to yellow; pectorals orange, tipped with grey;
dorsal and caudal fins dusky ; ventral and anal fins lighter ;
gill-cover with nine round dark spots ; body above the lateral
line with seventy spots ; below it ten ; dorsal fin thickly
marked with spots of a similar kind ; anterior extremities of
the anal and dorsal fins without the oblique dark bands which
are so conspicuous and constant in many individuals of S.
fario. First dorsal fin placed half-way between the point of
the upper jaw and a little beyond the fleshy portion of the
caudal extremity of the body ; all the rays branched except
the two first ; the third ray the longest, equalling the length
of the long caudal ray ; the seventh as long as the base of the
fin ; the last considerably more than half the length of the
third, equalling the length of the middle caudal ray ; fin even
at the end (in many specimens it is concave, with the last ray
longer than the preceding one) ; caudal fin crescent-shaped,

120 SALMONID.E.

the middle ray rather more than half the length of the longest
ray ; third ray of the anal fin the longest, equalling the length
of the fifth dorsal ray ; the last ray as long as the base of the
fin, ventral fin equalling the length of the fifth ray of the
anal ; the third ray the longest ; third ray of the pectorals
equalling the length of the long caudal ray ; the last ray half
the length of the fin. Teeth stout and sharp, curved slightly
inwards ; thirty-two in the upper jaw, eighteen on the lower ;
twelve on each palatine bone ; thirteen on the vomer ; and
eight on the tongue. Scales small and adherent ; twenty-
four in an oblique row between the middle dorsal ray and
the lateral line ; flesh deep red ; ceeca eighty. The number
of fin-rays

D. 12 : P. 12 : V. 9 : A. 10 : C. 19.

The vignette represents the castle and the island in Loch-
leven.

i?zi

CHARR.

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTEllYGII.

SALMONID&.

THE CHARR.

Salmo salvelimts, LINN/EUS. BLOCK, pt. iii. pi. 99.

,, umbla, pi. 101.

,, alpinus, ,, ,, ,, pi. 104.

,, umbla, CUVIEO, Regne An. t. ii. p. 305.

,, alpinus, Charr, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 411, pi. 71.

,, salvelinus, Salvelian Charr, DON. Brit. Fish.pl. 112.

,, alpinus, Alpine Salmon, ,, ,, pi. 61.

,, salvelinus, Torgoch, FLEW. Brit. An. p. 180, sp. 43.

,, alpinus, Case Charr, ,, ,, ,, sp. 44.

,, umbla, Charr, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 427.

M. AGASSIZ, when in the North of England in the
autumn of 1834, had several opportunities of examining'
the Charr of the Northern lakes, which he declared to be
identical with the Ombre Chevalier of the Lake of Geneva ;
and in his " Remarks on the different species of the genus
Salmo which frequent the various rivers and lakes of Eu-
rope, 1 ' 1 read at the meeting of the British Association at
Edinburgh, that gentleman considered the S. umbla, alpinus,

122 SALMONID.E.

salvelinus, and salmarinus of Linnaeus as different states
only of the same fish.*

Examples of the Charr of the Northern lakes of England
agree exactly with the description and figure of the Ombre
Chevalier in M. J urine's paper on the fishes of Lake Leman,
Geneva.

In the former edition of this work I considered the Welsh
Charr distinct as a species from the Northern Charr, but I
have now reason to believe that I had not made sufficient
allowance for the variations in appearance produced by local
influence, as mentioned under the head of Common Trout, at
page 97 ; and, assisted by the published notes of W. Thomp-
son, Esq. of Belfast (An. Nat. Hist. vol. vi. p. 439), I am now
induced to consider as one species the Charr of England,
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and that our fish is also the
same species as that found in Germany, in the lakes of Swit-
zerland, and also those of Scandinavia.

Mr. Thompson precedes his notes by the following re-
marks : " The chief object of my inquiry was to learn
whether in the lakes of Ireland, and in those of Scotland,
from which I could procure specimens, the S. salvelinus of
Donovan was to be found ; and at the same time to ascer-
tain, at least for my own satisfaction, whether its characters
have sufficient permanency to entitle it to rank as a distinct
species. As they are merely crude unfinished notes that are
to follow, I shall here give the result of the investigation,
that the reader may be in possession of it without entering
into the details. In a fresh state I have had the opportunity
of examining Charr from three localities, Windermere (Eng-
land), Lough Melvin (Ireland), and Loch Grannoch (Scot-
land) ; and, either in spirits or preserved dry, from nine other
lakes in Ireland and Scotland. The examination of these

* See the Reports of the Fourth Meeting of the British Association, p. 617
to p. 623.

CHARR.

examples leads me to believe that the S. umbla of Linnseus,
and the S. salvelinus of Donovan, are but one species ; one,
however, that, like the Salmo fario, is subject to extraordi-
nary variety. In one lake the male fish can at a glance be
distinguished from the female either by colour, or by the many
characters which are comprised under ' form.' In another, so
similar are the sexes in every external character, that, without
the aid of dissection-, they cannot be determined. In size
we find the species ordinarily attain twice the length, and
several times the weight, in one lake that it does in another,
although the area of their waters is of similar extent ; indeed,
in some of the largest lakes, this fish will be found not to
attain near the size it does in some others which are but as
pools in comparison : there are, however, various influences
which account satisfactorily for such differences. In the form
of the body again we find the species, and when in equally
high condition, to be in one lake herring-like, and in another
approximating the roundness of an eel. So manifold are the
differences presented by the Charr now before me from various
localities, that it would be tedious, and perhaps useless, to
point them out. 1 '

The Charr inhabits many of the lakes of Cumberland,
Westmoreland, and Lancashire, which are annually visited by
the admirers of fine scenery. Keswick, Crummock Water,
Buttermere, Winandermere, and Coniston are among the
localities best known to produce this delicate fish. It occurs
in several of the lochs of Scotland, and also in Lough Melvin,
Corrib, Esk, Egish, Neagh, Dan, Luggelaw, and probably
many other loughs in various counties of Ireland.

The Charr is the Torgoch or Red-belly of Wales, and was
formerly to be taken either in Llanberris Lake, or in Llyn
Cawellyn, two deep lakes situated on the east and west
sides of Snowden. The waters from a neighbouring copper-
mine are said to have destroyed or driven out the Charr from

124

SALMONID.E.

Llanberris, where tliey wore formerly very numerous ; and
it was remarked that some of these fish were caught in the
sea, at the mouths of rivers on this coast, after they disap-
peared from the lake.

" Llyn Cawellyn," says Mr. Donovan, " is a vast lake of
unknown depth, sheltered on one side by an abrupt moun-
tain, which rises immediately out of the water, and in the
deep recesses at the base of which the Torgoch is supposed
to pass the milder seasons of the year in perfect security.
These fish approach the shallower parts of the lake in winter,
about the middle of December, appearing in small troops at
a short distance from the shores, and are at this season taken
in some plenty by a poor cottager who resides in the vicinity
of the lake, and derives a small annual profit from the
fishery ; this delicious fish being in much request for the
tables of the neighbouring gentry."

I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. F. W. Hope
for specimens of Charr from a locality near Barmouth in
Merionethshire, unnoticed by Mr. Donovan, but recorded by
Willughby. The piece of water is called Coss-y-gedawl the
lake of the fruitful marsh. The meaning of this term is said
to be questionable : the primitive from which it is derived
means gift, relief, or profit. By Willughby it is spelt Casa-
geddor; by others, Cors-y-gedol.

CHARR. 125

The Charr generally inhabit the deepest parts of those
lakes in which they are found, and afford but little amuse-
ment to the angler. The most successful mode of fishing

o o

for them is to trail a very long line after a boat, using a
minnow for a bait, with a large bullet of lead two or three
feet above the bait, to sink it deep in the water. By this
mode a few may be caught in the beginning of summer, at
which time they are in the height of perfection, both as to
colour and flavour. The fly-fisher when whipping for Trout,
which frequently abound in the same lakes, occasionally
takes a Charr ; but this does not happen often : they are
believed to feed principally during the night. The stomachs
of those I have examined were empty ; but Sir William
Jardine has found abundance of minute Entomostraca in the
stomachs of some of those examined by him. The forms of
two species of these very minute animals will be represented
when describing the Vendace.

The Charr are very seldom known to wander into any of
the streams by which these lakes are either supplied or
drained, except at the season of spawning, and their decided
partiality for clear water and a hard bottom is then very
conspicuous. Winandermere has two principal feeders, the
rivers Rothay and Brathay : the Rothay has a sandy bottom,
but the channel of the Brathay is rocky. These streams
unite at the western corner of the head of the lake, below
Clappers-gate, at a place called the Three-foot-brander, and
after a short course boldly enter the lake together. The
spawning season is in November and December ; about
which time the Charr in shoals make their way up both
these rivers, but invariably, before depositing their spawn,
those fish which have ascended over the sandy bed of the
Rothay return and pass up the rocky channel of the Bra-
thay.* A few Charr also spawn in the lake; and it is

* 'i lie In. ut, in their spawning season, prefer the Rothay.

126 SALMONID^E.

observed that they frequent the stony parts only which re-
semble the bottom of the Brathay.

Charr, even at the same season of the year, exhibit con-
siderable difference in colour, which has been attributed to
different causes. M. J urine, when describing the Salmo
umbla of the lake of Geneva, which fish there is little or no
doubt is identical with our Charr, says the females are
the finest in colour. Mr. Mascall, in a communication to
the Magazine of Natural History for April 1835, states that
he found the males of the Charr of Ennerdale Lake in Cum-
berland superior to the females in colour. It is not impro-
bable that the degree of colour may depend, not so much
upon the sex, as upon the constitutional vigour of the indivi-
dual fish ; a circumstance observed in the periodical assump-
tion of peculiar tints in other animals. In reference to these
variations in the intensity of the colours, several distinctions
have been supposed to exist in the Charr of our lakes, and
the names of Case Charr, Gilt Charr, Red Charr, and Silver
Charr have been applied to them : Pennant, however, states
that, after the closest examination, he was unable to discover
any specific difference.

The most common size of our Charr is from nine to twelve
inches in length ; they are said occasionally to attain the
length of two feet ; the largest specimen in my possession
measures eighteen inches. The finest coloured specimen I
ever saw was brought me by my friends J. B. Giles and W.
C. Hewitson, from Coniston Water, in the month of May.
They are considered to be in the greatest perfection as food
from July to October.

The length of the head compared to the length of the
head and body is as one to five ; the depth of the body
greater than the length of the head : the commencement of
the dorsal fin is half-way between the point of the nose and
the adipose fin ; the posterior edge of the base of the adipose

CHABR. 127

fin half-way between the origin of the last dorsal fin-ray and
the end of the longest caudal ray ; the longest dorsal fin-ray
but one-fourth longer than the base of that fin : the pectoral
fin small ; the ventral fins originate half-way between the
point of the nose and the commencement of the under caudal
rays ; the ventral axillary scale nearly half as long as the fin ;
the anal fin small, the longest ray but little longer than the
base of the fin ; the tail deeply forked, the longest rays more
than as long again as those in the centre ; all the fins of
small comparative size. The fin-rays in number are

D. 13 : P. 12 : V. 9 : A. 11 : C. 19. Vertebrae 59.

The diameter of the eye is less than one-fourth of the
length of the whole head ; it is placed at the distance of one
diameter from the point of the nose : the teeth small ; a few
on the anterior part only of the vomer ; the other four rows
above and four rows below, as usual in the fishes of this
genus. The branchiostegous rays vary from ten to twelve,
and frequently differ in number on the two sides of the head
of the same fish.

The top of the head and all the upper parts of the back
umber brown ; the sides lighter ; the whole of the belly,
pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, deep reddish orange ; the
first ray of the ventral and anal fins white ; the sides above
and below the lateral line marked with numerous red spots ;
the irides orange ; gill-covers yellowish olive ; dorsal and
caudal fins dark brown, tinged with purple brown ; the lateral
line straight, but rising gradually from the parallel of the
point of the pectoral fin to the top of the operculum ; the
scales very small, more than thirty in an oblique line from
the base of the dorsal fin to the lateral line, and as many
from the ventral axillary scale upwards to the lateral line.
In this state as to colour, this fish is considered to be the
S. safvelinus of authors.

128

SALMONID.E.

When not in fine condition as to colour, the top of the
head and along the back are pale purplish brown, becoming
lighter lower down ; the sides silvery ; the belly tinged with
pale orange ; above the lateral line are numerous small round
white spots ; irides and gill-covers silvery, with a tinge of
yellow ; pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, brownish red ; dorsal
fin brown ; caudal fin purple brown.

In this state, as to colour, this fish is considered to be the
S. alpinus of Continental authors, Bloch excepted, whose
*$*. alpinus, part iii. plate 104, appears to be a Trout.

In the autumn of 1839, T. Upton, Esq. of Ingmire Hall,
near Sedberg, put into his lake, the Lilleymere, near the
reservoir, some Charr from Windermere, each weighing about
half a pound; and, on the 23rd of August 1840, caught two
with a fly, full two pounds 1 weight each, in the finest possible
season, well fed, and beautifully coloured. These fine spe-
cimens were served at the Queen Dowager's table, at the
Rose and Crown, Kirkby Lonsdale.

The vignette is a view of Whitewell, in the forest of Bow-
land, Yorkshire.

SMELT.

129

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYG1L

SALMONID.Z.

THE SMELT.

SPIRLING AND SPARLING.

Scotland.

Osmerus eperlanns, Smelt, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 181, sp. 48.

Eperlantis Rondeletii,

,, Schonfeldii,
Salmo eperlanus,

Osmerus

CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 305.
WILI.UGHBY, p. 202.
WILLUGHBY, tab. N. 6, fig. 4.
LINN/EUS. BLOCK, pt. i. pi. 28. 2.
PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 416, pi. 72.
DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 48.
JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 429.

OSMERUS. Generic Characters. Body elongated, covered with small scales:
two dorsal fins, the first with rays, the second fleshy, without rays ; ventral fins
in a vertical line under the commencement of the first dorsal fin : teeth on the
jaws and tongue very long, two distinct rows on each palatine bone, none on
the vomer except at the most anterior part ; branchiostegous rays 8.

THE SMELT, as a British fish, appears to be almost ex-
clusively confined to the eastern and western coasts of Great
Britain. I am not aware of any good authority for the
appearance of the true Smelt between Dover and the Land's
End.* The fish called Smelt and Sandsmelt along the

* Mr. Salter, in his Angler's Guide, page 169, says he has caught very fine
Smelts by angling in Portsmouth harbour ; but there is very little doubt thai the
Sandsmelt, or Atherine, which is there abundant, is the fish alluded to.
VOL. II. K

130 SALMONID.E.

extended line of our southern coast is in reality the Athe-
rine, as stated in the account of that fish, volume i. page
229 : but the Atherine, though furnished with two dorsal
fins, and otherwise something like the Smelt, is immediately
distinguished from it by the numerous rays supporting the
second dorsal fin ; which fin in the true Smelt is without any
rays whatever, like the adipose fin of the species of the genus
Salmo last described.

On the eastern side of our island, the Smelt occurs in the
Tay, in the Frith of Forth, in the Ure on the Yorkshire
coast ; it is taken in abundance in the Humber, on the Lin-
colnshire coast, in the Yare of Norfolk of large size, in the
Thames, and the Medway. On the western side, the Smelt
is taken in the Solway Frith, and may be traced as far south
as the parallel line formed by the Mersey, the Dee, the Con-
way, and Dublin Bay.

The Smelt inhabits fresh water from August to May.
After spawning in March or the beginning of April, they
return to the sea. The ova are small and yellowish in
colour. The fry are found about three inches long, swim-
ming near the surface in shoals in the rivers in the month of
August, ascending and descending with the tide, when the
adult fish are again visiting the fresh water. Their food is
small fish, with crustaceous and testaceous animals : Dr.
Fleming says, the principal food of the Smelt in the Tay is
the shrimp.

Two modes of fishing for Smelts are in practice ; one
on the sandy shallow shores of the sea, on the eastern coast,
particularly Lincolnshire, where large quantities are taken
in spring; the other is the river-fishing within the tide- way.
The excellence of the Smelts of the Medway is well known.
The Thames and Medway fishing with small-meshed nets
for Smelts is permitted, under the jurisdiction of the Lord
Mayor of London, from the 28th of August (St. Augustine)

SMELT. 131

till Good Friday. Formerly, the Thames from Wands-
worth to Putney-bridge, and from thence upwards to the
situation of the present suspension-bridge at Hammersmith,
produced abundance of Smelts, and from thirty to forty
boats might then be seen working together; but very few
are now to be taken, the state of the water, it is believed,
preventing the fish advancing so high up. The particular
cucumber-like smell of this fish is well known ; and it is very
considerably more powerful when they are first taken out of
the water.

The Smelt is generally in great request from its delicate
and peculiar flavour. This quality, coupled with the cir-
cumstance of the fish passing six or seven months of the
year in fresh water, has induced two or three experiments
to retain it in ponds, one of which was attended with com-
plete success, and the attempts might be multiplied with
advantage. Colonel Meynell, of Yarm in Yorkshire, kept
Smelts for four years in a fresh-water pond having no com-
munication with the sea : they continued to thrive, and
propagated abundantly. They were not affected by freez-
ing ; as the whole pond, which covered about three acres, was
so frozen over as to admit of skating. When the pond was
drawn, the fishermen of the Tees considered that they had
never seen a finer lot of Smelts. There was no loss of fla-
vour or quality.

From the point of the lower jaw to the end of the gill-
cover, the length is, as compared to the body alone, as one
to three ; the depth of the body not equal to the length of
the head : the dorsal fin commences half-way between the
point of the nose and the end of the fleshy portion of the
tail ; the first ray of this fin less than half the length of
the second, which is as long as the third ; the second and
third are the longest rays in the fin, nearly as high as the
body of the fish is deep, and as long again as the base of the

K 2

132 SALMONID.E.

fin ; the two first rays simple, all the others branched : the
anterior edge of the adipose fin is half-way between the base
of the last ray of the dorsal fin and the end of the fleshy por-
tion of the tail, and in a vertical line over the middle of the
anal fin ; pectoral fins long and narrow ; the ventral fins com-
mence on the same plane as the dorsal fin ; the base of the
anal fin long, commencing half-way between the origin of the
ventral fins and the end of the fleshy portion of the tail ; the
third ray the longest, but not so long as the base of the fin ;
the other rays diminish in length gradually : the tail slender
and deeply forked. The fin-rays are

D. 11 : P. 11 : V. 8 : A. 15 : C. 19.

The lower jaw much longer than the upper ; the gape
deeper than wide : the teeth long, and curving inwards ; those
on the anterior parts of the tongue and palatine bones are the
longest : the breadth of the eye about one-fifth of the whole
length of the head, the irides silvery white ; the gill-cover
triangular ; the upper part of the head flat ; the nape and
back rising ; the form of the body elongated and slender ;
the dorsal and abdominal lines slightly convex : the colour
of the upper part of the body pale ash-green ; all the lower
parts, cheeks, and gill-covers, brilliant silvery white : the
scales oval, small, and deciduous : all the fins pale yellowish
white : the ends of the caudal rays tipped with black.

The specimen described measured seven inches in length.
Occasionally Smelts may be seen in the London markets ten
and eleven inches long, but this is an unusually large size.
Pennant mentions having seen one that was thirteen inches
long, and weighed eight ounces.

HEBR1DAL SMELT.

133

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGJI.

SALMON1DM.

THE HEBRIDAL SMELT.

Osmerus Hebridicus, Hebridal Smelt, YARRELL, Supplement to Brit. Fishes.

I AM indebted to Mr. William Euing of Glasgow for the
opportunity of making known a new species of Smelt which
that gentleman did me the kindness to send to me in the
month of November 1837. This fish is at once clearly dis-
tinguishable from our long-known and highly-esteemed fa-
vourite, the common Smelt, and is the more interesting from
the circumstance of its being at least, as far as I am aware
entirely new to Ichthyology. Mr. Euing passed part of the
summer of 1837 near Rotlisay in the Isle of Bute ; and the
Smelt in question was brought to him by a fisherman, who
stated that he caught it on a hand-line in the bay of Roth-
say, about two hundred yards from the shore, in twelve
fathom water ; that it was, though well known, but rarely
seen. This specimen measured six inches and a half; but
another example of the same sort, measuring eight inches in
length, that was taken near the same place in June 1836, was
full of roe, and when first caught the cucumber-like smell, so
peculiar to the Smelt, was in this species also very apparent.

SALMONID/E.

Unable to find any notice of a second species of Smelt in
Europe in any Ichthyological work with which I am ac-
quainted, I have little doubt that this fish has not been pre-
viously described ; and in reference to the locality in which
alone it has been as yet taken, I have ventured to name it
the Smelt of the Hebrides, Osmerus Hebridicus.

The specimen sent me by Mr. Euing, measuring six inches
and a half in length, is one inch and one-eighth deep at the
commencement of the dorsal fin, at which part the body is
deepest ; the thickness of the body compared to the depth is
as one to two, or exactly half : the length of the head is one
inch and three-eighths, and is, in reference to the whole
length of the head and body, without the tail, as one to four.
The jaws are nearly equal in length, without teeth upon
either ; but there are four long teeth upon the tongue ; the
eye is very large, the diameter almost equal to one-third of
the whole length of the head, and placed at a distance of little
more than its own diameter from the point of the nose : the
upper surface of the head is flattened, descending by a rapid
slope to the nose ; the line of the lower jaw straight ; the pos-
terior edge of the operculum rounded ; the back of the fish,
or its dorsal outline, slightly arched ; the abdominal line near-
ly straight ; the sides compressed. The dorsal fin commences
half-way between the point of the nose and the anterior edge
of the adipose or rayless dorsal fin, the longest ray nearly
twice the length of the base of the fin ; the last dorsal fin-ray
but three, the same length as the base of the whole fin. The
adipose fin is placed very near the tail ; the tail itself deeply
forked. The pectoral fin reaches to the plane of the com-
mencement of the dorsal, and its length, if turned forwards,
would reach to the centre of the eye. The ventral fin is in a
vertical line under the last ray of the dorsal fin ; there is a
slender axillary scale ; but the ends of the ventral fin-rays
being injured, the length of the fin cannot be mentioned.

HEBRIDAL SMELT. 185

The anal fin lias its last ray underneath the posterior edge of
the adipose fin ; but the rays of the anal fin are also broken.
The formula of the fin-rays is as follows :

D. 11 : P. 14 : V. 12 : A. 12 : C. 19.

The scales are large and deciduous, the lateral line promi-
nent and nearly straight. Below the lateral line for the whole
length of the body two rows of the scales are silvery white,
forming a conspicuous elongated band, like that to be observed
in the Atherine ; the rest of the body and fins dull amber
colour, the gill-covers silvery and iridescent.

136

SALMONID.F-.

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

SALMONIDJE.

THE GRAYLING.

Thymallus vulgaris, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 306.

,, ,, WILLUGHBY, p. 187, N. 8.

Salmo thymallus, LINNAEUS. BLOCK, pt. i. pi. 24.

,, ,, Grayling, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 414, pi. 72.

DON. Brit.Fish.pl. 88.

Coregonus ,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 181, sp. 49.

Thymallus vulgaris, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 430.

THYMALLUS. Generic Characters. Head and body elongated ; the sides
marked with longitudinal bands ; two dorsal fins, the first much longer than
high, with numerous rays ; the second small, adipose, without rays : the mouth
small, the orifice square ; the teeth very small ; branchiostegous rays 7 or 8.

THE GRAYLING, though abundant in some streams,
is yet a very local fish. Similar in many respects to the
Trout in its habits and wants, there are numbers of rivers
abounding with Trout that do not produce Grayling. In
the southern counties of Hampshire and Wiltshire, the
Grayling is found in the Test and both the Avons. In
Herefordshire, in the Dove, the Lug, the Wye, and the
Irvon. In Shropshire, in the Temc and the dun. In

GRAYLING. 137

Staffordshire, in the Hodder, the Trent, the Dove, and the
Wye. In Derbyshire, in the Dove. In Merionethshire,
in the Dee, between Curwen and Bala. In Lancashire, in
the Kibble. In Yorkshire, in the Derwent, the Ure, the
Wharfe, and the Wiske, near Northallerton. Dr. Heysham
says it is occasionally taken in the Eden and the Esk in
Cumberland. It is not found, that I am aware, either in
Ireland or Scotland ; Mr. Low, however, includes this fish
in his Fauna Orcadensis, and it is known to be plentiful in
Sweden, Norway, and Lapland. The peculiarity of the local
distribution in this country gave rise to the supposition that
the Grayling had been originally introduced by the monks,
as a fish worth cultivating ; many of the rivers containing the
Grayling being near the remains of great monasteries. But
two circumstances affect this solution : it would be very dif-
ficult to bring this fish alive from the Continent to this coun-
try ; and it is not found in the rivers of Kent, Dorsetshire,
Devonshire, or Cornwall, where monastic establishments were
formerly numerous.

The Grayling thrives best in rivers with rocky or gravelly
bottoms, and seems to require an alternation of stream and
pool. According to Sir Humphrey Davy, who has given a
good history of the Grayling in his " Salmonia," this fish was
introduced into the Test, in Hampshire, from the Avon;
and the former river, in particular parts, appears to suit it
the better of the two. Large Grayling, are, however, occa-
sionally taken in both these waters, which are constantly
resorted to by the southern anglers. Three Graylings,
weighing together twelve pounds, were caught by Thomas
Lister Parker, Esq. in the Avon, near Ringwood. A Gray-
ling of four and a half pounds' 1 weight has been killed in the
Test, and one of five pounds is recorded to have been caught
near Shrewsbury.

However fastidious in the quality of the water or the

138 SALMONID.E.

choice of situation in the stream the Grayling is known to
be, experiment has proved that this fish will live in ponds
that have been newly made in hard soil, or in such as have
been very recently and carefully cleaned out ; but in these
situations the Grayling docs not breed, and they will not
continue to live in old muddy ponds. The ova of this fish
are numerous, large, and of a deep orange colour ; the spawn-
ing season is in April, or the beginning of May ; in this re-
spect differing from the other SalmonidtK, most, if not all,
of which spawn towards the end of the year, and generally
in cold weather. The Grayling, however, is in the finest
condition in October and November, when Trout are out of
season, not having then recovered the effects of their recent
spawning.

The food of the Grayling, as ascertained by examination,
besides the various flies imitations of which are successfully
used by anglers, consists also of the larvae of Phryganea,
Ephemera, and Libellula ; the remains of the cases of the
former, and the tough skins of all of them, being frequently
found in their stomachs. I have found also several small
shells, examples of the genus Physa, and Neritina fluvia-
tilis. Dead shells and small pebbles are also found ; but
whether these last are taken up by the fish to serve any
useful purpose, as in the stomachs of gallinaceous birds,
or have only formed part of the cases of the Phri/ganea, may
be questioned.

Some English authors have considered the Grayling a
migratory fish, passing the winter in the sea, and the sum-
mer in fresh water. " Early in spring," says Mr. Donovan,
" they ascend the rivers, where they remain till autumn,
and then return to their former element." This may apply
to Grayling on some parts of the European continent,* but
is not the case certainly with our fish in this country, in the

* Bloch says the Grayling descends to the Baltic in autumn.

GRAYLING. 139

rivers of which it is found in the most perfect condition,
and in consequence most eagerly sought after, in October
and November. The finest specimens I ever saw were taken
in November; and Sir H. Davy states in his " Salmonia," he
had proved that the Grayling of England would not bear
even a brackish water without dying.

The term Thy mall us is said to have been bestowed upon
this fish on account of the peculiar odour it emits when fresh
from the water, which is said to resemble that of thyme ;
and from its agreeable colour as well as smell, St. Ambrose
is recorded to have called the Grayling the flower of fishes.
To be eaten in perfection, it cannot be dressed too soon.
The name Grayling is supposed to be a modification of the
words gray-lines, in reference to the dusky longitudinal bars
along the body.

It has been considered that the large dorsal fin of the
Grayling enabled it to rise and sink rapidly in deep pools ;
but this power would rather seem to be afforded by the
lai^e size of the swimming-bladder. The very large dorsal
fin, compared to the small size of all the other fins, renders
the Grayling unable to stem rapid currents : they are much
more prone to go down stream than up, and are never seen
leaping at a fall, like Trout.

In a Grayling of ten inches long, the length of the head
is to the body alone as one to four ; the depth of the body
rather more than equal to the length of the head : from the
point of the nose to the commencement of the dorsal fin is
equal to one-third of the length of the whole fish to the end
of the fleshy portion of the tail ; the posterior edge of the
dorsal fin half-way between the point of the nose and the
end of the longest caudal rays ; the adipose fin rather nearer
the dorsal fin than the end of the tail : the height of the
dorsal fin equal to half the height of the body, the first
ray short, the next five increasing gradually in length ;

140 SALMON1D.E.

the sixth ray nearly as long as the seventh, and, as well
as the five anterior rays, articulated and simple ; the seventh
ray and all the rays behind it articulated, branched, and
nearly of the same height ; the length of the base of the fin
not equal to twice the length of its longest ray : the pectoral
fin small, narrow, and pointed : the ventral fins commencing
in a vertical line under the middle of the dorsal fin ; the
ventral axillary scale one-fourth of the length of the fin :
the anal fin commences half-way between the origin of the
ventral fin and the end of the fleshy portion of the tail, and
ends on the same plane as the adipose fin above it ; the
longest ray but little longer than the base of the fin : the
tail forked ; the middle rays rather more than half as long as
the longest. The fin-rays in number are

D. 20 : P. 15 : V. 10 : A. 13 : C. 20. Vertebrae 58.

The head is small and pointed, flattened at the top : the
breadth of the eye equal to one-fourth of the length of the
whole head ; irides golden yellow, pupil blue, pear-shaped,
the apex directed forward : the opening of the mouth, when
viewed in front, square ; the teeth small, incurved, numer-
ous ; none on the tongue, and only a few on the most
anterior part of the vomer : behind the head, the nape and
back rise suddenly : the body deepest at the commencement
of the dorsal fin, then tapering off to the tail ; abdominal line
but slightly convex ; the scales rather large ; the lateral line
in the middle of the body not very conspicuous, with seven
rows of scales on an oblique line above it, and seven rows
below it ; the sides marked with about fifteen dusky longi-
tudinal bands. The general colour of the body light yellow
brown, beautifully varied with golden, copper, green, and
blue reflections when viewed in different lights, with a few
decided dark spots : the head brown ; on the cheeks and
gill-covers a tinge of blue : all the fins somewhat darker than

\YLING.

Ul

the colour of tlie body ; the dorsal fin varied with square
dusky spots on the membrane between the rays, the upper
part of the fin spotted and streaked with reddish brown.
The Grayling appears to become darker by age, and the
pectoral fins are reddish about spawning time, with small
black spots.

Switzerland also produces Grayling ; I have therefore
selected for the vignette a view of Mont Blanc.

SALMONID.E.

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYG1L

SALMONIDJE.

THE GWYNIAD.

SCHELLY. Ulswater.

Cnregonusfera 1 CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 307.
,, ,, ? NILSSON, Prod. p. 16, sp. 4.

,, ,, ? JURINE, pi. 7.

Salmo lavuretiis, Gwyniad, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 419, pi. 73.
Coregomis ,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 182, sp. 50.

,, ,, ,, JENVNS, Brit. Vert. p. 431.

COREGONUS. Generic Characters. Body in appearance herring-like ; with
two dorsal fins, the first higher than long, the second adipose ; the scales large ;
the mouth small, sometimes with minute teeth on the jaws or tongue, or both.

THE species of the genus Coregonus are numerous in
Europe, and several of them are so similar to each other, that,
without the power of comparing those of this country with
foreign specimens, an appropriation of synonymes is at least
doubtful. Some authors have even considered the Vendisse
of Lochmaben as the same with the Powan of Perthshire,
the Schelly of Ulswater, the Gwyniad of Wales, and the
Pollan of Ireland : but it will be found that this is not the

GWYNIAD. I \-'>

case ; and, from recent observation, there is now reason to
believe that the Pollan of Ireland is distinct from the two
species of Coregonus found in Great Britain.

The Gwyniad of Wales was formerly very numerous in
Llyn Tegid (Fair Lake), at Bala, until the year 1803, when
Pike were put into the lake, which have very much reduced
their numbers. Pennant considered the Gwyniad as the
same with the C.fera of the Lake of Geneva, following in
this the opinion of Willughby ; and in the manuscript notes
of a fishing tour in Wales, by two excellent fishermen, who
had also pursued their amusement abroad, an opinion is given
to the same effect. Our Gwyniad bears a close resemblance
to the figure of C. fera in the illustrations to M. Jurine's
Memoir on the Fishes of Lake Leman : his description I
have not seen. The British fish accords also with the short
description of the C. fera in Professor Nilsson's Prodromus
of the Fishes of Scandinavia.

The Gwyniad is very numerous in Ulswater and other
large lakes of Cumberland, where, on account of its large
scales, it is called the Schelly. Dr. Heysham, the natural
historian of Cumberland, and Pennant also, in his British
Zoology, have recorded that many hundreds are sometimes
taken at a single draught of the net. They are gregarious,
and approach the shore in vast shoals in spring and summer.
Pennant says, they die very soon after they are taken out of
the water, are insipid in taste, and must be eaten soon, for
they will not keep long. The poorer classes, who consider,
and even call them the Fresh-water Herring, preserve them
with salt. The fish is not unlike a Herring in appearance,
and the Welsh term Gwyniad has reference to their silvery
white colour. They spawn towards the end of the year, and
the most usual length of the adult fish is from ten to twelve
inches.

The length of the head is about one-fifth of the whole

SALMONID.E.

length of the fish ; the depth of the body rather exceeding
the length of the head : the dorsal fin commences about half-
way between the point of the nose and the end of the fleshy
portion of the tail ; its longest ray one-third longer than the
base of the fin, and equal to three-fourths of the depth of the
body : the adipose fin rather nearer the end of the tail than
the posterior edge of the dorsal fin ; the pectoral fins narrow,
pointed, and a little shorter than the head, inserted low down
on the body : the ventral fins arising in a line under the
middle of the dorsal fin ; the ventral axillary scale one- third
the length of the fin : the anal fin commences half-way be-
tween the origin of the ventral fin and the end of the short
middle rays of the tail, and ends on the same plane with the
adipose fin ; the longest anterior ray about equal to the length
of the base of the fin ; the other rays diminishing gradually :
the tail forked. The fin-rays in number are

D. 13 : P. 17 : V. 11 : A. 16 : C. 19.

The head is triangular ; the snout rather truncated ; the jaws
nearly equal, the lower just shutting within the upper; a very
few minute teeth on the tongue only ; the eyes large, the
breadth more than one-fourth of the length of the head ; the
form of the body very like that of a Herring ; the dorsal and
abdominal lines but moderately convex ; the scales large ; the
lateral line very near the middle of the side. The irides
silvery, the pupils dark blue ; the upper part of the head and
back dusky blue, becoming lighter down the sides, with a
tinge of yellow ; cheeks, gill-covers, lower part of the sides
and belly silvery white ; all the fins more or less tinged with
dusky blue, particularly towards the edges.

According to Mr. Thompson of Belfast,* the Pollan, or
Lough Neagh Coregomis, differs from the Gwyniad of Bala

* Reports of Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1835, p. 77.

GWYNIAD.

145

in the following particulars : in the snout not being produced;
in the dorsal fin being nearer the head ; in having fewer rays
in the anal fin, and in its position being rather more distant
from the tail ; in the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins being of
less dimensions ; in the third ray of the pectoral fin being the
longest, the first being of the greatest length in the Gwyniad ;
and in the ventral axillary scale being longer.

The vignette represents the bones of the head in the genus
Coregonus.

VOL. II.

146

SALMON ID.E.

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

SALMONID^E.

THE VENDACE, OR VENDIS.

Cvregonus Willughbii, Vendace, JARDINE, Illust. Scot. Salm. pi. 6.

,, ,, Vangis and Juvangis, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 420.

,, ,, Vendace, KNOX, Trans. R. S. E. vol. xii. p. 503.

,, Martenula, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 432.

BUT little is known of this delicate fish beyond what has
been published by Sir William Jardine, Bart, in the third
volume of the Edinburgh Journal of Natural and Geographi-
cal Science, and by Dr. Knox, in the Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. Sir William Jardine, in his
original communication, considered this species very closely
allied to the Salmo albula of Linnceus ; but the difficulty of
fixing synonymes satisfactorily from the short descriptions of
the older authors has since led to a request from him that
the name of our distinguished British naturalist should be
attached to it, and I with pleasure adopt the suggestion. I
believe, however, that our Vendace is the C. Martenula and
C. albula of Continental authors.

In Scotland the Vendace is only known in the lochs in the
neighbourhood of Lochmaben, in Dumfries-shire ; and in this
district some traditions and curious opinions exist regarding it.

VENDACE. 147

" The Vendace is well known," says Sir William Jardinc,
" to almost every person in the neighbourhood ; and if,
among the lower classes, fish should at any time form the
subject of conversation, the Vendace is immediately men-
tioned, and the loch regarded with pride as possessing some-
thing of great curiosity to visiters, and which is thought not
elsewhere to exist. The story that it was introduced into
these lochs by the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, as
mentioned by Pennant in his description of the Gwyniad,
and it is likely that his information was derived from this
vicinity, is still in circulation. That the fish was intro-
duced from some Continental lake, I have little doubt ; but
would rather attribute the circumstance to some of the reli-
gious establishments which at one time prevailed in the
neighbourhood, and which were well known to pay considera-
ble attention both to the table and the cellar. Mary would
scarcely prefer a lake so far from even her temporary residence
for the preservation of a luxury of troublesome introduction,
and leave her other fish-ponds destitute of such a delicacy."

" An idea prevails that this fish, if once taken from the
water, will die, and that an immediate return will be of no
avail ; and it is also believed that it will not exist in any
other water except that of the castle loch. These are of
course opinions which have gradually, from different circum-
stances, gained weight, and have at last been received as
facts. The fish is of extreme delicacy ; a circumstance which
may have given rise to the first notion ; and the introduction
of it must have taken place by means of the spawn : the fish
themselves, I am confident, could not be transported alive
even a few miles. As to the second opinion, they are not
confined to the castle loch, but are found in several others,
some of which have no communication with that where they
are thought to be peculiar."

" In general habits the Vendace nearly resemble the

SALMONID.E.

Gwyniad, and indeed most of the allied species of the genus.
They swim in large shoals ; and during warm and clear wea-
ther retire to the depth of the lakes, apparently sensible of
the increased temperature. They are only taken with nets,
a proper bait not being yet discovered ; and the fact that
little excrement is found in their intestines has given rise to
another tradition, that they are able to subsist without food.
They are most successfully taken during a dull day and
sharp breeze, approaching near to the edges of the loch, and
swimming in a direction contrary to the wind. They spawn
about the commencement of November, and at this time
congregate in large shoals, frequently rising to the surface of
ihe water, in the manner of the common Herring, and
making a similar noise by their rise and fall to and from the
surface. The sound may be distinctly heard, and the direc-
tion of the shoal perceived, during a calm and clear evening.
They are very productive. The lochs abound with Pike,
of which they are a favourite food ; but their quantity seems
in no degree to be diminished, notwithstanding that immense
numbers must be destroyed. They are considered a great
delicacy, resembling the Smelt a good deal in flavour ; and,
though certainly very palatable, the relish may be somewhat
heightened by the difficulty of always procuring a supply.
During the summer, fishing-parties are frequent, introducing
some stranger friend to this Lochmaben Whitebait ; and a
club, consisting of between twenty and thirty of the neigh-
bouring gentry, possessing a private net, &c. meet annually
in July, to enjoy the sport of fishing, and feasting upon this
luxury."

While enjoying the hospitality of Sir William Jardine in
the autumn of 1840, I had the gratification of seeing some
Vendace caught in the morning, and afterwards partaking of
them at dinner. I considered the fish quite entitled to all
their character for excellence.

VENDACE. 149

The circumstance that this fish is never caught by anglers
made a knowledge of its food a matter of interest in several
points of view. Dr. Knox ascertained that this consists
principally of very minute entomostracous animals, not exceed-
ing seven-twelfths of a line in size. I have been favoured
with specimens of the Vendace by Sir William Jardine and
T. S. Bushnan, Esq. which have afforded me several oppor-
tunities of examining the contents of the stomach and intes-
tines. The contained mass, which is frequently in considera-
ble quantity, has a brownish yellow colour, appearing slightly
granulated to the unassisted eye. A very small portion being
placed on a slip of glass, and agitated gently in conjunction
with a drop of water, which separates the particles, on placing
the slip of glass under a good microscope, two species in
various states of perfection are almost constantly found. The
vignette at the end of the description of this fish represents
these two forms. The first and second figure on the left hand
are a back and side view of a species of the genus Lynceus of
Mliller and others ; the third and fourth figures are a back
and side view of a species of Cyclops of Miiller. On one
occasion, I found a very small coleopterous insect, the tough
skin of a red worm not much thicker than fine thread, and
what appeared to be a portion of the wing of a dipterous
insect.

Dr. Knox found that the females of the Vendace were
more numerous as well as larger than the males, frequently
exceeding eight inches in length; the males not measuring
more than seven inches, which was the length of the specimen
here described. They are seldom seen of larger size.

The length of the head compared to that of the body only
was as two to seven ; the depth of the body at the com-
mencement of the dorsal fin not quite equal to one-fourth of
the length of the body without the caudal rays : the body
elegantly shaped ; the convexity of the dorsal and abdominal

150

SALMONID.E.

lines about equal ; the lateral line passes straight along the
middle of the side, with six rows of scales in an oblique line
between the dorsal fin and the lateral line, and the same num-
ber between the line and the ventral axillary scale : the
dorsal fin commences half-way between the nose and the origin
of the upper caudal rays ; the longest ray double the length
of the base of the fin : the adipose fin very near the tail ; pec-
toral fin not quite equal to the length of the head ; the ventral
fin commences in a line under the first ray of the dorsal fin ;
the ventral axillary scale one-third the length of the fin ; the
anal fin commences half-way between the origin of the ventral
fin and the end of the fleshy portion of the tail ; the longest
ray about equal to the base of the fin : the tail deeply forked ;
all the fins large. The fin-rays in number are

U. 11 : P. 16 : V. 11 : A. 15 : C. 19. Vertebrae 52.

In form the under jaw is the longest ; the mouth small,
the opening square ; a few very minute teeth on the tongue
only : the breadth of the eye one-third of the whole head,
the posterior part of the iris the broadest ; the colour silvery
tinged with yellow, the pupil blue : the upper parts of the
body of a delicate greenish brown, shading gradually towards
the belly into a clear silver ; the dorsal fin a greenish brown ;
the lower fins are all bluish white.

POWAN.

151

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

SALMONID.Z.

THE POWAN.

Coregonus La Cepedei,

The Powan, PARNELL, Annals of Nat.

Hist. vol. i. p. 161.

,, clupeoides, The Herring-like Coregonus, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. des

Poiss. 8vo. edit. torn. x.
p. 386.

DR. PARNELL, whose Ichthyological investigations in
Scotland have not been confined to the " Fishes of the
Forth " only, has described in the first volume of the Annals
of Natural History a species of Coregonus, to which he has
attached the name of La Cepedei ; this species having been first
noticed, or perhaps distinguished, by this celebrated French
naturalist. This fish is found in Loch Lomond, one of the
largest and most picturesque lakes in the west of Scotland.
It is not unlikely that some of the species of Coregoni found
in the northern lakes of England, Scotland, and Ireland, may
exist in the lakes of Scandinavia; M. Nilsson, Professor of
Natural History at Lund, describing in his Prodromus Ich-
thyologia Scandinavicee no less than eight species as belong-
ing to that country : but from a certain general agreement in

152 SALMONID.E.

the characters of the Coregoni, it is difficult to refer our species
with certainty in the absence of foreign specimens with which
to make actual comparison.

It appears, on reference to his Natural History of Fishes,
that Lacepede became aware of the existence of this Coregonus
in Loch Lomond by the communication of M. Noel, who
visited Scotland in August 1802. Although some little
differences appear in the descriptions of this fish, as given by
Lacepede and Dr. Parnell, there is little doubt that both
authors had the same species under consideration. This fish
bears, as observed by Dr. Parnell, considerable resemblance
in appearance, and also in the number of its fin-rays, to the
Salmo Wartmanni of Bloch, part 3, tab. 105, a species of
Coregonus, named after a learned physician, who first de-
scribed it. It is found in some of the lakes of Switzerland,
and also in lake Constance; but Lacepede, to whom the
Wartmanni was known, considered the Loch Lomond Core-
gonus distinct. It is thus described by Dr. Parnell, from a
specimen fourteen inches in length.

" Head long and narrow, of an oval form, about one-fifth
the length of the whole fish, caudal fin included ; depth of
the body between the dorsal and ventral fins less than the
length of the head. Colour of the back and sides dusky
blue, with the margin of each scale well defined by a number
of minute dark specks ; belly dirty white ; the lower portion
of the dorsal, pectoral, ventral, and anal fins dark bluish grey;
iricles silvery, pupils blue. First ray of the dorsal fin com-
mencing half-way between the point of the snout and the
base of the short lateral caudal rays ; the first ray simple, the
rest branched; the second and third the longest, equalling
the length of the pectorals ; the seventh ray as long as the
base of the fin ; the last ray one-third the length of the
fourth ; adipose fin large and thin, situate midway between
the base of the fourth dorsal fin-ray and the tip of the long

POWAN. 153

upper ray of the caudal fin ; anal fin commencing half-way
between the origin of the ventral fin and the base of the
middle caudal ray ; the first ray simple, the rest branched ;
the second rather the longest ; the third as long as the base
of the fin ; the last ray half the length of the fifth ; ventral
fins commencing under the middle of the dorsal ; the third
ray the longest, equalling the length of the same ray of the
dorsal ; pectorals long and pointed, one-sixth the length of
the whole fish, caudal fin included ; the first ray simple ; the
second and third the longest, the last short, not one-fourth
the length of the first ; tail deeply forked, with the long rays
of the upper portion curving slightly downwards, giving the
fin a peculiar form. Gill-cover produced behind ; the basal
line of union between the operculum and suboperculum
oblique ; the free margin of the latter slightly rounded ; pre-
operculum angular ; snout prominent, somewhat of a conical
form, extending beyond the upper lip ; jaws of unequal
length, the lower one the shortest. The maxillary bone
broad, the free extremity extending back to beneath the an-
terior margin of the orbit. Teeth in the upper jaw long and
slender, about six in number ; those on the tongue shorter
and more numerous. Eyes large, extending below the mid-
dle of the cheeks ; lateral line commencing at the upper part
of the operculum, and running down the middle of the sides
to the base of the middle caudal ray. Scales large and de-
ciduous, eighty-four forming the lateral line, eight between
the dorsal fin and lateral line, and the same number between
the lateral line and the base of the vcntrals." The numbers
of the fin-rays, including the two short rays at the com-
mencement of the dorsal and anal fins, are

D. 14 : P. 16 : V. 12 : A. 13 : C. 20. Caeca 120.

" This fish grows occasionally to the length of sixteen
inches. In the stomach of one of the specimens examined

154 SALMONID.E.

were found several species of Entomostraca., larvae of insects, a
few Coleoptera, a number of small tough red worms, little
more than half an inch in length, and about the thickness
of a coarse thread, besides a quantity of gravel, which the
fish had probably accumulated when in search of the larvse."

" These fish are found in Loch Lomond in great numbers,
where they are called Powans or Freshwater Herrings.
They #re caught from the month of March until September
with large drag-nets, and occasional instances have occurred
in which a few have been taken with a small artificial fly : a
minnow or bait they have never been known to touch. Early
in the morning and late in the evening large shoals of them
are observed approaching the shores in search of food, and
rippling the surface of the water with their fins as they pro-
ceed. In this respect they resemble in their habits the Ven-
dace of Lochmaben and the saltwater herring. They are
never seen under any circumstances in the middle of the day.
From the estimation these fish are held in by the neighbour-
ing inhabitants, they are seldom sent far before they meet
with a ready sale, and are entirely unknown in the markets
of Glasgow. In the months of August and September they
are in best condition for the table, when they are con-
sidered well flavoured, wholesome and delicate food. They
shed their spawn in October to December, and remain out of
condition until March."

Although agreeing in the number of fin-rays with the
Pollan of Ireland, this Loch Lomond fish is at once dis-
tinguished from it by the peculiar form of its mouth, a repre-
sentation of which, in two points of view, inserted as a vig-
nette, and contrasted with the same parts in the Pollan, both
of the natural size, will, better than description, convey the
appearance in proof of distinction. The Loch Lomond fish
being remarkable for the depth of the upper lip, and the
large size of the lateral free portions of the superior maxillary
bones.

POWAN.

155

Dr. Parncll lias described a second species of Coregonus
found in Locli Lomond, which differs from the first in having
a smaller head, yet agreeing exactly in the number of all the
fin-rays ; but as I learn by communication with Dr. Parncll
that since the publication of his paper he has obtained many
specimens from Loch Lomond, the characters of which are
intermediate in reference to the two fishes described, and
appear to connect them, I have not figured it as a distinct
species.

156 SALMON1D,E.

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYG11. SALMON 'ID &.

THE POLLAN.

Coregonus Pultun, The Pollan, THOMPSON, Proceedings Zool. Soc. for 1835,

p. 77 ; and Magazine of Zool. and Bot. vol. i.
p. 247.

A SHORT notice of the Pollan of Ireland, as made known
by Mr. Thompson of Belfast in 1835, was inserted in the
History of British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 88 ; and that gentleman
having most zealously followed up his zoological investiga-
tions in that country, I am now enabled to add from his re-
searches various further particulars.

" The earliest notice of the species that I have seen," says
Mr. Thompson, " is in Harris's History of the County of
Down, published in the year 1744, where, as well as in the
statistical surveys of the counties of Armagh and Antrim, it
has subsequently been introduced as one of the fishes of
Lough Neagh, under the name of Pollan : but, as may be
expected in works of this nature, little more than its mere
existence is mentioned."

" The habits of this fish do not, with the exception of its
having been in some instances taken with the artificial fly,

POLLAN. 157

differ in any marked respect from those of the Vendace of
Scotland or the Gwyniad of Wales, and are in accordance
with such species of Continental Europe as are confined to
inland waters, and of whose history we have been so fully in-
formed by Bloch. The Pollan approaches the shore in large
shoals, not only during spring and summer, but when the au-
tumn is far advanced. The usual time of fishing for it is in the
afternoon, the boats returning the same evening. On the days
of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of September 1834, which I spent
in visiting the fishing stations at Lough Neagh, it was along
with the Common and Great Lake Trout, Salmofario and
Salmoferox, caught plentifully in sweep-nets, cast at a very
short distance from the shore. About a fortnight before this
time, or in the first week in September, the greatest take
of the Pollan ever recollected occurred at the bar-mouth,
where the river Six-milc-water enters the lake. At either
three or four draughts of the net, one hundred and forty
hundreds, one hundred and twenty-three fish to the hun-
dred,* or 17,220 fish were taken ; at one draught more
were captured than the boat could with safety hold, and
they had consequently to be emptied on the neighbouring
pier. They altogether filled five one-horse carts, and
were sold on the spot at the rate of 3s. 4rf. a hundred,
producing 23/. 6s. 8d. From 8s. 4rf. to 4s. a hundred has
been the ordinary price at the lake side, or directly from
the fishermen ; some years ago it was so low as Is. 8d. the
hundred, but at that time the regular system of carriage to a
distance, as now adopted, did not exist. At the former rates
they are purchased by carriers, who convey them for sale to
the more populous parts of the neighbouring country, and to
the towns within a limited distance of the lake. They are
brought in quantities to Belfast ; and when the supply is
good, the cry of ' fresh Pollan 1 prevails even to a greater cx-

* The English long hundred is six score, or one hundred and twenty.

158 SALMONID.E.

tent than that of ' fresh Herring, 1 though both fishes are in
season at the same period of the year. In the month of
June 1834, fifty hundreds six thousand one hundred and
fifty individuals of Pollan, and one hundred and twenty-five
pounds weight of Trout, were taken at one draught of a net,
at another part of the lake near Ram's Island, which was the
most successful capture made there for twenty-four years. In
1834 this fish was more abundant than ever before known.
Like the Gwyniad and Vendace, the Pollan dies very soon
after being taken from the water, and likewise keeps for a
very short time. It is not in general estimation for the
table, but is, I think, a very good and well-flavoured fish.""

" Though permanently resident, the Pollan is very far from
being generally diffused throughout Lough Neagh. It rarely
occurs between the river Mayola and Toone ; while from the
Six-mile-water to Shane's Castle is so favourite a resort, that a
few houses that formerly stood near the latter locality, were
dignified with the name of Pollan 's Town."

" In the months of November and December this fish de-
posits its spawn where the lake presents a hard or rocky bot-
tom. On the 4th of December 1835, a quantity of the
largest Pollans I have seen were brought to Belfast market.
Several were thirteen inches in length, and all on dissection
proved to be females just ready to deposit their roe. On
the llth of the same month several male specimens of full
size that I procured, and which contained milt most promi-
nently developed, measured but eleven inches and a half,
thus showing that in maturity the female fish exceeds the
male in length in the proportion of thirteen to eleven and a
half. Its average weight when in season is about six ounces.
One specimen, mentioned to me as the largest taken within
the last ten years, weighed two pounds and a half. The
only food that I have, without resorting to the microscope,
detected in the stomach of the Pollan, was a full-grown speci-

POLLAN. 159

men of the bivalve shell Pisidium pulchellum. A pebble of
equal size was also found with it." In the stomach of a
specimen given me by Mr. Thompson I found a species of
Gammarus. Mr. Thompson, in some more recent examina-
tions, lias found mature individuals of Gammarus aqualicus,
and the larvte of various aquatic insects ; some shells of the
genus Pisidium., one of the fry of the three-spined stickleback,
and a few fragments of stone. Others were found to contain
minute Entomostraca^ two Pisidia, and a Limneus pereger ;
this last was three lines in length.

Besides inhabiting Lough Neagh, the Pollan has also
been found in Lough Derg, an expansion of the Shan-
non ; and Lord Cole, who has most condescendingly in-
terested himself in the History of British Fishes, had the
kindness to send me a jar full of Pollan from Lough Erne in
the county of Fermanagh, from one of which specimens our
figure was taken. The Pollan of Lough Erne are rather
deeper for their length than those of Lough Neagh. His
lordship has also sent me numerous Charr from Ireland ;
some from Lough Eask very much like the Charr of the
Cumberland Lakes, while those from Lough Melvyn are
short and deep fish with large fins exactly resembling the
Charr found in two or three lakes in Wales, the particulars
of which have been already described.

To return to the Pollan of Ireland, Mr. Thompson's de-
scription is as follows : " The relative length of the head to
that of the body is about as one to three and a half; the
depth of the body equal to the length of the head ; the jaws
equal in length, both occasionally furnished with a few delicate
teeth ; the tongue with many teeth ; the lateral line sloping
downwards for a short way from the operculum, and thence
passing straight to the tail. Nine rows of scales from the
dorsal fin to the lateral line, and the same number thence to
the ventral fin, the row of scales on the back and that of the

160

SALMONID.E.

lateral line not included. The third ray of the pectoral fin
the longest. The fin-ray formula is as follows

B. 9 : D. 14 : P. 16 : V. 12 : A. 13 : C. 19. Vertebra: 59.

Of these, the first two rays of the dorsal fin, and the first two
rays also of the anal fin are short.

" The colour to the lateral line dark blue, thence to the
belly silvery ; dorsal, anal, and caudal fins, towards the ex-
tremity, tinged with black ; pectoral and ventral fins of crys-
talline transparency, excepting at their extremities, which are
faintly dotted with black. Irides silvery, pupil black."

In a number of these Pollan from Lough Erne as well as
Lough Neagh, the base of the last ray of the dorsal fin is
exactly half-way between the point of the nose and the ex-
treme end of the longest upper caudal ray. Nine rows of
scales from the base of the first ray of the dorsal fin to the
lateral line, and the same number from the lateral line to the
origin of the ventral fin, with eighty-eight scales forming the
lateral line. The fin-rays in number on several specimens
exactly as stated by Mr. Thompson.

ARGENTINE. 161

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGII. SALMONJD&.

THE ARGENTINE.

Scopetus Humboldtii, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 315.

,, borealis, NILSSON, Prod. p. 20.
Serpes Humboldtii, Risso, Ich. p. 358, tab. X. f. 38.
Scopelus ,, ,, Hist. t. iii. p. 467 .

Argentina sphyrana, Argentine, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 432, pi. 76.

,, ,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 182.

Humboldti, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 433.

SCOPELUS. Generic Characters. Body long, slender ; the principal dorsal
fin over the interval between the ventral and anal fins ; a second dorsal fin, so
small as to be scarcely perceptible : the head short ; the mouth and gill-aperture
large ; small teeth on both jaws ; palate and tongue smooth.

Ax the time of publishing the first edition of this work,
Pennant, and the Rev. Mr. Low of Orkney, appeared to be
the only British observers who had met with, on our coast,
examples of this brilliant little fish, which Cuvier considers
to belong to the genus Scopelus, as here stated ; and other
references are here added, to assist in determining the species.
The Scopelus Humboldtii, if identical with Pennant's Ar-
gentine, is taken to the north of our island, and also in the
Mediterranean, as the remarks of Professor Nilsson and
M. Risso imply ; and the latter naturalist enumerates three

VOL. II. M

162

SALMONIDE.

species of the genus, of which he says S. Humboldtii is the
best known, but that little is ascertained of their habits.

Pennant's specimen was taken in the sea near Downing
in Flintshire : Mr. Low's fish was brought to him by a boy,
who said he found it at the edge of the water among sea-
weed. The receipt of an additional portion of MS. recently
confided to me by William Walcott, Esq. furnishes a notice,
written by his late father, of a third instance of the occur-
rence of the Argentine, which was found stranded on the shore
near Exmouth : length two inches and a half. Pennant's
description is, " Length two inches and a quarter ; the eyes
large, the irides silvery ; the lower jaw sloped much ; the
teeth small ; the body compressed, and of an equal depth
almost to the anal fin ; the tail forked : the back was of a
dusky green ; the sides and covers of the gills as if plated
with silver ; the lateral line was in the middle, and quite
straight : on each side of the belly was a row of circular
punctures ; above them another, which ceased near the vent."
The formula of the fin-rays appears to be

D. 9 : P. 17 : V. 8 : A. 15 : C. 19.

The figure of this fish referred to in M. Risso's work
represents the anal fin as containing many more rays than are
apparent in the figure by Pennant, from which the represen-
tation at the head of this article is copied.

In the volume of the Magazine of Natural History for the
year 1838, Dr. W. B. Clarke, who had found a specimen of
the Argentine at Portobello, near Edinburgh, has published
a notice of his fish, from which the following is an abstract.

" I beg leave to transmit, for insertion in the Magazine of
Natural History, a sketch and description of a species of
Argentine, which I obtained upon the shore of the Frith of
Forth, at Portobello, in April 1838.

" I discovered this highly elegant little fish, whilst looking

ARGENTINE. 163

amongst the various bodies cast up by the water, and ob-
served it lying entangled in some sea-weed, which had been
accumulated in masses, and left by the retiring tide. The
fish was dead; but from its freshness could not long have
been so.

" In the Animal Kingdom of Cuvier, translated by Grif-
fith, we have the following description of the genus :

" Scopelus, Cuv. Serpes of Risso.

" ' Mouth and gills extremely cleft ; the two jaws fur-
nished with very small teeth ; the edge of the upper entirely
formed by the intermaxillaries ; the tongue and palate smooth.
Their muzzle is very short and obtuse : there are nine or
ten rays to the gills ; and besides the usual dorsal, which
corresponds to the interval of the ventrals, and the anal,
there is another very small one behind, in which the vestiges
of rays are perceptible.'

" ' These fishes are caught in the Mediterranean, inter-
mingled with the Anchovies, and they are there called Me-
lettes, as are other small fishes. One of them, the Serpes
Humboldtii, Risso, pi. x. fig. 38, is remarkable for the bril-
liancy of the silvery points which are distributed along the
body and tail.'

" Then in a note we have, ' I believe this fish to be the
pretended Argentina sphyrana of Pennant's Brit. Zool.
No. 156 ; therefore it should be found in our part of the
Atlantic.'

" Besides the Scopelus Humboldtii, which probably is
identical with the species under description, there are two
other species, viz. Serpes (Scopelus) crocodile, Risso, p. 357,
and Serpes (Scopelus) balbo, Id. Ac. des Sc. de Turin, tome
xxv. pi. x. fig. 3.

" Pennant's description agrees, in many respects, with my
fish ; but as the figure contained in Mr. Yarrell's work,

M 2

164 SALMONID.E.

(which was taken from Pennant's,) differs very materially
about the head and tail, although it resembles it in the form
of the body, I have sent an exact figure of my own specimen,
to show the precise form of the bones of the opercula and
sides of the head, together with a full description ; which
may assist future observers in determining whether more than
one species visits our shores. If Pennants figure be an
exact representation, the fish it was taken from was certainly
a different species to the one under description.

" My specimen would correspond with Pennants descrip-
tion except in the following particulars : viz. length one
inch if : the back of a dense blue black, presenting, in cer-
tain lights, a brownish tinge ; lateral line central and straight,
but inclining upwards, at about its anterior sixth, towards the
upper angle of the operculum.

" The number and arrangement of the guttas in the speci-
men under consideration, are as follow : viz. on each side,
upper series between os hyoides and origin of pectoral fin,
five ; upper abdominal series between base of pectoral and a
spot perpendicularly over the ventral, nine ; lower abdominal
series, from a spot perpendicularly beneath the posterior mar-
gin of orbit, to base of ventral, twelve ; between base of ven-
tral and commencement of anal, six ; the two anterior directed
downwards and backwards ; the four posterior forming an arch

ARGENTJNE. 165

from a little above the second gutta to the commencement of
the anal fin : one large gutta, in a line with the upper abdo-
minal series, is placed slightly anterior, but above the com-
mencement of the anal fin : between the anterior commence-
ment of anal and base of caudal, twenty-four ; but between
the eighth and ninth from the caudal fin, there is a space
where a spot appears to have been obliterated.

" About midway between the anterior commencement of the
dorsal and base of caudal, but rather nearer the latter, there
is a slight elevation, where, apparently, the fleshy fin has its
origin ; but in the specimen under description it is scarcely
perceptible, being, even with the aid of a lens, only like a
slight membranous ridge.

" The formula of the fin-rays appears to be

D. 9 : P. 17 : V. 8 : A. 20 : C. 18.

Mr. Yarrell remarks, ' the figure of this fish, referred to in
Risso's work, represents the anal fin as containing many more
rays than are represented in the figure by Pennant.' The
fish obtained by me possesses more anal rays than Pennant's
would appear to have had, judging from the figure which he
has published.

" Length of head compared with whole length of fish, as
one to four : diameter of eye to length of head, as one to
three : first dorsal fin commences midway between end of
nose and tail : depth of body to whole length of fish, as one
to five and a half: nostrils double, situated in a depression
midway between the eye and centre of intermaxillary bone.
The operculum is extremely large, and appears to be deve-
loped at the expense of the pre-operculum, which is very
small, and joins the former by a straight moveable suture,
running in a line perpendicularly downwards, from the poste-
rior margin of the orbit ; it forms an obtuse-angled triangle,
with the obtuse angle pointing downwards and backwards :

166 SALMONID.E.

the sub-orbital bone occupies nearly the anterior inferior half
of the orbit, and is of a beautiful argenteous lustre, like the
operculum. There are five oval spots, forming a fan-shaped
figure, occupying the space between the anterior edge of the
superior maxillary bone, and the anterior inferior angle of the
pre-operculum, beneath the sub-orbital bone, and distinctly
seen through the transparent intermaxillary bone, which is
very large. There is one gutta upon the pre-operculum, at
its anterior inferior angle, and the appearance of another at
the anterior inferior angle of the sub-operculum : there is no
appearance of branchiostegous rays whilst the opercula are
closed.

" The sides of this elegant little fish are of the most re-
splendent argenteous lustre ; the guttse are of a dense opaque
white, and round their margin, especially along the sub-
caudal series, there is a steel-blue tinge, giving that part of
the body a very beautiful appearance. The upper abdominal
series have an arched appearance, from this tinge not being
continued round the inferior margin of the guttcG. The back
of the specimen under description, which has been in spirits
ever since its capture, is of a dense blue black, presenting, in
certain lights, a brownish tinge.

" From specimens of this fish having been found in the
above localities, viz. in the sea near Flintshire, on the shore
in Orkney, in Devonshire, and, lastly, in Edinburghshire, we
may infer that it is generally, although sparingly, diffused
through the British seas. Probably, ere long, we may hear
of other examples of its occurrence upon our shores, or in

our seas."

So recently as March last, 1841, and while the preceding
part of the present volume was going through the press, I
received a letter from the Rev. J. Newsam, of Redcar, on
the Yorkshire coast, informing me that a specimen of the
Argentine had been found by one of his children amongst

ARGENTINE. 1 (>7

sea-weed on the shore, about high-water mark, the colours of
which were most brilliant, and both rows of spots very dis-
tinct. This gentleman also sent me word that one or two
other specimens had been obtained, at different times, in the
same vicinity, near Redcar. The specimen preserved was
given to me by Mr. Newsam, and I beg to record my thanks
for his kindness in sending me the first example of the fish I
ever saw. From this specimen the representation here in-
serted was carefully drawn and engraved, exactly of the natu-
ral size.

In May last I received a letter from the Rev. T. S. Rudd,
also of Redcar, stating that he had found a brilliant specimen
of the Argentine, of which a fisherman, when it was shown to
him, observed, that he had seen several like it cast up on the
shore. This example, which Mr. Rudd sent for my inspec-
tion, with a request that I would keep it if of any use to me,
exactly agreed with the specimen already in my possession.
Prince Canino, during his recent visit to this country, said,
on seeing my example of this fish, that he had not found this
species in the Mediterranean, most of which are figured and
described in the 27th part of the Fauna Italica.

Both the specimens from Redcar having suffered some
slight mutilation, I was unable to decide the number of rays
in the dorsal, ventral, or anal fins ; which would have assisted
in determining the species. In the character of the fins,
the Yorkshire specimens most resemble Pennant's figure at

168

SALMONIBvE.

the head of this article ; in the number and situation of the
spots, and in colour, they resemble Dr. Clarke's fish ; and
there is a general resemblance in all three, except in size.
By endeavouring to represent the steel-blue appearance along
the lower edge of the fish, the silvery spots are rendered more
apparent. Other examples, I have no doubt, will hereafter
occur to decide the question, whether only one, or more spe-
cies, inhabit our shores.

PILCHARD. 169

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGIL CLUPEWIE*

THE PILCHARD.

GIPSEY HERRING. Scotland.

Clupea pitchardus, BLOCH, pt. xii. pi. 406.

,, WILLUGHBY, p. 223, tab. P. 1. fig. 1.

,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 319.

,, ,, Pilcliard, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 453, pi. 79.

,, ,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 69.

,, pilcardus, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 183, sp. 52.

,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 436.

CLUPEA. Generic Characters. Body compressed ; scales large, thin, and
deciduous ; head compressed ; teeth minute, or wanting ; a single dorsal fin ;
abdominal line forming a sharp keel-like edge, which in some species is ser-
rated ; branchiostegous rays 8.

THE following account of the Pilchard is derived from the
MS. of Mr. Couch, from whose various scientific acquire-
ments, habits of observation and locality, it may be fairly
inferred that no better authority could be quoted.

The older naturalists considered the Pilchard, like the
Herring, as a visitor from a distant region ; and they as-

* The family of the Herrings.

170

CLUPEID.E.

signed to it also the same place of resort as that fish, with
which indeed the Pilchard has been sometimes confounded.
To this it will be a sufficient reply, that the Pilchard is
never seen in the Northern Ocean, and the few that some-
times wander through the Straits of Dover, or the Bristol
Channel, have evidently suffered from passing so far out of
their accustomed limits. They frequent the French coasts,
and are seen on those of Spain ; but on neither in consi-
derable numbers, or with much regularity ; so that few
fishes confine themselves within such narrow bounds. On
the coast of Cornwall they are found through all the seasons
of the year, and even there their habits vary in the different
months. In January, they keep near the bottom, and are
chiefly seen in the stomachs of ravenous fishes ; in March,
they sometimes assemble in schulls, and thousands of hogs-
heads have in some years been taken in scans : but this union
is only partial, and not permanent ; and it is not until July
that they regularly and permanently congregate so as to be
sought after by the fishermen.

The sean-fishery commences in August, and continues
until the shortened days and stormy weather of the equinox
render its further prosecution impracticable ; but the fish
continue to appear, sometimes in great numbers, until the
conclusion of the year. The season and situation for spawn-
ing, and the choice of food, are the chief causes which
influence the motions of the great bodies of these fish ; and
it is probable that a thorough knowledge of these would
explain all the variations which have been noticed in the
actions of the Pilchard, in the numerous unsuccessful seasons
of the fishery. In some years, at least, a considerable body
of Pilchards shed spawn in the month of May perhaps in
the middle of the Channel, where I have known them taken,
heavy with roe, in drift-nets shot for Mackerel ; yet it seems
certain that they do not breed twice in the year, and that

PILCHARD. 171

the larger body do not perform this function until October,
and then at no great distance from the shore. I have known
an equally great variation to occur in other fishes, which have
in consequence visited us, and been in season, at a time not
expected by the fishermen.

They feed with voracity on small crustaceous animals ;
and I have found their stomachs crammed each with thou-
sands of a minute species of shrimp, not larger than a flea.
It is probably when they are in search of something like
this, that fishermen report they have seen them lying in
myriads quietly at the bottom, examining with their mouths
the sand or small stones in shallow water. The abundance
of this food must be enormous, if, as there can be no doubt
was the case, all the schulls on the coast were as well fed as
the individuals I examined. The Pilchard has been known
to swallow a hook baited with a worm ; and it is probable
that they devour the roe of fish ; for a gentleman who re-
sided on the shores of the Bay of Biscay informed me that
it is the custom of the French fishermen to throw large
quantities of the salted pea-roe of fish about their nets, to
attract Pilchards, and that he has seen much of this spawn in
the stomachs of Pilchards so taken. Large quantities of
the roe offish are imported into France for this purpose from
northern nations.

When near the coast, the assemblage of Pilchards as-
sumes the arrangement of a mighty army, with its wings
stretching parallel to the land ; and the whole is composed
of numberless smaller bodies, which are perpetually joining
together, shifting their position, and separating again. There
are three stations assumed by this great body, that have
tkeir separate influence on the success of the fishery. One
is to the eastward of the Lizard, the most eastern extremity
reaching to the Start Point in Devonshire, beyond which
no fishery is carried on, except that rarely it extends to

172 CLUPEIDE.

Dartmouth ; a second station is included between the Lizard
and Land's End ; and the third is on the north coast of the
county, the chief station being about St. Ives. It is com-
mon for one of these districts to be full of fish, while in
neither of the others is a schull to be seen ; but towards the
end of the season they often move from one station to
another, or perhaps traverse in succession all the shores of
the county. The subordinate motions of the schulls are
much regulated by the tide, against the current of which
they are rarely known to go ; and the whole will sometimes
remain parallel to the coast for several weeks, at the distance
of a few leagues, and then, as if by general consent, will
advance close to the shore, sometimes without beinof dis-

O

covered till they have reached it. This usually happens
when the tides are strongest, and is the period when the
principal opportunity is afforded for the prosecution of the
sean-fishery.

The fishery for Pilchards is carried on by drift or driving
nets, and with scans. The outfit of the former, which
somewhat resembles that already described for Mackerel,
consists of a number of nets, great in proportion to the wealth
of the proprietor and the size of the boat, but commonly
about twenty, each from eighteen to twenty fathoms long,
and seven fathoms deep ; so that a string of driving nets will
sometimes reach three-quarters of a mile. These nets are
fastened to each other in length, and to a head-line, appro-
priated to each, along which runs a row of corks ; another
line runs loosely along the middle of the nets to afford
additional strength, but no lead is used at the bottom. The
nets are carried in common fishing-boats, some of which, as
at Mount's Bay, are luggers, and most of the others have
spritsails : the crews consist each of four men and a boy.
The fishery begins a little before sunset, and the nets are
drawn in about two hours, to be again shot as morning

PILCHARD. 173

approaches ; for Pilchards enter the nets better at these sea-
sons. A rope from one end of the string is fastened over
the quarter of the boat, and the nets are left to float with
the tide, no sails being set, except rarely in very calm weather,
to prevent the nets being folded together. Within a few
years an improvement has been made, derived, it would
appear, from the practice of the herring-fishers, by which
more fish have been taken, and much of the hazard obviated
to which the nets were exposed by ships passing over them.
It consists in diminishing the number and size of the corks
along the head-line, and in fixing cords at proper distances,
each of which has attached to it a stout buoy. These cords
are from two to two and a half fathoms long, and conse-
quently allow the upper edge of the nets to sink to that
depth below the surface ; but even now it is found that the
fish are principally caught in the lower part of the net.

The number of fish taken by a drift-boat in a night's
fishing varies exceedingly : from five to ten thousand is con-
sidered moderate ; it often amounts to twenty thousand.
For the season's fishing, about one hundred and fifty thou-
sand fish would be deemed favourable.

For the sean-fishing, three boats are provided, of which
two are about forty feet long, and ten wide at the beam,
with flat timbers and a sharp bow. The first is termed the
sean-boat, and is furnished with a sean two hundred and
twenty fathoms in length, and twelve fathoms deep, which is
buoyed along the head-rope with corks, and weighed down
with leads. The second boat is called the volyer, a term
supposed to be a corruption of the word, follower. This
boat has a sean from one hundred to one hundred and
twenty fathoms in length, and eighteen fathoms deep at its
deepest part, and is termed the tuck-sean : it differs from
the former, called the stop-scan, as well in shape as in
dimensions, the middle being formed into a hollow or bunt.

174 CLUPEID.E.

A third boat, called a lurker, is less than the others, and
has no scan. The crew attending a scan consists of eighteen
men and one or two boys. Seven of these are assigned to
each of the larger boats, and the remaining four, including
the master seaner, to the lurker. This fishery commences
in August, three weeks or a month after the drivers, whose
success, or the want of it, has much influence. The three
boats proceed in the afternoon to some sandy bay, and cast
anchor, keeping a good look-out for the appearance of fish,
which are discovered either by the rippling of the water, by
the stoiting or leaping of the fish, or by the colour they
impart to the sea. In these respects, as marks of the dif-
ference between the habits of the Herring and the Pilchard,
fishermen observe that the former rarely springs from the
water, or stoits, as it is called, except when alarmed or
driven : but the Pilchard does this often, and apparently from
wantonness. When alarmed, both these fish will rush along
the distance of five or six feet, as marked by the briming;*
but the Pilchard does this with more celerity than the
Herring.

When the presence of fish is discovered, the lurker pro-
ceeds to the place to ascertain the magnitude of the schull,
and the direction in which it is moving. The depth of
water, clearness of ground from rocks and other obstructions,
and the force and direction of the tide, enter also into the
calculation of the master before he makes the signal for
preparation. All the proceedings are directed by signs, for
the fish are alarmed at noise, and when everything is favour-
able, a warp from the end of the scan is handed to the volyer,
whose place it is to keep all taut ; the lurker continuing on
the fish to watch their motions, and to point to the sean-
boat what is to be enclosed. The sean-boat is rowed by

6 The flash of light seen in the sea when disturbed in the night, and sup-
posed to proceed from minute molluscous or crustaceous animals.

PILCHARD. 175

four men, the other three being employed in throwing the
net ; and such is the vigour exerted on this occasion, that
this great body of net, rope, corks, and lead is thrown into
the sea in less than five minutes. The sean at first forms a
curved line across the course of the fish ; and while the two
larger boats are employed in warping the ends together,
the lurker's station is in the opening, where, by dashing the
water, the fish are kept away from the only place of escape.
When the sean is closed and the ends are laced together,
if the body of the fish be great and the sea or tide strong,
the net is secured by heavy grapnels, which are attached to
the head-ropes by hawsers. It will appear from this account
that it is not more difficult to take a thousand hogsheads of
fish than a single hogshead ; the only difference being, that
with the greater quantity the sean is regularly moored,
which with the smaller is unnecessary : it may even be said
that the capture of the larger body is most easily effected ;
for, as its motion is slow, its course is not so speedily altered.

When the evening has closed in, and the tide is low,
they proceed to take up the fish. For this purpose, leaving
the stop-scan as before, the volyer passes within it, and lays
the tuck-sean round it on the inner side : it is then drawn
together so as gradually to contract the limits of the fish, and
raise them from the bottom. When disturbed, they become
exceedingly agitated ; and so great is the force derived from
their numbers and fear, that the utmost caution is used lest
the net should either sink or be burst. When the tuck-sean
is thus gradually contracting and the boats surround it,
stones suspended from ropes, called minriies, are repeatedly
plunged into the water at that part where escape alone is
practicable, until the fish then to be taken up are supported
in the hollow or bunt of the sean.

When brought to the surface, the voices of the men are
lost in the noise made by the fish as they beat the water.

176

CLUPEID.E.

The seaners fix themselves in pairs on the gunwales of the
boats, with flaskets to lade the fish on board. When the
quantity enclosed in the stop-scan is large, the tuck-sean is
made to enclose no more than the boats can carry, of which
a master seaner commonly forms a correct judgment by the
extent of the briming in his sean, as the fish move in it ;
and many advantages result from taking up only a portion at
one time, for the whole can thus be salted in proper condition,
without fatigue or extraordinary expense : thus a week may
possibly elapse before the whole of the capture is secured,
part being taken up every night.

The description here given of the manner in which the
Pilchard fishery is conducted applies to the greater part of
the coast, but some variation occurs in particular districts.
In Mount's Bay the men and boats employed to take the
fish are not the same that convey it to land ; a mode of pro-
ceeding rendered necessary by the distance from shore at
which it is taken. The fishery at St. Ives is regulated by
a particular act of parliament, and huers* are employed there
and elsewhere to assist the fishermen. The sean-fishery, as
practised formerly, resembled that carried on at St. Ives ; and
in one of Norden^s maps is a representation of the taking of
Pilchards by means of a sweep-net, of which one end con-
tinues near the shore, as then employed in St. Austle's Bay.
The capture was drawn on shore in the mode now used with
ground-scans for other fish, and consequently none could be
taken unless they approached near to an open beach ; and one
end of a sean is now termed the pole end, from the pole shod
with lead then used to elevate and spread the part to which
the warp was attached.

Old and experienced fishermen have stated as the result

* Huers are men posted on elevated situations near the sea, who by various
concerted signals, made with a bunch of furze in each hand, direct the fishermen
how best to surround a schull offish.

PILCHARD. 177

of long observation, that, besides the well-known fact of
the fish being most abundantly taken within a feAv days
after the spring-tides, the direction of the tide has great
effect on the motions of the scliull. Its progress is always
towards the same point, and in drift-nets all the heads of
the fish point in one way, unless the tide has turned while
the nets were afloat. In a bay where the tide comes round
a headland and circles the bay, the fish take the same route,
and a man aware of this may know in what direction to
watch, and whither the schull is proceeding ; and as, espe-
cially when the tide is rapid, he must be careful that the
scan is not carried on the back of the schull, the net must be
so shot as to have the benefit of the tide, and yet be laid
across the front of the fish. A schull will not turn back di-
rectly contrary to its former course, although, when alarmed,
its direction may be considerably changed. In the open
sea, drift-nets are commonly cast in the direction of the tide,
because the nets are most easily kept in that course ; but
when near land, or the entrance of a bay, a favourite position
is parallel to it, by which the fish are intercepted in their
advance or retreat. I have seen drift-boats shoot their nets
in the midst of a multitude of fish, one in the direction in
which they were going, and another across their course, and
in less than two hours the second had taken nine thousand,
the other not a fish ; and yet the boats frequently prefer the
first plan. The most successful time for the drift-net fishery
is during hazy nights, with some motion of the wave, for the
fish then enter the nets freely, whereas in clear moonlight
they are shy ; and in very dark nights such is the brightness
of the briming, that the nets look like a wall of fire, and
deter the fish.

As an object of adventure, the Pilchard fishery is popular
in Cornwall, and beyond a doubt the community is greatly

VOL. II. N

178 CLUPEID^E.

benefited by it ; yet it frequently happens that the success
is partial, and the price low ; and it may be questioned whe-
ther in any year the greater part of the scans obtain more
than their expenses : but when there is a profit, it is com-
monly considerable, and in this lottery every one is led by
the hope of being among the fortunate.

The following is a statement, perhaps nearly approaching
to the truth where absolute certainty is unattainable, of the
amount of property engaged in the Pilchard fishery in the
year 1827, when the bounty began to be withdrawn : Num-
ber of scans employed, 186 ; not employed, 130 ; total num-
ber of scans, 816 : number of drift-boats, 368 : men employed
on board drift-boats, 1600; number of men employed on
scans at sea, 2672 ; number of persons on shore to whom the
fishery affords direct employment, 6350 ; total number of
persons employed in the fishery, 10,521: cost of scans,
boats, &c. used in the fishery, 209,840/.; cost of drift-boats
and nets, 61,400/ ; cost of cellars for curing, and other es-
tablishments on shore for carrying on the fishery, 169,175/.;
total capital invested directly in the Pilchard fishery,
441, 215/. The outfit of a scan amounts to about 800/.;
a string of drift-nets will cost about 6/. the net ; and the
boat from 100/. to ISO/.; but this is used throughout the
year for the other purposes of fishing. The nets are sup-
posed to last about six years, and ought, of course, to pro-
duce their own value within that time, together with an
adequate profit ; but it is the complaint of the fishermen
that this is not the case. The profit of the men depends on
the share of the fish, which is divided into eight parts, of
which the boat has one-eighth part, the nets three, and the
men four : a boy that accompanies them is rewarded with the
fish that may fall into the sea as the nets are drawn, to
secure which he is furnished with a bag-net at the end of a
rod, termed a keep-net.

PILCHARD. II!)

The quantity of Pilchards taken is sometimes incredibly
large. A fisherman now alive was present once at the
taking of two thousand two hundred hogsheads of Pilchards
in one scan ; but the greatest number heard of as taken at
one time is stated by Borlase at three thousand hogsheads ;
in reference to which Pennant has made an astounding error,
in reckoning by mistake thirty -five thousand fish to a hogs-
head, instead of three thousand five hundred. The number
since allowed has been three thousand, and is now two
thousand five hundred fine fish ; but it is scarcely necessary
to say that they are not counted. An instance has been
known where ten thousand hogsheads have been taken in one
port in a single day, thus providing the enormous multitude
of twenty-five millions of living creatures drawn at once from
the ocean for human sustenance.

The different modes of curing the fresh fish are detailed
elsewhere. The various ports on the northern shore of the
Mediterranean are the principal places to which the preserved
fish are exported.

Our term Pilchard is said to be derived from Pdtzer,
a name by which this fish was known to some early North-
ern Continental authors. A few Pilchards make their ap-
pearance occasionally in the Forth about October, generally
preceding the Herrings ; but the great shoals appear to
belong almost exclusively to our south-western shores. They
are seldom seen east of Devonshire ; but in August 188-i
a shoal of Pilchards were observed in Poole Harbour, and
so many fish were taken that they were sold in the market at
a penny a dozen. In May 1838 I obtained one Pilchard in
the Thames.

Smith's History of the County of Cork contains a full
and interesting account of the Pilchard fishery in Ban try
Bay. They have been noticed also on the coast of the

N 2

180 CLUPEID.E.

county of Cork, and taken at Dublin and Belfast. On our
eastern coast, a few are taken every year at Yarmouth with
the Herrings. They were more than usually abundant there
in the years 1780, 1790, and 1799.

Specimens of the Pilchard sometimes measure eleven
inches in length ; the fish described measured nine inches.
It much resembles the Herring, but is smaller and thicker.
The length of the head is to the whole length as one to

O O

five ; the depth of the body equal to the length of the head ;
the transverse thickness of the body equal to half its depth :
the form of the head triangular, the upper surface flat ;
the dorsal and abdominal lines slightly and equally con-
vex ; no perceptible lateral line ; the body across the back
obtusely rounded ; the line of the abdomen smooth ; the
edges of the scales of the two sides leaving a longitudinal
groove from the branchiostegous rays to the vent, along
which groove extends a row of scales of a peculiar shape,

of which the woodcut here placed
is a representation ; the two long
narrow lateral arms extending up
each side under the scales, the
shortest projection pointing back-
ward : the scales of the body are
very large, deciduous, and ciliated
at the free edge.

The distance from the point of the nose to the base
of the last ray of the dorsal fin, and from thence half-
way along the caudal rays, nearly equal : the commence-
ment of the dorsal fin is therefore anterior to the middle of
the fish by the whole length of the base of the fin ; the
first and second rays shorter than the third, which is equal
to the length of the base of the fin ; these first three rays
articulated, but simple ; all the other rays branched : pec-

PILCHARD. 181

toral and ventral fins small, the latter commencing in a
line under the middle of the dorsal fin ; the axillary scales
very long : the anal fin commencing half-way between the
origin of the ventral fins and the end of the fleshy portion
of the tail ; the first ray short, the second and the last
two rays the longest: the tail deeply forked; the scales
at the end of the fleshy portion of the body extending far
over the bases of the caudal rays, particularly two elongated
scales above and below the middle line. The fin-rays in
number are

D. 18 : P. 16 : V. 8 : A. 18 : C. 19. Vertebra 55.

The mouth is small, without teeth, the under jaw the
longest : the breadth of the eye one-fourth of the length
of the head, and placed at rather more than its own breadth
from the point of the nose ; the irides yellowish white : the
cheeks and all the parts of the gill-covers tinged with golden
yellow, and marked with various radiating strise : the pos-
terior edge of the operculum nearly vertical and straight : the
upper part of the body bluish green ; the sides and belly
silvery white ; the dorsal fin and tail dusky. Mr. Couch
says the Pilchard is sometimes found with a row of spots on
the side, like the Shad ; which seems the result of disease,
these fish being small, soft, and unfit for curing.

As an appropriate conclusion to this account of the Pil-
chard fishery of Cornwall, derived principally from the MS.
of Mr. Couch, the vignette at the bottom of the next page is
a representation of the harbour of Polperro, near which Mr.
Couch has long resided : and I take this opportunity of re-
cording my obligations to that gentleman, not only for his
great liberality in allowing me the unlimited use of his volu-
minous MS. of the Natural History of the Fishes which have
been found on the coasts and in the rivers of Cornwall, with

182

CLUPBID.E.

an extensive series of characteristic drawings, but also for the
warm interest and substantial support afforded to this work
during its progress.

While this sheet was going through the press, the London
newspapers noticed the appearance of numerous large shoals
of Pilchards on the south coast of Ireland, which the poor
fishermen were unable to take advantage of from the want of
proper nets and salt.

HERRING. lS:i

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYCH. CLUPEID&.

THE HERRING.

Clupea harengus, LINN/F.US. BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 29.

WIIXUGHBY, p. 219, pi. P. 1, fig. 2.

,, ,, Herring, RAY, Syn.p. 103.

,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 317.

,, ,, Herring, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 444, pi. 79.

,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 182, sp. 51.

,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 434.

ANDERSON and Pennant were certainly mistaken in sup-
posing that the great winter rendezvous of the Herring is
within the Arctic Circle : " there they continue,"" says Pen-
nant, " for many months, in order to recruit themselves after
the fatigue of spawning ; the sea within that space swarming
with insect food, in a degree far greater than in our warmer
latitudes.""

" This mighty army begins to put itself in motion in the
spring. We distinguish this vast body by that name ; for the
word Herring is derived from the German Heer an army,
to express their numbers. They begin to appear off the
Shetland Islands in April and May.* This is the first check

* In another part of his account, Pennant says the Herrings continue on the
Welsh coast till February. (P. 447.)

184

CLUPEID.E.

tliis army meets with in its march southward. Here it is
divided into two parts : one wing of those destined to visit
our coasts takes to the east, the other to the western shores
of Great Britain, and fill every bay and creek with their
numbers ; others proceed towards Yarmouth, the great and
ancient mart of Herrings ; they then pass through the
British Channel, and after that in a manner disappear.
Those which take to the west, after offering themselves to
the Hebrides, where the great stationary fishery is, proceed
towards the north of Ireland, where they meet with a second
interruption, and are obliged to make a second division :
the one takes to the western side, and is scarcely perceived,
being soon lost in the immensity of the Atlantic ; but the
other, which passes into the Irish Sea, rejoices and feeds the
inhabitants of most of the coasts that border on it. These
brigades, as we may call them, which are thus separated
from the greater columns, are often capricious in their mo-
tions, and do not show an invariable attachment to their
haunts."

This is Pennant's account as it regards our own islands.
To show that this supposed migration to and from high
northern latitudes does not exist, it is only necessary to state,
that the Herring has never been noticed, that I am aware, as
abounding in the Arctic Ocean : it has not been observed
in any number in the proper icy seas ; nor have our whale-
fishers or arctic voyagers taken any particular notice of them.
There is no fishery for them of any consequence either in
Greenland or Iceland. On the southern coast of Greenland
the Herring is a rare fish ; and only a small variety of it,
according to Crantz, is found on the northern shore. This
small variety or species was found by Sir John Franklyn, on
the shore of the Polar basin, on his second journey.

" That the Herring is, to a certain degree, a migratory

HERRING. 185

fish," says Dr. M'Cullocli,* " may be true ; but even a
much more limited migration is far from demonstrable. It
is at any rate perfectly certain that there is no sucli progress
along the east and west coasts from a central point." There
can be no doubt that the Herring inhabits the deep water all
round our coast, and only approaches the shores for the pur-
pose of depositing its spawn within the immediate influence
of the two principal agents in vivification increased tempera-
ture and oxygen ; and as soon as that essential operation is
effected, the shoals that haunt our coast disappear : but
individuals arc to be found and many are caught throughout
the year. So far are they from being migratory to us from
the North only, that Herrings visit the west coast of the
county of Cork in August, which is earlier than those which
come down the Irish Channel arrive, and long before they
make their appearance at other places much farther north.
" In former times, the fishery of the east coast did not com-
mence till that on the west had terminated. It is remarkable
also that the eastern fishery has become so abundant as quite
to have obscured the western." And Dr. M'Culloch, from
other examples, confirms a statement previously made, that
the fishery has commenced soonest on the southern part of
the shore ; and, what is also remarkable, that for some years
past it has become later every year.

The Herring is in truth a most capricious fish, seldom
remaining long in one place ; and there is scarcely a fishing
station round the British Islands that has not experienced
in the visits of this fish the greatest variations both as to
time and quantity, without any accountable reason.

" Ordinary philosophy is never satisfied," adds Dr.
M'Culloch, " unless it can find a solution for everything ;

* See an excellent paper on the Herring in the 3'2nd number of the Journal
of the Royal Institution, for January 1824.

186 CLUPEIDE.

and is satisfied, for this reason, with imaginary ones. Thus,
in Long Island, one of the Hebrides, it was asserted that
the fish had been driven away by the manufactory of kelp ;
some imaginary coincidence having been found between their
disappearance and the establishment of that business. But
the kelp fires did not drive them away from other shores,
which they frequent and abandon indifferently without regard
to this work. It has been a still more favourite and popular
fancy, that they were driven away by the firing of guns ; and
hence this is not allowed during the fishing season. A gun
has scarcely been fired in the Western Islands, or on the west
coast, since the days of Cromwell ; yet they have changed
their places many times in that interval. In a similar man-
ner, and with equal truth, it was said that they had been
driven from the Baltic by the battle of Copenhagen. It is
amusing to see how old theories are revived. This is a very
ancient Highland hypothesis, with the necessary modification.
Before the days of guns and gunpowder, the Highlanders
held that they quitted coasts where blood had been shed :
and thus ancient philosophy is renovated. Steam-boats are
now supposed to be the culprits, since a reason must be
found : to prove their effect, Loch Fyne, visited by a
steam-boat daily, is now their favourite haunt, and they have
deserted other lochs where steam-boats have never yet
smoked." A Member of the House of Commons, during
the sessions of 1835, in a debate on a tithe bill, stated, that
a clergyman having obtained a living on the coast of Ire-
land, signified his intention of taking the tithe of fish ;
which was, however, considered to be so utterly repugnant
to their privileges and feelings, that not a single Herring had
ever since visited that part of the shore !

Our common Herring spawns towards the end of October
or the beginning of November ; and it is for two or three
months previous to this, when they assemble in immense

HERRING. 187

numbers, that the fishing is carried on, which is of such great
and national importance. " And here," Mr. Couch observes,
" we cannot but admire the economy of Divine Providence,
by which this and several other species of fish are brought to
the shores, within reach of man, at the time when they are
in their highest perfection, and best fitted to be his food."

The mode of fishing for Herrings is by drift-nets, very
similar to those employed for taking Mackerel and Pilchard,
with a slight difference in the size of the mesh. The net is
suspended by its upper edge from the drift-rope by various
shorter and smaller ropes, called buoy-ropes ; and consider-
able practical skill is required in the arrangement, that the
net may hang with the meshes square, smooth, and even, in
the water, and at the proper depth ; for, according to the
wind, tide, situation of their food, and other causes, the
Herrings swim at various distances below the surface.

The size of the boat used depends on the distance from
shore at which the fishery is carried on ; but, whether in
deep or in shallow water, the nets are only in actual use
during the night. It is found that the fish strike the nets in
much greater numbers when it is dark than while it is light :
the darkest nights, therefore, and those in which the surface
of the water is ruffled by a breeze, are considered the most
favourable. It is supposed that nets stretched in the day-
time alarm the fish, and cause them to quit the places where
that practice is followed ; it is therefore strictly forbidden.

A visit to the Herring-fishers on the west coast of Ire-
land is thus described by the author of " Wild Sports in
the West." " Having lighted our pipes, and procured our
boat-cloaks, we left the pier-head in the four-oared galley.
The night was unusually dark and warm ; not a breath of
wind was on the water ; the noise of the oars, springing in
the coppered rullocks, was heard for a mile off, and the
whistle of sandpipers and curlews, as they took wing from

188 CLUPEID.E.

the beach we skirted, appeared unusually shrill. Other
noises gradually broke the stillness of the night. The varied
hum of numerous voices chanting the melancholy songs which
are the especial favourites of the Irish, began to be heard dis-
tinctly, and we soon bore down upon the midnight fishers,
directed by sound, not sight.

" To approach the fleet was a task of some difficulty.
The nets, extended in interminable lines, were so frequent,
that much skill was necessary to penetrate this hempen laby-
rinth, without fouling the back ropes. Warning cries di-
rected our course, and with some delay we threaded the
crowded surface, and guided by buoys found ourselves in the
very centre of the flotilla.

" It was an interesting scene. Momently the boats glided
along the back ropes, which were supported at short intervals by
corks, and at a greater by inflated dog-skins, and, raising the
curtain of net-work which these suspended, the Herrings
were removed from the meshes, and deposited in the boats.
Some of the nets were particularly fortunate, obliging their
proprietors to frequently relieve them of the fish ; while
others, though apparently stretched within a few yards, and
consequently in the immediate run of the Herrings, were
favoured but with a few stragglers ; and the unemployed
fisherman had to occupy himself with a sorrowful ditty, or in
moody silence watched the dark sea like some dull ghost
waiting on Styx for waftage.

" Our visit appeared highly satisfactory ; every boat tossed
us Herrings on board, until we were obliged to refuse fur-
ther largess ; and these many ' trifles of fish ' accumulated so
rapidly, that we eventually declined receiving other compli-
ments, or we might have loaded the gig gunnel-deep.

" The darkness of the night increased the scaly brilliancy
which the phosphoric properties of these beautiful fish pro-
duce. The bottom of the boat, now covered with Herrings,

HERRING. 189

glowed with a living light, which the imagination could not
create, and the pencil never imitate. The shades of gold and
silvery gems were rich beyond description ; and, much as I
had heard of phosphoric splendour before, every idea I had
formed fell infinitely short of its reality.

" The same care with which we entered disembarrassed us
of the midnight fishing ; every boat we passed pressed hard
to throw in a cast of skuddawns (Herrings) for the strange
gentleman ; and such was the kindness of these hospitable
creatures, that, had I been a very Behemoth, I should have
this night feasted to satiety on their bounty.

" The wind, which had been asleep, began now to sigh
over the surface, and before we had cleared the outer back
ropes, the sea-breeze came curling the midnight wave. The
tide was flowing fast, and having stepped the mast, we spread
our large lug, and the light galley slipped speedily ashore."

In his Prize Essay on the Fishes of the Forth, Dr. Par-
nell says, " Herrings enter the Frith of Forth about the end
of December, or the beginning of January, and remain two or
three weeks at the mouth of the estuary before they attempt
to ascend. This delay seems greatly to depend on the state
of the weather ; for in some seasons, when it is mild and fine,
they have been observed to swarm in the Frith off Mussel-
burgh in the early part of January ; whilst, in the rough and
stormy seasons, they do not make their appearance on that
part of the coast before the middle of February ; and always
disappear before the end of March. They seem to visit the
Frith regularly every winter ; and a season very seldom passes
without a few being captured, and sent to the Edinburgh
market. Some years they appear in much larger shoals than
in others, the reason of which is not accounted for. In the
year 1816, Pilchards were taken in the Frith of Forth in
great abundance, when not a dozen Herrings were seen dur-
ing the whole winter. Since that time, not a single Pilchard

190 CLUPEID.E.

has been known to enter the estuary." In June, July, and
August, Herrings are taken off the Dunbar and Berwick

o * o

coasts in considerable number, from whence the Edinburgh
market is abundantly supplied, when scarcely a single Her-
ring is to be seen higher in the Frith of a size worth the

O o

notice of the fishermen.

The Herring having spawned, retires to deep water, and
the fishing ends for that season. While inhabiting the
depths of the ocean, its food is said by Dr. Knox to consist
principally of minute entomostracous animals ; but it is cer-
tainly less choice in its selection when near the shore. Dr.
Neill found five young Herrings in the stomach of a large
female Herring ; he has also known them to be taken by the
fishermen on their lines, the hooks of which were baited with
limpets ; and they have been repeatedly caught by anglers
with an artificial fly. They are known to feed upon minute
Crustacea, small medusse, and the spawn and fry of fishes.
The Rev. Robert Holds worth wrote me word that in Janu-
ary 1823s he took a small Bass three inches long from the
stomach of a Herring, caught at Kingswear, in the river Dart.
The young abound in the shallow water all round our shores
during the summer months. I have seen them taken off
Brighton in the small-meshed nets which are there used to
draw for Atherine ; and they are caught by boys while
angling from piers and rocks at various places along the
southern coast. They are very abundant on the Yorkshire
coast, where they are called Herring-sile ; and they swarm
among the Orkney and Shetland Islands during the whole of
the summer. They remain at the mouth of the Thames dur-
ing their first autumn and winter : many are caught on the
coasts of Essex and Kent in the nets used for taking Sprats.
From repeated examinations, I am induced to believe these
young fish do not mature any roe during their first year. A
few are occasionally caught by the net in Dagcnham Breach,

HERRING. 191

seldom exceeding eight or nine inches in length, and arc re-
markably mild in flavour.

The length of the head compared to the length of the
body alone, without the head or caudal rays, is as one to four ;
the depth of the body compared to the whole length of the
fish, as one to five ; the commencement of the dorsal fin
half-way between the point of the upper jaw and the end of
the fleshy portion of the tail : the longest ray nearly as long
as the base of the fin : the pectoral fin rather large compared
to the size of the other fins. The ventral fin arises consider-
ably behind the line of the commencement of the dorsal fin :
this fin is small, with elongated axillary scales ; its origin
half-way between the point of the lower jaw and the end of
the short central caudal rays. The anal fin begins half-way
between the origin of the ventral and the end of the fleshy
portion of the tail, and extends over half the distance be-
tween its origin and the end of the fleshy portion, thus
occupying the third quarter division of the distance between
the origin of the ventral fin and the end of the fleshy portion
of the tail ; the rays very short. The tail considerably fork-
ed ; the outer rays as long again as those of the middle.
The fin-rays in number are

D. 17 : P. 15 : V. 9 : A. 14 : C. 20. Vertebras 56;

varying in some specimens to

D. 19 : P. 17 : V. 9 : A. 16 : C. 18.

The lower jaw is by much the longer, with five or six
small teeth extending in a line backwards on each side from

O

the anterior point ; four rows of small teeth on the central
upper surface of the tongue ; a few small teeth on the central
portion of the upper jaw, and the inferior edges below the
gape finely serrated : the eye large ; its diameter compared to
the length of the head as two to seven, and placed at the

192

CLUPEID.E.

distance of its own breadth from the end of the nose : the
dorsal and abdominal lines of the body slightly convex ; the
belly carinated, but not serrated ; the scales moderate in size,
oval, and thin. The upper part of the fish a fine blue, with
green and other reflections when viewed in different lights ;
the lower part of the side and belly silvery white ; cheeks
and gill-covers silvery, exhibiting the appearance of extrava-
sation when the fish has been dead twenty- four hours. Dor-
sal and caudal fins dusky ; the fins on the lower parts of the
body almost white.

LEACH'S HERRIING. 193

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTFAIYGIL CLUI'EID.E.

LEACH'S HERRING.

Clupea Leachii, YARRELL, Zoological Journal, vol. v. p. 277, pi. 12.
,, ,, Leach's Herring, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 434.

THE examination of considerable quantities of the various
sorts of fish caught at the mouth of the Thames during
winter by fishermen engaged in taking Sprats, has enabled
me to select what I believe to be a second species of British
Herring.

The common Herring, when it visits our coast in autumn,
is taken heavy with roe, which it deposits towards the end of
October. It is certain that the fishing for them is aban-
doned about that time, as no purchasers could be found for
the " shotten Herring;" and it is also well known that the
Herrings, having cast their roe, retire from the shore to deep
water. Numbers of the young of the common Herring are
taken with the Sprats. These are called Yawlings by some
fishermen, a term probably derived from yearling. But
these young Herrings differ materially from the Herring which
I believe to be new. The yearling fish have the elongated

VOL. II. O

194- CLUPEID.E.

form of the adult common Herring : if seven inches long,
which is about their average length, they are only one inch
and three-eighths in depth, and are without roe. Having
examined them repeatedly during the winter months, I am
induced to believe they do not mature any roe during their
first year ; and the fact of their remaining in large shoals at
the mouth of the Thames after the Herrings that have
recently spawned have left the shore, may be taken in cor-
roboration ; for had they matured and deposited any roe,
they would, like the more adult fish of their own species,
have experienced the same necessity for retiring to deep
water.

The Herring, however, which I now refer to, is found
heavy with roe at the end of January, which it does not
deposit till the middle of February. Its length is not
more than seven inches and a half, and its depth near two
inches. It is known that Dr. Leach had often stated that
our coast produced a second species of Herring ; but I am
not aware that any notice of it has ever appeared in print.
In order, however, to identify the name of that distinguished
naturalist with a fish of which he was probably the first
observer, I proposed for it the name of Clupea Leachii.

Dr. Leach's observations on the Herring were made during
his visit to the extended line of our southern coast in the
year 1808 ; and Mr. Jesse, in his " Gleanings in Natural
History," has noticed the superiority and consequent partia-
lity that is said to exist in favour of the Herrings of Car-
digan Bay over those that are taken at Swansea.

Of the existence of a second species of Herring on our
shores further proof may be adduced in the following ex-
tracts.

" In former times," says Dr. M'Culloch, " the fishery
of the east coast of Scotland did not commence till that
on the west had terminated. It was then supposed, and

LEACH'S HERRING. 195

not very unreasonably, that the fish had changed their
ground, and that these Avere the western Herrings. Yet
it ought to have been plain that this was not the case,
as the eastern fish were entirely different in quality from
the western, and very inferior. At the same time, they
were in that condition as to spawning which proved that
they could not have been the same fish. The fact of their
being entirely different fish is now at least fully proved,
because on both shores the period of the fishery has been
the same." Journal of the Royal Institution, No. 32, for
January, 1824, p. 217.

" A smaller but superior species of Herring is found oc-
casionally in Loch Eriboll ; but it is chiefly used for home
consumption." Scotch Statistics, Durness,

There are three species of Herring said to visit the
Baltic, and three seasons of roe and spawning. The Strom-
ling, or small Spring Herring, spawns when the ice begins
to melt ; then a larger Summer Herring ; and lastly, towards
the middle of September, the Autumn Herring makes its
appearance, and deposits its spawn.

The length of the head compared to that of the body
alone, without the head or caudal rays, is as one to three ;
the depth of the body greater than the length of the head,
and compared to the length of the head and body together
is as one to three and a half; it is therefore much deeper
in proportion to its length than our common Herring, and
has both the dorsal and abdominal lines much more con-
vex : the under jaw longer than the upper, and provided
with three or four prominent teeth just within the angle
formed by the symphysis ; the superior maxillary bones
have their edges slightly crenated : the eye is large, in
breadth full one-fourth of the length of the whole head ;
irides pale yellow : the dorsal fin is placed behind the centre
of gravity, but not so much so as in the common Herring ;

o 2

196

the scales arc smaller ; the sides without any distinct lateral
line : the edge of the belly carinated, but not serrated ;
the fins small. The fin-rays in number are

D. 18 : P. 17 : V. 9 : A. 16 : C. 20. Vertebra 54.

The back and upper part of the sides are deep blue,
with green reflections, passing into silvery white beneath.
The flesh of this species differs from that of the common
Herring in flavour, and is much more mild.

Intending to make the fishing-boats of several countries
the subjects of some of the vignettes, that at page 192, repre-
sents a Dutch boat : the vignette below is a representation of
a French fishing-boat.

SPRAT.

197

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYGIL

CLUPEIDJE.

THE SPRAT.

OARVIE HERRING AND GARVIE. Scotland.

Clupeu sprattus, LINNKUS. BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 29, fig. 2.

,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 318.

,, ,, Sprat, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 457.

,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 435.

WILLUGHBY and Ray, deceived apparently by the mis-
application of the name by the fishermen of Cornwall, with
which the latter became acquainted during his journey in
that country, considered that the word Sprat was only a
name for the young of the Herring and of the Pilchard, and
others have been misled by their authority : but so well is
this fish distinguished from both by the strongly serrated
edge of the abdomen, that there is not a fisherman round
those parts of our coast where the Sprat is taken that cannot
immediately distinguish it from either, even in the midst of
the darkest night. Its characters being now sufficiently
appreciated, it is by some, and ought to be by all, admitted
as a good and distinct species.

Though a much less valuable fish than the Herring, it
is still a very useful one. Coming into the market in im-

1.08 CLUPEID.E.

mense quantities and at a very moderate price immediately
after the Herring season is over, it supplies during all the
winter months of the year a cheap and agreeable food.
Large quantities are eaten ; and, from their rich quality
and flavour, the consumption is not solely confined to the
lower classes. They are generally cooked while fresh, but
are also preserved in various ways.

The Sprat is included by Linnseus in his Fauna Suecica,
and by Professors Nilsson and Reinhardt in their publica-
tions on the Fishes of Scandinavia. Dr. Neill says the
Sprat is sold in Edinburgh market by the dozen ; and I
have received specimens that were taken in the Forth,
where they are called Garvie Herrings and Garvies. Dr.
George Johnston, in his list of the Fishes of Berwickshire,
says the Sprat is common there, and is a favourite food of
the Salmon tribe. Farther south, they are most plentiful
on the Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kentish coasts. I have
taken them on the Dorsetshire coast in June, and they were
then in roe. They inhabit the deep water round our south-
ern coast during the summer months, and may be found in
the stomachs of many of our voracious fishes every month in
the year. I have taken three Sprats from the stomach of a
Whiting, and have caught young Sprats off Ramsgate, Has-
tings, and Weymouth, in the months of August and Sep-
tember. Like the other species of the genus Clupea, they
are wanderers : the shoals are capricious in their movements,
and exceedingly variable in their numbers. " Upwards of a
ton weight of Sprats was sold in our market last Saturday."
(Taunton Courier, January 1832.) " It is nearly fifty
years since this useful fish visited the neighbouring coast, and
they now appear in exhaustless shoals close in shore on the
south coast of Devon."

The Sprat is occasionally taken in Cornwall ; and in Ire-
land, on the coasts of Cork, Dublin, and Belfast.

SPRAT. 199

In Cornwall the true Sprat is, however, very rare ; and
the name is appropriated, as it was by the old fishermen
whom Ray consulted one hundred and fifty-six years ago,
to the fry of the Herring and of the Pilchard. An analo-
gous misapplication of a name exists on the eastern coast,
where the true Pilchard rarely occurs, and where the name
of Pilchard is given to the fry of the Shad and the half-
grown Herring.

The fishing season begins early in November, continuing
through the winter months ; and the largest quantities are
taken when the nights are dark and foggy. A few, and
those of the best description, are taken in the same manner
as the Mackerel, the Pilchard, and the Herring, by drift-
nets of fine twine and suitable small mesh ; a mode of fishing
peculiarly adapted for the capture of those species which
rove in shoals through the water. But the most destructive
plan pursued against Sprats is by a mode called stow-boat
fishing. The stow-boat net goes with two horizontal beams :
the lower one, twenty-two feet long, is suspended a fathom
above the ground ; the upper one, a foot shorter in length,
is suspended about six fathoms above the lower one. To
these two beams, or balks, as they are called, a large bag-net
is fixed, towards the end of which, called the hose, the mesh
is fine enough to stop very small fry. The mouth of the
net, twenty-two feet wide and thirty-six feet high, is kept
square by hanging it to a cable and heavy anchor at the four
ends of the beams. The net is set under the boat's bottom ;
and a rope from each end of the upper beam, brought up
over each bow of the boat, raises and sustains the beam,
and keeps the mouth of the net always open, and so moored
that the tide carries everything into it. A strong rope,
which runs through an iron ring at the middle of the upper
beam, and is made fast to the middle of the lower beam,
brings both beams together parallel, thus closing the mouth

200 CLUPEID.E.

of the net when it is required to be raised. In this way an
enormous quantity of Sprats, with the fry of many other
species, are taken, which are principally sold by measure to
manure land near the coast.

From four to five hundred boats are thus employed during
the winter. Many thousand tons in some seasons are taken
and sold at sixpence and eight-pence the bushel, depending
on the supply and demand, to fanners, who distribute about
forty bushels of Sprats over an acre of land, and sometimes
manure twenty acres at the cost of twenty shillings an acre.
In the winter of 1829-30, Sprats were particularly abundant :
barge-loads, containing from one thousand to fifteen hun-
dred bushels, bought at sixpence a bushel, were sent up the
Medway as far as Maidstone to manure the hop-grounds.
The coasts of Kent, Essex, and Suffolk are the most produc-
tive. So great is the supply thence obtained, that notwith-
standing the immense quantity consumed by the million and
a half inhabitants of London and its neighbourhood, there is
yet occasionally a surplus to be disposed of at so low a price
as to induce the farmers even so near the metropolis as Dart-
ford to use them for manure.

A full-sized Sprat measures six inches in length, and
rather more than one inch and one-eighth in depth. The
length of the head compared to that of the body alone
is as one to four ; compared to the whole length of the fish,
as one to six : the depth of the body is to the whole length
as one to five. The dorsal fin commences exactly half-way
between the point of the lower jaw and the end of the caudal
rays : the ventral fins arise in a vertical line under the first
dorsal fin-ray, and have no axillary scales ; the ventral fins
in the Pilchard and Herrings begin under the middle of the
dorsal fin, and both have axillary scales, these are two other
external distinctions : the under jaw is the longest ; the dia-
meter of the eye less than one-fourth of the whole head : con-

SPRAT. 201

sklerable convexity of the dorsal and abdominal lines ; the
latter serrated before the ventral fins, and still more strongly
so behind them : the tail deeply forked ; the scales large,
round, and deciduous ; the upper part of the head and back
dark blue, with green reflections passing into silvery white on
the gill-covers, sides, and belly ; the dorsal and caudal fins
dusky ; pectoral, ventral, and anal fins white. The fin-rays
in number are

D. 17 : P. 15 : V. 7 : A. 18 : C. 19. Vertebra 48.

By the kindness of Mr. London, I have received some
small fish which came from Riga, where they are called Kil-
kies, and are eaten as a whet before dinner. They proved to
be our Sprat. At Reval, and other places in the gulf of
Finland, young Herrings (Stromling), when about the size of
Sprats, are prepared with spices, and sent to Petersburgh,
London, and other places, for the use of the table. These
are also in some estimation as a relish for lunch, from their
peculiar flavour, and are sold in small jars, labelled Kilo
Stromelein.

CLUPEID^E.

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYGI1. CLUPEIDJE.

THE WHITEBAIT.

Clupea alba, YARRELL, Zool. Journ. vol. iv. p. 137 and 465, pi. 10.
,, ,, Whitebait, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 465, pi. 80.
,, alnsa, Young Shad, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 98.
,, alba, Whitebait, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 436.

IN the papers on the subject of the Whitebait published
in the fourth volume of the Zoological Journal, I endea-
voured to prove, historically and anatomically, that this
little fish was not, as had been supposed, the young of the
Shad, but a distinct species. In its habits it differs mate-
rially from all the other British species of Clupea that visit
our shores or our rivers. From the beginning of April to
the end of September this fish may be caught in the Thames
as high up as Woolwich or Blackwall, every flood-tide, in
considerable quantity, by a particular mode of fishing to be
hereafter described. During the first three months of this
period, neither species of the genus Clupea, of any age or
size, except occasionally a young Sprat, can be found and
taken in the same situation by the same means. The young
Shad of the year are not two inches and a half long till

WHITEBAIT. 203

November, when the Whitebait season is over; and these
young Shad are never without a portion of that spotted ap-
pearance behind the edge of the upper part of the operculum,
which in one species particularly is so marked a peculiarity
in the adult fish. The Whitebait, on the contrary, never
exhibits a spot on the side at any age ; but from two inches
long up to six inches, which is the length of the largest I
have seen, the colour of the sides is uniformly white.

About the end of March or early in April, Whitebait
begin to make their appearance in the Thames, and are then
small, apparently but just changed from the albuminous
state of very young fry.* During the fine weather of June,
July, and August, immense quantities are consumed by
visiters to the different taverns at Greenwich and Black wall.
Pennant says, " They are esteemed very delicious when fried
with fine flour, and occasion during the season a vast resort
of the lower order of epicures to the taverns contiguous
to the places where they are taken." What might have
been the particular grade of persons who were in the habit
of visiting Greenwich to eat Whitebait in the days when
Pennant wrote, I am unable to state ; but at present, the
fashion of enjoying the excellent course of fish as served up
either at Greenwich or Blackwall is sanctioned by the high-
est authorities, from the court at St. James's Palace in the
West, to the Lord Mayor and his court in the East, includ-
ing the Cabinet Ministers-f- and the philosophers of the Royal
Society. As might be expected, examples so numerous and
influential have corresponding weight ; and accordingly there

* The Shad do not deposit their spawn till the end of June or the beginning
of July.

t In the Morning Post of the clay on which this account of the Whitebait
was written, September 10th, 1835, the following paragraph appeared:

" Yesterday the Cabinet Ministers went down the river in the Ordnance
barges to Lovegrove's West India Dock Tavern, Blackwall, to partake of
their annual fish dinner. Covers were laid for thirty-five gentlemen."

204 CLUPEID.E.

are few entertainments more popular or more agreeable than a
Whitebait dinner.

The fishery is continued frequently as late as September ;
and specimens of young fish of the year, four and five inches
long, are then not uncommon, but mixed, even at this late
period of the season, with others of very small size, as though
the roe had continued to be deposited throughout the sum-
mer ; yet the parent fish are not caught, and are believed by
the fishermen not to come higher up than the estuary, where,
at this season of the year, nets sufficiently small in the mesh
to stop them are not in much use.

The particular mode of fishing for Whitebait, by which
a constant supply during the season is obtained, was formerly
considered destructive to the fry of fishes generally, and great
pains were taken to prevent it by those to whom the conser-
vancy of the fishery of the Thames was entrusted ; but since
the history and habits of this species have been better under-
stood, and it has been ascertained that no other fry of any
value swim with them, which I can aver, the men have
been allowed to continue this part of their occupation with
little or no disturbance, though still using an unlawful net.

When investigating the subject of the Whitebait, I was
occasionally engaged in witnessing the mode by which such
numbers were taken. The mouth of the net is by no means
large, measuring only about three feet square in extent ; but
the mesh of the hose, or bag-end of the net, is very small.
The boat is moored in the tide-way, where the water is from
twenty to thirty feet deep ; and the net with its wooden
frame-work is fixed to the side of the boat, as shown in
the vignette at page 207. The tail of the hose, swimming
loose, is from time to time handed into the boat, the end
untied, and its contents shaken out. The wooden frame
forming the mouth of the net does not dip more than four
feet below the surface of the water ; and, except an occa-

WHITEBAIT. 205

sional straggling fish, the only small fry taken with the
Whitebait are the various species of Sticklebacks, and the
very common Spotted or Freckled Goby, described in vol. i.
page 288 ; neither of which are of sufficient value or import-
ance to require protection.*" The farther the fishermen go
down towards the mouth of the river, the sooner they begin
to catch Whitebait after the flood-tide has commenced.
When fishing as high as Woolwich, the tide must have
flowed from three to four hours, and the water become sen-
sibly brackish to the taste, before the Whitebait will be
found to make their appearance. They return down the
river with the first of the ebb-tide ; and various attempts to
preserve them in well-boats in pure fresh water have uniform-
ly failed.

The Hamble, which runs into the Southampton Water,
is the only other southern river from which I have received
Whitebait. But this I believe to be owing rather to the
want of a particular mode of fishing by which so small a fish
can be taken so near the surface, than to the absence of the
fish itself ; which, abounding as it does in the Thames, I have
very little doubt might be caught in some of the neighbouring-
rivers on our south and east coasts. In the vicinity of the Isle
of Wight, Whitebait, from their brilliancy and consequent
attraction, are used by the fishermen as bait on their lines
when fishing for Whitings.

The Thames fishermen who live at and below Gravesend
know the Whitebait perfectly, and catch them occasionally
of considerable size in the small-meshed nets used in the
Upper and Lower Hope for taking shrimps, called trinker-

* The fifteenth printed rule and order of the Lord Mayor and his court is,
that " no person shall take at any time of the year any sort of fish usually
called Whitebait, upon pain to forfeit and pay five pounds for every such
offence ; it appearing to this court that under pretence of taking Whitebait the
small fry of various species of fish are destroyed." Page 11.

206 CLUPEID.E.

nets, which are like Whitebait nets, only larger ; but these
nets, working near the bottom, principally arrest the fry of
the ground-swimming fishes.

The Sprat-fishers take the adult Whitebait frequently on
the Kentish and Essex coasts throughout the winter.

Dr. Parnell, in his History of the Fishes of the Forth,
says, " The Whitebait is not, as it was formerly considered
to be, peculiar to the Thames, as I have found it to inhabit
the Frith of Forth in considerable numbers during the sum-
mer months. From the beginning of July to the end of
September they are found in great abundance in the neigh-
bourhood of Queensferry, and opposite Hopetown House,
where I captured, in one dip of a small net of about a foot
and a half square, between two and three hundred fish, the
greater part of which were Whitebait of small size, not more
than two inches in length ; the remainder were Sprats, young
Herrings, and fry of other fishes.

" In their habits they appear to be similar to the young of
the Herring, always keeping in shoals, and swimming occa-
sionally near the surface of the water, where they often fall a
prey to aquatic birds."

The length of the head compared with that of the body
alone is as two to five ; the depth of the body compared to
the whole length of the fish, as one to five : the dorsal fin
commences half-way between the point of the closed jaws
and the ends of the short middle caudal rays ; the longest
ray of the dorsal fin as long as the base of the fin ; the ven-
tral fin arises behind the line of the commencement of the
dorsal, and half-way between the point of the closed jaws and
the end of the longest caudal rays ; the tail long and deeply
forked. The fin-rays in number are

D. 17 : P. 15 : V. 9 : A. 15 : C. 20. Vertebrae 56.
The head is elongated; the dorsal line less convex than

WHITEBAIT.

207

that of the abdomen ; the scales deciduous ; the abdominal
line strongly serrated from the pectoral fin to the anal
aperture.

The lower jaw the longest, and smooth ; the upper slightly
crenated : the tongue with an elevated central ridge without
teeth : the eye large ; the irides silvery : the upper part of
the back pale greenish ash ; all the lower part, the cheeks,
gill-covers, sides, and belly, silvery white : dorsal and caudal
fins coloured like the back ; the latter tipped with dusky :
pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, white. The only food I
could find in the stomach were the remains of minute crus-
tacea.

208

CLUPEID.E.

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYG1I.

CLVPE1DJE.

THE TWAITE SHAD.

Alosafinta, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 320.

,, ,, WlLLUGHBY, pi. P. 3, fig. 1.

,, ,, IM Feinte, DUHAMEL, sect. iii. pi. 1, fig. 5.
Clupea alosa, LINNAEUS. BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 30.

,, ,, Shad, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 460, pi. 80.

,, ,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 57.

,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 183, sp. 53.

,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 437.

ALOSA. Generic Characters. Upper jaw with a deep notch in the centre ;
in other respects like Clupea.

BARON CUVIEK, in the last edition of the Regne. Animal,
has advanced the Shads, of which we have two species, to the
rank of a genus, on account of the deep central notch in the
upper lip ; and I have followed this example for the addi-
tional reason that it will the more easily and effectually
afford the means of obtaining a desirable alteration in our
nomenclature.

According to Cuvier, most modern authors have misap-
plied the systematic trivial names of these two species, call-
ing the Shad with teeth, and several spots along each side,

TU'AITE SHAD.

C. alosa ; and the larger Shad without teeth, and with a
single spot only behind each gill-cover, or none at all, C.
Jinta.

The Alosa of Rondeletius is not described or figured as
possessing either teeth or spots ; and Cuvier, by his usual
research, had probably satisfied himself that the fish to which
the term alosa had been originally applied was a toothless
Shad, and that the toothed and spotted Shad was the true
Jinta. Pennant, in noticing the second British species of
Shad taken in the Thames and the Severn, which is without
teeth or the row of lateral spots, called it an Allis ; a name
which it would be desirable still to retain, in reference to the
generic term Alosa. The old name for the Shads was Lachia ;
and hence are derived Hallachia, Alachia^ Alosa^ Alose,
and Allis or Allice.

The differences noticed by Pennant and others in the
smaller species of Shad, taken also in the Severn, near
Gloucester, called the Twaite, induces the belief that it is
our common Thames Shad ; and the note by the editor
of the last edition of the British Zoology, at the foot of
page 463, (vol. iii.) is particularly deserving of notice. " I
suspect," says the note, " that the Shad and Twaite are
distinct species, and correspond with the Alose and Feinte of
Duhamel." This appears to be precisely the case, as a com-
parison of our two Shads with the representations in Du-
hamel's work will prove : and Professor Nilsson, in his Pro-
dromus of the Fishes of Scandinavia, which has been fre-
quently referred to, has correctly designated and described our
more common Shad of the Thames as ihe Jinta* of Cuvier.

I venture to propose the names of Twaite Shad and
Allice Shad for our two species, the better in future to dis-

* Page 22. C. Jinta Cuv. C. maxilla superiore antice profunde incisa ;
inferiore vix longiore ; maculls 5 6 lateralibus in serie positis ; deutibus
utriusque maxilla: distinctis. Longit. circa 15 poll.

VOL. II. P

210 CLUPEID.E.

tinguish them ; thus combining the generic name Shad with
a trivial name by which these two fishes have been hitherto,
to some extent at least, locally known.

The Twaite Shad then, if I may so call it, is a sea-fish
which enters our rivers about May, and in consequence of
the time of its annual visit to some of the rivers of the
European Continent is called the May-fish. The object
of its visit to the fresh water is to deposit its spawn ; and,
that accomplished, it returns to sea by the end of July.
Twaite Shads appear during these three months in abund-
ance in the Thames, from the first point of land below Green-
wich, opposite the Isle of Dogs, to the distance of a mile
below ; and great numbers are taken every season. These
fish produce, however, but a small price to the fishermen,
being in little repute as food, their muscles being exceed-
ingly full of bones and dry. Formerly great quantities of
the Twaite Shad were caught with nets in that part of the
Thames opposite the present Penitentiary at Millbank,
Westminster. Above Putney Bridge was another favourite
spot for them ; but the state of the water, it is believed,
prevents the fish ascending the river in the same manner as in
former years, and but few comparatively are taken. The
ordinary size of the adult fish of this species is from twelve
to sixteen inches.

Shad are not allowed to be caught in the Thames after the
30th of June, that the remaining fish may cast their spawn
without interruption from nets.*

The principal spawning-time of the Twaite Shad in the
Thames is about the second week in July, when numbers
may be seen and heard frisking at or near the surface. In
the language of fishermen, the Shad are said to thrash the
water with their tails : they appear to disencumber them-
selves of the matured roc by violent muscular action ; and

* Whitebait are plentiful throughout May and June.

TWAITE SHAD. 211

on a calm still evening or night the noise they make may be
heard at some distance. I have obtained the young only
two inches and a half long in October ; and suspect they
grow slowly, finding them only four inches long, and the
young of the larger Allice Shad only six inches long, in the
following spring.

The habits and habitat of the two species of Shads have
probably been very frequently confounded. Though both
are common in the Severn during a particular season, Mon-
tagu has not noticed the appearance of either on the coast of
Devon : yet the Rev. Mr. Holdsworth sends me word that
Twaite Shad are very common on that coast and in the rivers ;
he has taken several at one time when whiffing with a light
running line for Mackerel in the mouth of the Dart. The
bait was a slice of a Mackerel. Both species have been
noticed on the Cornish coast by Mr. Couch, and one has
been taken near Dublin. I learn from Mr. Heysham that
both species have been taken on the west coast of Cumber-
land. On the eastern coast it is common in the Thames ; is
occasionally taken off Yarmouth, on the Norfolk coast, with
the Herrings, and also in the Tyne. Dr. Parnell says, " On
the coast of Scotland, the Twaite Shad receives the name
of Rock Herring. We observe this fish enter the Frith of
Forth in tolerable abundance towards the end of July, and
dozens are then taken in the Salmon-nets, at almost every
tide ; but after August we lose sight of them until the fol-
lowing season. It appears to have a considerable range to
the northward, both Professors Nilsson and Reinhardt in-
cluding 1 it among the fishes of Scandinavia. The food of the

O O

Shads is small fish and the softer-skinned Crustacea.

The length of the head compared to the whole length
of the fish is as one to five ; the depth of the body rather
greater than the length of the head ; the distance from the
point of the nose to the commencement of the dorsal fin, mea-

CLUPEID.E.

sured again from thence backwards, falls far short of the end
of the fleshy portion of the tail ; the base of the last dorsal
fin-ray is half-way between the point of the nose and the end
of the caudal rays ; the longest ray of the dorsal fin is as long
as the base of the fin ; the ventral fins, without axillary scales,
are placed a little behind the line of the commencement of
the dorsal fin ; the base of the anal fin, occupying about
two-fifths of the space between the ventral fin and the end
of the fleshy portion of the tail, is shorter than the anal fin
in the Allice Shad, and has five rays less, beginning also
more forward : the tail deeply forked ; the caudal rays with
two thin membranous appendages on each side, parallel to
the seventh and thirteenth caudal rays, about an inch in
length by three-eighths deep ; all four membranes opening
from the centre, being attached by the outer edge only.
The scales of the body rather larger in proportion than those
of the Allice ; the lateral line, as in most of the Clupeidte,
scarcely perceptible. The abdomen strongly serrated. The
lower jaw the longest, with a few teeth anteriorly ; the
upper jaw with a deep central notch, and a row of small
teeth on the edge down each side. The breadth of the eye
equal to one-fourth of the length of the head ; the mucous
vessels on the surface of the gill-covers beautifully arbores-
cent ; the top of the head and back dusky blue, with brown
and green reflections in particular points of view ; from the
upper edge of the operculum a row of five or six dark spots
extend in a line backwards, the last generally the most in-
distinct, the number sometimes more than six ; the irides,
sides of the head and body, silvery white, with a tinge of
copper colour ; dorsal and caudal fins dusky ; pectoral, ven-
tral, and anal fins white. This species is immediately dis-
tinguished from the Allice Shad by possessing teeth, the
lateral spots, and the smaller anal fin. The fin-rays in
number are

D. 18 : P. 15 : V. 9 : A. 21 : C. 19. Vertebrae 55.

ALLFCE SHAD. 213

ABDOMINAL

MALACOPTERYCII. CLUPEW^.

THE ALLICE SHAD.

Alosa commwiis, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 319.

,, ,, WILLUGHBY, pi. P. 3, fig. 2.

,, ,, Allice, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 463.

,, ,, Alase, DUHAMEL, sect. iii. pi. 1, fig. 1.

Clupea alosa, Altis, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 439.

THE ALLICE SHAD, by far the larger of the two in size,
appears to be much more limited in its localities as a British
species. It is represented by Pennant and others as abund-
ant in the Severn, but is much less known elsewhere.

Dr. Hastings, in his Illustrations of the Natural History
of Worcestershire, at page 77 says, " This is another fish
which the Severn affords in great perfection. These fish
generally appear in May, though sometimes in April. This,
however, depends a good deal upon the quality of the water :
if it is clear, they ascend early in the spring ; but if there
happens to be a flood, they wait till the waters are restored
to their former purity ; and if they meet with a flood in
their progress upward, they immediately return, and keep
below Gloucester. The weight of this Shad (the Allice

214 CLUPEID.E.

of Pennant) is seldom less than four pounds ; they continue
in the river about two months, and are succeeded by a variety
called the Twaite, which is less than the Shad, never weigh-
ing more than two pounds, and is but little esteemed. Dr.
Fleming says, that the celebrated Whitebait of the Thames,
Avhich appears near Blackwall and Greenwich during the
month of July, is the fry of this fish ; but as, although the
Shad are plentiful in the Severn, we hear nothing of the
Whitebait,* further investigation seems to be required on
this point."

In the Thames, the Allice Shad is of rare occurrence.
A specimen was brought to me in 1831, that had been
caught above Putney Bridge ; and another was taken in
1833, which is noticed by Mr. Jesse in the third series of
his Gleanings in Natural History, page 147. " This fish
was taken June 25th, opposite Hampton Court Palace ; and
its appearance so high up the river is very unusual. On
taking it out of the well of the boat, it was full of spawn, and
died immediately ." I have had opportunities of examining
very fine specimens from the Severn, sent to me by T. B. L.
Baker, Esq. of Hard wick Court.

This species is not uncommon on the north-east coast of
Ireland. On the north-eastern coast of England, namely,
at Berwick, Dr. George Johnston says it is frequently taken
at the mouth of the Tweed in autumn, and sold in the mar-
ket, but held in no estimation. Dr. Parnell says this species
is rare in the Forth.

The flesh of this fish is said to be of good flavour,
and the quality is considered to improve the higher the fish
ascends the river. ^Elian says the Shads appear to take
pleasure in the sounds of musical instruments ; but if it
happens to thunder when they are ascending rivers, they
return rapidly to the sea.

: This, it may be remembered, was adduced as one of the proofs that the
Whitebait were not the young of the Shad.

ALLICE SHAD. 215

Both species of Shads have great resemblance, except in
size, to Herrings, and have been frequently called the mother
of Herrings, and king and queen of the Herrings. The large
Herrings of two feet in length, so called by Anderson and
others, and said to occur in the Northern Seas, and among
our Northern Islands, are no doubt to be considered as refer-
ring to our Shads.

The specimen described measured two feet in length ;
the body deep and compressed ; the thickness rather less
than one-third of the depth. The length of the head com-
pared to that of the whole fish is as one to six ; the depth
compared to the whole length, as one to four and a half.
The length of the base of the dorsal fin three inches ; the
fourth ray, which is the longest, is one-third shorter than the
whole length of the base of the fin ; the first and second rays
shorter than the third ; these three rays simple, all the others
branched : the first ray half-way between the point of the
nose and the last ray of the anal fin ; the last ray exactly
half-way between the point of the nose and the end of the
tail. Pectoral fin small ; the upper ray the longest, strong,
and simple ; the others branched : ventral fin also small ; the
first ray arising in a vertical line under the first ray of the
dorsal fin ; axillary scales long, narrow, and pointed : anal
fin commencing half-way between the ventral fin and the
origin of the lower caudal rays, nearly one-fourth longer in
the base than the dorsal fin ; the first three rays shorter than
the fourth, which is the longest, and only one-third the
length of the base of the fin : the tail long and slender,
deeply forked ; the rays of the middle only one-fourth of the
length of the longest external rays ; the seventh and thir-
teenth caudal rays furnished with membranous appendages on
each side similar to those observed in the Twaite Shad. The
fin-rays in number are

D. 19 : P. 15 : V. 9 : A. 26 : C. 20.

216

CLUPEIDE.

The lower jaw the longest and smooth ; the upper jaw
with a central notch ; the lateral edges crenated : the breadth
of the eye rather less than one-fifth of the length of the
head, and placed one diameter and a half from the end of
the nose : mucous vessels of the gill-covers beautifully dis-
tributed ; the nape and shoulders rise suddenly ; the greatest
depth of the body just before the ventral fin ; scales of the
body rather large, nearly circular, and thin ; no distinct
lateral line ; abdominal edge strongly serrated, particularly
behind the ventral fins. The colours very similar to those
of the Twaite Shad, with a single dusky patch behind the
operculum, sometimes scarcely visible.

Figure 1 of plate III. in Dr. Fleming's Philosophy of
Zoology is a representation of the Allice Shad.

ANCHOVY.

217

ABDOMINAL
MALACOPTERYGIL

CLUPEID&.

THE ANCHOVY.

Engraulis encrasicolus, Anchovy, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 183, sp. 54.
,, vulgaris, CUVIER, Regne An. t. il. p. 322.
,, WILI.UGHBY, p. 225, P. 2, fig. 2, App. 27.

Clitpea encrasicolus, LINNAEUS. BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 30, fig. 2.

,, ,, Anchovy, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 459, pi. 78.

,, ,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 50.

Engraulis eitcrasicholus, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 439.

ENGRAULIS. Generic Characters. Distinguished from the Herrings in hav-
ing the head pointed ; the upper jaw the longest ; the mouth deeply divided ; the
opening extending backwards behind the line of the eyes ; the gape and bran-
chial apertures very large ; the ventral fins in advance of the line of the com-
mencement of the dorsal ; the abdomen smooth ; branchiostegous rays 12.

I HAVE followed Dr. Fleming in preserving to the An-
chovy the old name by which it was formerly known. It
was called Lycostomus from the form of its mouth ; and
Encrasicholus Engraulis, because from its bitterness it
was supposed to carry its gall in its head. For this reason
the head as well as the entrails are removed when the fish is
pickled.

The Anchovy is a common fish in the Mediterranean
from Greece to Gibraltar ; and was well known to the Greeks
and Romans, by whom the liquor prepared from it, called

218 CLUPEID.E.

Garum, was in great estimation. Its eastern range is ex-
tended into the Black Sea.

The fishing for them is carried on during the night, and
lights are used with the nets.

The Anchovy is common on the coasts of Portugal, Spain,
and France ; it occurs, I have no doubt, at the Channel
Islands, and has been taken on the Hampshire coast.

The Rev. Robert Holdsworth wrote me word that An-
chovies had been taken in a Herring seine-net during autumn
in the river Dart ; and Mr. Couch, in his Cornish Fauna,
says that " this fish abounds towards the end of summer, and
if attention were paid to the fishery, enough might be caught
to supply the consumption of the British islands. Bloch
informs us that the fishery in the Mediterranean is carried on
from May to July, at which period this fish enters that sea
for the purpose of shedding its spawn ; and that when this
function is performed it returns to the Atlantic. I have not
found them upon our coast until the autumnal equinox ; and
the fishery would be chiefly followed in October and Novem-
ber, when the fish are in fine condition ; but some are met
with through the winter, and until the month of March."
The Anchovy is taken in the Bristol Channel. In the Ap-
pendix to Willughbys work, it is mentioned as having been
taken on the coast of Wales ; Mr. Bicheno has very recently
obtained several on the coast of Glamorganshire ; and Mr.
Dillwyn, in his contributions towards a History of Swansea,
says, " the late Charles Collins, Esq. showed me six pounds of
Anchovies which he had purchased in Swansea market for a
shilling ; and I have since ascertained, if a net with proper
meshes was used, that in some summers a vast quantity of
these fish might be taken in our bay." Pennant obtained it
near his own residence at Downing in Flintshire ; and it is
said to be sold frequently in Liverpool market. It has not,
that I am aware, been recognised on the coast of Ireland.

ANCHOVY. 21.0

The Anchovy is reported to be at this time an inhabitant
of the large piece of water below Blackwall, called Dagenham
Breach ; and in May 1838 I received one that was caught in
the Thames, where, however, this species is so little known,
that the specimen referred to was sent to me with a request
to know what fish it was.

In a series of notes on the occurrence of rare fish at Yar-
mouth and its vicinity, with which I have been favoured by
Dawscn Turner, Esq. there is mention of a specimen of the
Anchovy, taken on the beach, Avhich measured six inches and
a half in length. Mr. Couch says he has seen it in the Corn-
ish seas of the length of seven inches and a half : additional
proofs of the large size acquired by this fish on our shores.
Dr. George Johnston does not mention this species as occur-
ring' on the coast of Berwickshire, nor does Dr. Parnell

O

include it in his Fishes of the Forth : yet its range to the
North is extensive, as it is occasionally taken on the coast of
Norway and in the Baltic ; but is not included by Linnaeus
in his Fauna Suecica.

The Anchovy is immediately recognised among the spe-
cies of the family to which it belongs, by its sharp-pointed
head, with the upper jaw considerably the longest. The
length of the head compared with the length of the body
alone is as one to three ; the depth of the body but two-
thirds of the length of the head, and compared to the length
of the whole fish is as one to seven : the first ray of the dor-
sal fin arises half-way between the point of the nose and the
end of the fleshy portion of the tail ; the third ray of the
dorsal fin, which is the longest, is of the same length as the
base of the fin : the pectoral fin small ; the ventral fins arise,
in a vertical line, in advance of the commencement of the
dorsal fin, which is over the space betAveen the ventral and
anal fins : the base of the anal fin is as long as the distance
from its commencement to the origin of the ventral fins ; the

220

CLUPEID.E.

rays short : the tail deeply forked. The fin-rays in number
are

D. 14 : P. 15 : V. 7 : A. 18 : C. 19.

The breadth of the eye is one-fifth of the length of the
whole head ; the peculiarity in the comparative length of the
jaws has been previously noticed ; the gill-covers are elon-
gated ; the scales of the body large and deciduous : the
colour of the top of the head and back blue, with a tinge of
green ; irides, gill-covers, sides, and belly, silvery white ; the
fins delicate in structure, and greenish white ; the membranes
connecting the rays almost transparent.

COMMON COD.

221

SUBBRACHIAL

MALACOPTEtlYGII.

G/1D/D/E'.*

THE COMMON COD.

THE KEELING.

Morrhua vulgaris, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 331.

,, ,, Cod, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 191, sp. 76.

,, ,, Codfish, Keeling, WILLUGHBY, p. 165, L. l,fig. 4.

,, LINN*US. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 64.

,, ,, Common Codjish, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 231.

,, Codjish, DON. Brit. Fish.pl. 106.

Common Cod, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 440.

Gadus morrhua,

GADUS. Generic Characters. Body elongated, smooth, compressed towards
the tail ; back furnished with three dorsal fins ; ventral fins pointed ; abdominal
line with two fins behind the anal aperture ; the lower jaw with one barbule at
the chin ; branchiostegous rays 7.

BARON CUVIER'S first division of his second order of
fishes, those with flexible fin-rays, and with the ventral fins
attached to the abdomen, being concluded, the soft-firmed
fishes of the second division, or those forming his third
order, succeed. These are recognised by having the ventral

* The family of the Codfish.

222 GADID^E.

fins placed very near the pectorals ; the bones supporting the
former being attached to the bones of the shoulder support-
ing the latter : and this disposition of the ventral fins has
been conveniently referred to by the single term subbra-
chial.

This division includes some of the species most valuable
to man as articles of food and commerce : among which may
be particularly noticed some of those belonging to the first
family, which includes the Common Cod, Haddock, Whit-
ing, and many others to be hereafter referred to, all more
or less remarkable for the excellence of their flesh, which
is white, firm, separates readily into flakes, is agreeable to the
taste, wholesome, and cheap.

The old genus Gadus of Linnseus included fishes with one,
two, or three dorsal fins, one or two anal fins, with or without
barbules or cirri about the mouth, and of very different forms
of body. These have been separated by Cuvier, whose first
genus includes only those with three dorsal fins, two anal
fins, and one barbule at the chin, as the generic characters
determine.

The Common Cod is not only one of those species most
universally known, but is also one of the greatest intrinsic
value, whether we consider the quality of the fish itself, the
enormous numbers in which it is taken, or the extensive
rano-e over which it exists. In the seas with which Eu-

O

ropeans are best acquainted, this fish is found universally
from Iceland very nearly as far south as Gibraltar ; but it
does not exist in the Mediterranean : it is also found and
taken in abundance as far west as the shores of Newfound-
land.

In this country it appears to be taken all round the coast :
among the islands to the north and west of Scotland it is
abundant : most extensive fisheries are carried on : and it
may be traced as occurring also on the shore of almost every

COMMON COD. 223

county in Ireland. In the United Kingdom alone, this
fish, in the catching, the curing, the partial consumption and
sale, supplies employment, food, and profit to thousands of
the human race.

The Codfish is very voracious ; a favourable circumstance
for the fishermen, who experience little difficulty in taking
them with almost any bait whenever a favourable locality is
ascertained. As these fish generally inhabit deep water,
from twenty-five to forty and even fifty fathoms, and feed
near the ground on various small fish, worms, Crustacea,* and
testacea, their capture is only attempted with lines and hooks.
Two sorts of lines, adapted for two very different modes of
fishing, are in common use. One mode is by deep sea-lines,
called bulters, on the Cornish coast : these are long lines, with
hooks fastened at regular distances along their whole length
by shorter and smaller cords called snoods ; the snoods are six
feet long each, and placed on the long line twelve feet from
each other, to prevent the hooks becoming entangled. Near
the hooks these shorter lines, or snoods, are formed of separate
threads loosely fastened together, to guard against the teeth of
the fish. Some variations occur at different parts of the coast,
as to the number of hooks attached to the line, as well as in
the length of the snood ; but the distance on the long line
between two snoods is always double the length of the snood
itself. Buoys, buoy-ropes, and anchors or grapples, are
fixed one to each end of the long line ; the hooks are baited
with sandlaunce, limpet, whelk, &c. : the lines are always
laid, or, as it is termed, shot, across the tide ; for if the tide
runs upon the end of the line, it will force the hooks together,
by which the whole tide's fishing is irrecoverably lost : they
are deposited generally about the time of slack water, be-
tween each ebb and flow, and are taken up or hauled for

* Mr. Couch has taken thirty-five crubs, none less than the size of a half-
crown piece, from the stomach of one Cod.

GADID.E.

examination after being left about six hours, or one flood
or ebb.

An improvement upon this more common plan was some
years ago suggested by Mr. Cobb, who was sent to the
Shetlands by the Commissioners appointed for the improve-
ment of the fisheries. He fixed a small piece of cork within
a certain distance of the hook, about twelve inches, which
suspended and floated the bait so as to prevent its falling on
the ground ; by which method the bait was more freely shown
to the fish, by the constant and variable motion produced
upon it by the tide. In the old way, the bait was frequently
hid from the fish by being covered with seaweed, or was
consumed by some of the numerous star-fish and crabs that
infest the ground.

The fishermen, when not engaged in shooting, hauling, or
rebaiting the long lines, fish with hand-lines, armed with two
hooks kept apart by a strong piece of wire : each fisherman
manages two lines, holding one line in each hand ; a heavy
weight is attached to the lower end of the line not far from
the hooks, to keep the bait down near the ground, where the
fish principally feed. These two modes of line-fishing are
practised to a great extent nearly all round the coast ; and
enormous quantities of Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coalfish,
Pollack, Hake, Ling, Torsk, and all the various flat-fish,
usually called by the general name of whitefish, are taken.
Of Codfish alone, the number taken in one day is very con-
siderable ; from four hundred to five hundred and fifty fish
have been caught on the banks of Newfoundland in ten or
eleven hours by one man ; and a master of fishing- vessels
trading for the London market told me that eight men,
fishing under his orders off the Dogger Bank, in twenty-five
fathoms' water, have taken eighty score of Codfish in one day.
These are brought to Gravesend in stout cutter-rigged ves-
sels of eighty or one hundred tons' burthern, called storeboats,

COMMON COD.

built for this traffic, with a large well in which the fish are
preserved alive ; and of these a portion is sent up to Bil-
lingsgate market by each night-tide.

Well-boats for preserving alive the fish taken at sea, came
into use in this country early in the last century. They are
said to have been first built at Harwich about 1712. The
storeboats remain as low down as Gravesend, because the
water there is sufficiently mixed to keep the fish alive : if
they were to come higher up, it would kill them.

A change has lately taken place from the Cod having
shifted their ground. Formerly the Gravesend and Barking
fishermen obtained few Cod nearer than the Orkneys or the
Dogger Bank ; but for the last two or three years the supply
for the London market has been obtained by going no far-
ther than the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts, and even
between that and London, where previously very few fish
could be obtained.

Cod have been kept in salt-water ponds in different parts
of Scotland, and found to maintain their condition unim-
paired. Of these ponds there are three ; one in Galloway,
another in Fife, and a third in Orkney. That in Galloway
is at Logan, the seat of Colonel M'Dowall : it is a basin of
thirty feet in depth, and one hundred and sixty in circum-
ference, hewn out from the solid rock, and communicating
with the sea by one of those fissures that are common to
bold and precipitous coasts. A fisherman is attached to
this preserve, whose duty it is constantly to supply the fish
with the necessary quantity of food, which several species
soon learn to take eagerly from the hand. In the course of
the fishing for this daily supply, such fish as are not too
much injured are placed in the reservoir ; the others are cut
in pieces for food for the prisoners. The whelks, limpets,
and other tcstacea, arc boiled to free them from the shells ;

VOL. II. Q

GADID.E.

and no sooner does the keeper or his son appear with the
well-known basket of prepared food, than a hundred months
are sirnultaneonsly opened to greet the arrival. The Cod-
fish are the most numerous in this preserve ; one of which
has lived twelve years in confinement, and attained a large
size.

Dr. Parnell mentions that Cod are observed to thrive

better while under confinement than most of the species of

the same family, and in some instances they are found im-

proved by the change. Elias Cathcart, Esq. of St. Marga-

ret's, near North Queensferry, has kept for some time a

number of marine fishes in a salt-water pond of about two

hundred feet in length, and five fathoms deep, in which the

tide flows and ebbs twice in the day. The principal fishes

preserved are Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Flounders., and

Skate, which are retained prisoners by means of an iron

grating, placed at that part of the pond which communicates

with the Frith. They are fed by the keeper with sprats,

young herrings, and other small fishes, besides, occasionally,

with the intestines of sheep, which the Cod are observed to

devour with avidity. All the fish appear to thrive well,

especially the Cod, which are found to be firmer in the flesh

and thicker across the shoulders than those obtained from the

Frith of Forth, whence the Edinburgh market is supplied.

The Cod is abundant in the Orkney and other Scottish

Islands.

In a natural state the Cod spawns about February ; and
nine millions of ova have been found in the roe of one fe-
male. The Cod is in the greatest perfection as food from
the end of October to Christmas. It may, in fact, be said
of the whole of the family of Gadidtc, that they are in the
best condition for the table during the cold months of the
year. The young of the Cod, about six inches long, abound

COMMON COD. ''.',; 7

at the mouth of the Thames and Medway throughout the
summer : as autumn advances, they gain size and strength,
and are caught from twelve to sixteen inches in length by
lines near the various sandbanks in the Channel. When of
Whiting size, they are called Codlings and Skinners ; and,
when larger, Tumbling or Tamlin Cod.

On the coast of Durham and Northumberland, and at the
Isle of Man, the Cod acquire a dark red or reddish brown
colour ; and are called Rock Cod, Red Cod, Ware Cod, and
Red Ware Cod, when of this particular colour. I saw a
considerable quantity in this state in Berwick market, and
have had others sent to me by Dr. Johnston. Both the
varieties of our Common Cod for there appears to be two
well-marked varieties were equally red. This colour is con-
sidered to be the consequence of particular food obtained
while lying among weedy rocks. At a short distance only
from the situations named, the Codfish are of the usual
ash-green colour.

The largest Codfish I have a record of weighed sixty
pounds, was caught in the Bristol Channel, and produced
five shillings : it was considered cheap there at one penny
the pound. Pennant, however, states that a Codfish of
seventy-eight pounds' weight was caught at Scarborough, and
sold for one shilling.

There appears to be two well-marked varieties of the
Common Cod ; one with a sharp nose, elongated before the
eye, and the body of a very dark brown colour, which is
usually called the Dogger Bank Cod. This variety prevails
also along our southern coast. The other variety has a
round blunt nose, short and wide before the eyes, and the
body of light yellowish ash-green colour, and is frequently
called the Scotch Cod. Both sorts have the lateral line white.
I believe the distinction of more southern and northern Cod

S28 GADID.E.

to be tenable, and that the blunt-headed lighter-coloured
fish docs not range so far south as the sharper-nosed dark
fish. Our fishermen now finding plenty of Codfish near
home, the London shops for the last year or two have only
now and then exhibited specimens of the short-nosed northern
Cod : both varieties are equally good in quality, and both are
frequently taken on the same ground.

The length of the specimen described was three feet, and
the weight about twelve pounds. The length of the head
compared to the length of the body alone, without the cau-
dal rays, is as one to two and a half; the depth of the body
equal to the length of the head : the first dorsal fin com-
mences in a vertical line just behind the origin of the pecto-
rals ; the second dorsal commences in a line over the anal
aperture, and ends on the same plane as the first anal fin ;
the third dorsal fin and the second anal fin begin and finish
on the same plane : the tail nearly square ; all the rays of
the fins covered with an extension of the skin of the body.

The fin-rays in number are

D. 10. 20. 18. : P. 20 : V. 6 : A. 20. 16. : C. 26. Vertebrae 50.

The head is large ; the belly tumid and soft ; the body
tapering gradually throughout the latter half; the cavity of
the abdomen extended internally behind the anal aperture,
the intestine being recurved : the upper part of the head,
cheeks, back, and sides, mottled and spotted with greenish
ash ; the belly white ; the lateral line white, broadest along
the posterior half; all the fins dusky, the first and second
dorsal being rather lighter in colour than the rest : a broad
band of short teeth on the upper jaw, which is the longest,
and on the anterior part of the vomer ; a narrower band on
the lower jaw, with one elongated barbule at the chin : the
irides silvery, the pupil blue ; the breadth of the orbit one-
sixth of the length of the head.

COMMON COD.

229

Sonic yccirs since, I obtained from a fisherman at the
mouth of the Thames a fresh-caught example of a species of
morrhua, with the middle dorsal and the first anal fins short ;
the body as deep for its length as the luscus ; the length of
the head compared to the whole length of the fish as one to
three. Among the fishermen it was by some considered to
be an accidental deformity, with injury of the spine, and
their name for it was Lord-fish ; others said it was a fish
which they met with occasionally, and believed it distinct
from any other. A coloured drawing was made at the time,
from which the representation here given was taken, but the

fish was not preserved. The fin-rays were as stated ; and it
will be observed, on comparing the numbers, that they do
not differ very widely from those of the Common Cod.

D. 14. 19. 18. : P. 14 : V. 6 : A. 17. 11. : C. 24.

The figure above is taken from the drawing referred to,
but carefully reduced : upper part of the head, back, and fins,
mottled with two shades of brown ; the sides of the body
lighter ; the belly white ; the lateral line white, arching high
over the pectoral fins : the irides reddish orange.

230

ftADID.E.

It is probable that this is only an accidental deformity,
some injury to the spine having prevented the usual growth.

There is reason to believe that the Speckled Cod of Dr.
Turton, represented in his British Fauna as frequently taken
in the weirs at Swansea, is only the young of the Com-
mon Cod.

The vignette below represents the bones of the head in the
Codfish.

DORSE.

231

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

GADID/E.

THE DORSE,

OR VARIABLE COD.

Morrkua callaiias, CUVIER, Hegne An. t. ii. p. 332.
., ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 191.

,, ,, WlLLUGHBY, p. 172, L. 1, fig. 1.

Gadus ,, LINNAEUS. BLOCH, pt. ii. pi. 63.

,i BERKENHOUT, Syn. edit. 1795, p. 67, sp. 2.

,, ,, Variable Cod, PENN. Brit. Zoo!, vol. iii. p. 239.

,, ,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 441.

THE authority upon which this species was originally
introduced into the catalogue of British Fishes seems now to
be questionable. Neither Berkenhout nor the naturalists
who have followed him, in including the name of it, appear to
have seen any British example ; and Dr. Fleming, who from
his northern locality was the most likely to have seen speci-
mens, mentions it only on the authority of others, and does
not number it in his series of species. Since the publication
of the first edition of this work, Mr. Thompson of Belfast
has recorded in the Annals of Natural History the occurrence
of this species both in the North and South of Ireland,
namely, the counties of Antrim and Cork.

It appears to be a fish well known in the Baltic, and fre-

232 GADID.E.

quently called the Baltic Cod. It is included by Professor
Nilsson in his Fishes of Scandinavia, and seems to be fully
entitled to one of its names, that of Variable Cod, four
northern varieties appearing to be well known, which are
each distinguished there by a particular term referring to
peculiarities in the colouring. It spawns in March and
April.

Fabricius describes this species as being very numerous in
many parts of Greenland ; and Captain James C. Ross, in his
Natural History, Appendix to the last Arctic Voyage, says,
c ' our having found it on the north coast of the American
continent, along the shores of the inlet to the west of the
peninsula of Boothia, is an interesting feature in its history.
At the same time, the fact that the only four species of fish
which were found by us in that inlet, being also common to
Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, may be considered an addi-
tional proof, if any still be wanting, of a water communication
between these two seas. It is also worthy of remark, that
only two of these four species inhabit the sea on the east side
of the isthmus of Boothia."

The last published description of this species that I am
acquainted with, and most likely to have been taken from
the fish itself, is that by M. Nilsson, before referred to ; and
it is here given rather than multiply in print any well-known
description of older date. I have never seen a specimen of
the fish.

" Body elongated, subventricose ; head, back, and sides,
more or less spotted ; lateral line white, bent ; tail square ;
upper jaw much the longer ; snout prominent, sharp; under
jaw only half as long as the head, and ending on a line half-
way between the nose and the eye."

The fin-rays in number are

D. 15. 18. 20. : P. 20 : V. 6 : A. 19. 18. : C. 24.

Length from twelve to twenty-four inches.

HADDOCK. 233

SUBBRACHIAL

MALACOPTERYGIL GADIDft.

.

THE HADDOCK.

Morrhua aglefiniis, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 331.

,, ,, Haddock, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 191, sp. 77.

,, ,, Hadock, WILLVGHBY, p. 170, L. 2.

Gadus ,, LiNNjEus. BLOCH, pt. ii. pi. 62.

,, ,, Hadock, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 241.

,, ,, Haddock, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 59.

,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 441.

THE HADDOCK is almost as well known as the Common
Cod ; and from the quantity taken at numerous localities
round the coast, and the facility with which the flesh can
be preserved, it is a fish of considerable value. Besides
frequenting the coast of Great Britain, from the extreme
north to the Land^s End, the Haddock may be traced nearly
all round the shores of Ireland ; and the largest examples
have been taken in Dublin Bay and off the Nymph Bank.
Though ranging over a considerable space both north and
south of the geographical situation of this country, the Had-
dock does not exist either in the Baltic or in the Medi-
terranean.

GADIDE.

Haddocks swim in immense shoals, but are uncertain as
to their appearance in places that had been formerly visited,
and they are prone to change their ground after having
arrived. The enormous consumption of food even in a short
space of time, when the number of mouths is considered,
may be one powerful reason for seeking new localities.
They arc probably more abundant along our eastern coast,
from Yarmouth to the Tyne, than elsewhere. There they
are caught with long-lines and hand-lines, and the most
attractive baits are pieces cut from the Herring or Sand-
launce. Along our southern shore, where the trawl-net is
constantly in use, the Haddock, feeding near the bottom, is
frequently taken in the trawl. The most common weight
of a Haddock is from two to four pounds. I have seen
Haddocks of ten pounds 1 weight in the London market ;
the Brixham trawling-ground has produced Haddock of
fourteen pounds ; but the largest seen for some years past
weighed sixteen pounds, and was taken in Dublin Bay.

Haddocks spawn in February and March, and the young-
are six inches long by the beginning of September. When
kept in confinement in the salt-water preserve referred to in
the account of the Common Cod, the Haddocks were found
to be the tamest fishes in the pond, and took limpets one
after another from the hand. Their food is small fish, Crus-
tacea, and almost any of the inferior animals of the deep, even
the spiny Aphrodita. They are in the best condition for the
table during the last three months of the year.

The French fishermen call the Haddock, Hadot, whence
probably our name was derived.

Pennant says, " Our countryman Turner suggested that
the Haddock was the Onos or Asinus of the ancients. Dif-
ferent reasons have been assigned for giving this name to the
species, some imagining it to be from the colour of the fish,
others because it used to be carried on the backs of asses to

HADDOCK. 235

market." A different reason appears to me more likely to
have suggested the name : the dark mark on the shoulder
of the Haddock very frequently extends over the back and
unites with the patch of the shoulder on the other side, for-
cibly reminding the observer of the dark stripe over the
withers of the ass ; and the superstition that assigns the mark
in the Haddock to the impression St. Peter left with his
finger and thumb when he took the tribute-money out of
a fish of this species, which has been continued to the whole
race of Haddocks ever since the miracle, may possibly have
had reference, or even its origin, in the obvious similarity of
this mark on the same part of the body of the Haddock and
of the humble animal which had borne the Christian Saviour.
That the reference to St. Peter is gratuitous, is shown by the
fact that the Haddock does not exist in the sea of the coun-
try where the miracle was performed.

The length of the specimen described was twenty inches.
The length of the head compared to the length of the body,
without including the caudal rays, is as one to two and a
half; the depth of the body less than the length of the head :
the first dorsal fin commences in a line over the origin of the
pectorals ; the second dorsal fin begins in a line over the
anal aperture, and ends nearly on the same plane with the
first anal fin ; the third dorsal fin, and the second anal fin,
commence nearly on the same plane, but the base of the
first is longer than that of the second : the caudal rays rather
long, and the tail slightly forked. The fin-rays in number
are

D. 15. 21. 19. : P. 18 : V. 6 : A. 24. 18. : C. 25. Vertebra 54.

The head slopes suddenly from the crown to the point of
the nose ; the upper jaw much longer than the lower ; the
nose projecting beyond the opening of the mouth, which is
small ; a broad band of short teeth on the superior maxillary

236 GADID.E.

bones, and a patch of teeth also, of the same character on
the most anterior part of the vomer ; lower jaw furnished
with a narrow band of teeth : the barbule at the chin small :
the eye large ; the diameter of the orbit more than one-fourth
of the whole length of the head ; the iricles silvery ; the
pupil large, somewhat angular in form, and blue : the head,
cheeks, back, and upper part of the sides, dull greyish white ;
lower part of the sides and belly almost white, slightly mot-
tled with grey ; the body covered with small scales ; the la-
teral line strongly marked and black ; under the middle of
the first dorsal fin, but below the lateral line, a black patch,
which in many specimens extends over the back and unites
with the mark on the other side ; the dorsal fins and tail
dusky bluish grey ; pectoral, ventral, and anal fins lighter.

Dr. D. H. Storer of Boston, in his valuable Report on the
Ichthyology of Massachusetts, of which he very kindly sent
me a copy, says that immense shoals of the Haddock are
found on that coast in the spring, and continue through the
season until autumn. Page 125.

The vignette represents a Scheveling fish-cart.

\

BIB, POUT, AND WHITING POUT.

237

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYG1L

GADIDJE.

THE BIB, POUT, AND WHITING POUT.

SMELTIE, Zetland. KLEG, Scarborough. BLENS and
BLINDS, Devonshire and Cornwall.

Marrhua lusca, Bib, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 191, sp. 78.

,, barbata, Pout, ,, ,, ,, ,, sp. 79.

Asellus luscus, Bih <Sf Blinds, WILLUGHBY, p. 169.

,, barbutus, Whiting Pout, ,, -A pp. 22, L. 4.

Gadus luscus, LINN^US.

,, bar bat us, LINN/F,US. BLOCH, pt. v. pi. 166.

,, iitscus, Bib, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 247, pi. 34.

,, barbatus, Pout, ,, ,, ,, ,, p. 246.

,, luscus, Bib, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 19.

,, ,, Bib or Pout, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 442.

THE systematic terms which refer to the Bib and Pout are
here brought together in the belief that they are but different
names for the same fish.

Willughby, in his Ichthyology, page 169, first described
his Asellus luscus, under its Cornish names of Bib and Blinds.
Ray, in his Appendix to Willughby's work, which he edited,
admitted from Martin Lister, as a species, the Whiting

238 GADID.E.

Pout of the London market, not aware that it was the same
fish as the Bib of Cornwall, which had been already included
and described by Willughby himself. Ray continued them
as distinct in his own Synopsis, and was followed by Artedi,
Linnaeus, and others. Bloch, however, and Lacepede have
not admitted either in their works ; and Pennant, though
he gave each fish a place in his British Zoology, was
inclined to consider them identical. The excellent figure
of the fish given by Ray in Willughby's work, plate L. 4,
the possession of specimens obtained from various localities
between Berwick Bay on the north-east, and Devonshire in
the south-west, and these compared with drawings by Mr.
Couch of the Bib of Cornwall, leave no doubt that the
luscus and barbatus of authors are the same fish.

The Bib or Pout, though not abundant, is yet a well-
known species, which is found on many parts of our coast,
particularly those that are rocky. Northward it appears to
range as far as Greenland ; and is caught on the coasts of
Norway and Sweden. It is taken at Zetland and in the
Forth, where, as well as in Scotland generally, it is called the
Brassy. I have received specimens from Dr. Johnston, taken
at Berwick ; and it occurs on the coast of Norfolk. It is
common about the mouth of the Thames ; and on the Dutch
as well as the French coast. Along our southern shore as far
west as Devonshire, it is very commonly taken in the trawl-
nets ; but on the rocky coast of Cornwall it is caught by a
baited hook. It has been taken on the coast of Carnarvon-
shire, at Dublin, at Belfast, and Loch Foyle ; and I have no
doubt may be found all round the coast.

From a dark spot at the origin of the pectoral fin, in which
it resembles the Whiting, one of its most common names is
Whiting Pout ; and from a singular power of inflating a
membrane which covers the eyes and other parts about the
head, which, when thus distended, have the appearance of

BIB, TOUT, AND WHITING POUT. 289

bladders, it is called Pout, Bib,* Blens,* and Blinds.*
The flesh is excellent ; and, like most of the other fishes of
this family, it is in the best condition for the table in No-
vember and December. Its food is small fish and the vari-
ous animals allied to the shrimps. It is most frequently
caught in spring, because it then approaches the shore for
the purpose of spawning. The largest specimen I have seen
measured in length sixteen inches.

The length of the head is to the whole length of the fish
as one to four ; the depth of the body is greater than the
length of the head, and compared to the whole length of the
fish as one to three and a half; the first dorsal fin commences
in a vertical line a little behind the origin of the pectoral
fin ; the longest ray longer than the base of the fin : the rays
of the second dorsal fin are short ; the base of it as long again
as the base of the first dorsal fin, and ending nearly on the
same plane as the first anal fin ; the base of the third dorsal
fin is nearly as short as that of the first dorsal, commencing
and ending on the same plane with the second anal fin, and
both are similarly truncated. The ventral fins are consider-
ably in advance of the line of the origin of the pectorals ;
the first two rays elongated, and divided at the ends : the
anal aperture is in a line under the origin of the pectoral
fins, but the cavity containing the intestines extends much
farther back ; the first anal fin commences nearly in a line
with the beginning of the first dorsal, and ends on a line
with the ending of the second dorsal ; the rays forming the
middle portion of the fin the longest, the others declining in
length towards each extremity : the second anal fin, as before
mentioned, in extent of base and form like the third dorsal :
the tail long, the end of the rays nearly square.

* Probably derived from Bleb and 131ain, two old words meaning a blislei
or a bubble in the water.

GADID.E.

The number of fin-rays :

D. 11. 20. 16. : P. 18 : V. 6 : A. 33. 19. : C. 21. Vertebra) 48.

In the tails of the fishes of this family there are many
short rays which are not counted, being outside the longest
ray above and below.

In form the Whiting Pout is the deepest for its length of
the British Gailida : the upper jaw is the longest ; the band
of teeth of several rows, those forming the outer row the
largest ; under jaw with a single row ; the barbule at the chin
rather long ; various mucous pores about both jaws : the eyes
large ; the orbits covered with a loose membrane which the
fish has the power of distending ; the diameter of the eye
equal to one third of the length of the head; the irides
orange colour : the dorsal and abdominal lines exhibit con-
siderable convexity ; the body tapers rapidly from the line of
the ending of the second dorsal and first anal fins : the colour
of the head, back, and upper part of the sides, a yellow
reddish brown, becoming lighter on the belly, and tinged in
places with bluish grey ; at the base of the pectoral fins a
black spot : scales small and deciduous : posterior half of the
lateral line straight, then rising in a curve over the pectoral
fin ; all the fins, except the ventrals, dusky brown ; the ven-
trals nearly white ; the first anal fin in large-sized specimens
edged with fine blue.

POOR, OR POWER COD.

241

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGI1.

GADIDJE.

THE POOR, OR POWER COD.

Morrhua minuta, Poor, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 191, sp. 80.

Gadus mimttus, LINN/EUS. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 67, fig. 1.

,, ,, Power, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 249, pi. 34.

,, ,, WILI.UGHBY, p. 171.

,, ,, RAY, Syn. p. 163, fig. 6.

,, ,, Poor, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 444.

THE POOR, OR POWER COD, though somewhat similar
in general appearance to the Pout last described, is yet
readily to be distinguished from it by several well-marked
characters. It is not so deep when of the same length ; the
first anal fin does not begin so far forward as in the Pout by
nearly the whole length of the base of the first dorsal fin ; the
longest rays of the third dorsal fin and the second anal fin are
shorter than the bases of the respective fins, and do not,
therefore, produce the same vertically truncated appearance
as in the same relative fins of the Pont ; and the barbule at
the chin is much shorter.

The Power, or Poor Cod, the smallest of its genus, so

VOL. II. R

GADID.E.

called, it is said, on account of its diminutive size, seldom
exceeding six or seven inches in length, and therefore com-
paratively of little value, was first described as an English
fish by Dr. Jago, of Cornwall, and Avas introduced by Ray
at the end of his Synopsis, with a figure which particularly
exhibits the specific distinctions afforded by the form and
situation of the fins, which has been already adverted to, and
by which it may be immediately recognised.

Bloch says that the appearance of this fish in the Baltic is
a source of pleasure to the fishermen. It is called the fish-
conductor ; and excites great hopes of a rich harvest among
the larger species of the genus, the Cod, and others, which
follow in the rear, preying relentlessly on their more diminu-
tive generic companions : the fishermen in their turn prey
upon them.

Mr. Couch says it frequents the edges of rocks, is caught
by the hook, and, though always good for the table, is, on
account of its small size, chiefly used for bait. Montagu
says it is taken frequently on the Devonshire coast with the
hook, and also in the crab-pots. In the nets worked on that
coast it is caught along with the Bib, the fishermen selling
both as Whiting Pout.

It is included by Mr. Thompson in his catalogue of the
Fishes of Ireland, as occurring occasionally on various parts
of the coast, both in the north and south.

Dr. Storer, in his Report, already referred to, and which
will be frequently quoted in reference to American fishes,
says that this species has been taken once in the harbour of
Boston, but has not been previously noticed as belonging to
the American shores.

The length of the head compared to the whole length of
the fish is as one to five ; the depth of the body rather more
than the length of the head : the first dorsal fin begins be-
hind the line of the origin of the pectorals : the longest ray

POOR, OR POWER COD. 243

as long as the base of the fin : the second dorsal fin begins
and ends on the same planes with the first anal fin ; the base
of the second dorsal fin as long again as the base of the first
dorsal fin ; the base of the third dorsal fin rather more than
half as long as that of the second dorsal ; the third dorsal and
the second anal fins begin and end on the same planes, and
the peculiarity of their forms has been referred to. The
vent, or anal aperture, is in a line under the most posterior
portion of the first dorsal fin ; the first anal fin begins im-
mediately behind the vent, and under the commencement of
the second dorsal fin ; the second anal fin has been noticed ;
the tail is long, with the rays slightly forked. The number
of fin-rays :

D. 12. 19. 17. : P. 14 : V. 6 : A. 25. 17. : C. 18.

The head is short and the nose blunt : the barbule at the
chin neither so long nor so slender as in the Pout ; several
mucous pores about the mouth : the eye large ; the breadth
equal to one-third of the length of the head ; the irides
orange : the scales of the body minute and deciduous ; the
lateral line but slightly curved, and that only where it rises
over the pectoral fin : the upper part of the head and back
brownish yellow, becoming lighter on the cheeks and sides ;
the belly dirty white ; pectoral, dorsal fins, and tail, yellow
brown, darker at the edges ; ventral and anal fins dirty yel-
lowish white.

244

GADIDE.

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGIL

GAD1D&.

THE WHITING.

Merlangus vulgaris, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 332.

,, ,, Whiting, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 195, sp. 91.

,, ,, ,, WlLLUGHBY, p. 170, L. 5.

Gadus merlangus, LINK/EUS. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 65.

,, ,, Whiting, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 255.

,, ,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 36.

Merlangus vnlguris, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 445.

MERLANGUS. Generic Characters. The same as those of Morrhttn,, except
that they have no barbule at the chin.

THE WHITING is well known for the excellence of its
flesh, surpassing in delicacy that of any of the other species
of the valuable family of fishes to which it belongs : the
pearly whiteness of its flaky muscles, added to its extreme
lightness as an article of food, recommend it particularly to
invalids who are unable to digest more solid nutriment.

It is caught in great abundance almost all round our
coast, and may be traced from the Orkneys to Cape Clear.
Whitings of several pounds' weight have been caught as far
north as the Dogger Bank ; they have been taken also of

WHITING.

nearly equal size on the coast of Cornwall ; and on the
Nymph Bank, along the extended line of the south coast
of Ireland. In that country they have also been found
on the eastern coast from Waterford to Antrim, and from
thence north and west as far as Lough Foyle.

The fishing for Whiting with lines is pursued nearly all
the year through ; but the fish is most plentiful in the
months of January and February, when it comes in large
shoals towards the shore for the purpose of depositing its
spawn, and is taken in abundance within half a mile, and
seldom exceeding three miles, from land. A much larger
quantity than is consumed while fresh being frequently
taken, a portion is easily preserved either by salting or
drying.

The Whiting is a voracious feeder, and seizes indiscrimi-
nately any of the mollusca, worms, small Crustacea, and
young fishes. I remember to have taken several Sprats
from the stomach of a Whiting ; and Mr. Couch has known
four full-grown Pilchards taken from the inside of a Whiting
that weighed four pounds. It appears to prefer sandy banks,
but shifts its ground frequently in pursuit of the various fry
of other fishes, upon which it principally subsists.

Though occasionally occurring in the London market of
three or four pounds 1 weight, the most usual size is from
twelve to sixteen inches in length, and wei^hino 1 about one

o ' O O

pound and a half.

The length of the head compared to that of the body
alone is as one to three ; the depth of the body not equal to
the length of the head, or compared to the whole length as
one to six. The first dorsal begins behind the line of the
origin of the pectorals and before the line of the vent ; the
second dorsal and first anal fins end on the same line ; the
third dorsal and second anal fins begin and end on the same
plane ; the ventral fins are placed very forward ; the second

246

ray elongated : the anal aperture is in a line under the mid-
dle of the first dorsal fin ; the first anal fin commencing just
behind the vent ; the tail elongated ; the end nearly square.
The fin-rays are

D. 13. 19. IP. : P. 19 : V. fc> : A. 31. 20. : C. 30. Vertebra; 55.

The body of the Whiting, like the bodies of those be-
longing to this division, is longer for its depth than that of
the Codfish ; the scales small, oval, and deciduous ; the
lateral line dark and straight posteriorly, but rising gradually
throughout the anterior half; the head elongated ; the mouth
and gape large ; the tongue white and smooth ; the upper
jaw decidedly the longest, with one row of large and sharp-
pointed teeth on the outer edge, and several rows of smaller
ones within ; the vomer with a few teeth arranged in a semi-
circular line on the anterior part ; the lower jaw with various
mucous orifices along the under surface, and a single row of
sharp teeth along the upper outer edge, which, when the
mouth is closed, range within the outer row of teeth on the
upper jaw : the eye in breadth less than one-fourth of the
head, and placed more than its breadth from the end of the
nose ; the irides silvery ; the pupils blue. The upper part
of the head and the back above the lateral line pale reddish
ash brown ; sides and belly silvery white ; pectoral, caudal,
and dorsal fins, pale brown ; ventral and anal fins almost
white ; the pectoral fins each with a decided dark patch at
the base.

COUCH S WHITING.

247

SUBBRACH1AL
MALACOPTERYG11.

GADW/E.

COUCH'S WHITING.
Merlangus albus.

Gadus albus, Risso, Ichth. p. 1 15.

Merlangus poutassou, ,, Hist. vol. iii. p. 227.

IN the month of May 1840 I received a communication
from Mr. Couch of Polperro to the following effect : " On
the 5th of this month I had the good fortune to procure a
new species of the Gadidee, new at least to Britain : it is
the species described by M. Risso in his Ichthyology of Nice,
page 115, and suspected by him not to be the Whiting of
the Northern ocean, from which it differs in several decisive
particulars."

M. Risso makes but few observations upon this fish either
in his single volume on the Ichthyology of Nice, published
in 1810, or in his Natural History of the Productions of the
Environs of Nice, published in five volumes in 1826. He
says it inhabits the sea of Nice, and is taken at all seasons ;
that it spawns in the spring, and that its flesh is rather soft.
This quality of the flesh of the Whiting of the Mediterra-
nean was mentioned to me by Dr. Lush, the superintendent

248 GADID.E.

of the Botanic Garden at Bombay, on his recent visit to this
country. M. Risso, in his Ichthyology, refers for an illustra-
tion of his fish to BloclVs plate 65, which is that of our well-
known and common Whiting ; but a glance at the two figures
here given, will show the distinctions, which M. Risso was
aware of, as he adds, " this fish appears to me to be a new
species : I invite naturalists to compare it with those of the
Northern seas."

The fin-rays, as given by M. Risso in the two works
already quoted, are as follows :

D. 12. 12. 22. : P. 18 : V. 7 : A. 28. 20. : C. 38. Hist.
D. 12. 10. 20. : P. 20 : V. 6 : A. 34. 22. : C. 36. Ichlh.

The fin-rays as given by Mr. Couch are

D. 13. 12. 22. : P. 20 : V. 6 : A. 35. 25. Vertebrae 53.

Mr. Couch's description is as follows :

" Length fifteen inches ; the depth in a straight line, two
inches and a half: from the base of the first dorsal fin to the
vent, along the curve, three inches ; from the mouth to the
edge of the gill-covers, three inches ; from the same to the
anterior edge of the eye, one inch ; the eye large, the form a
perpendicular oval ; under jaw the longest ; the upper maxil-
lary bone terminal, the snout receding from it backward, con-
trary to the form of the Whiting, in which the upper jaw is
under a projection ; the general form of the body resembles
that of a Whiting, but rather more slender ; the back round-
ed, as if the specimen was plump, thus showing its slender
form not to be the result of emaciation ; teeth in the jaws as
in the Whiting ; on the roof of the mouth a pair of pro-
minent, sharp, incurved teeth ; lateral line straight, and pass-
ing near the back ; another line along the middle of the body
formed by the meeting of the muscles ; the body ending-
arrow-shaped at the caudal fin ; the first dorsal fin begins over

COUCH'S WHITING. 249

the posterior third of the pectoral ; the second dorsal fin like
the first in form and elevation, both being triangular; be-
tween them a space about equal to their separate breadth ;
nearly twice this breadth between the second and the third
dorsal fins ; the beginning of the third dorsal fin is slightly
anterior to that of the second anal fin ; caudal fin shaped as in
the Whiting, but less wide ; the pectoral fin ends opposite
the middle of the first dorsal fin ; ventral fins small and slen-
der, placed rather high on the side, and much like those of
the Whiting Pollack (Merlangus Pollachius); the longest
fibre measures seven-eighths of an inch ; from the point of the
under jaw to the vent, four inches and one quarter ; from the
centre of the vent to the commencement of the first anal fin,
one quarter of an inch ; first anal fin long, widest in the mid-
dle ; the second anal longer than the third dorsal, both end
close to the caudal fin : colour brown ; belly white ; a dark
spot at the upper margin of the pectoral fin ; along the base
of the anal fins a broad white band ; no such band at their
margin. The distinctions between this fish and the Whiting
are obvious, in the jaws, fins, lateral line, colour, and ver-
tebrse. The brilliant white along the base of the anal fins
remained unaltered, after the brilliancy of all beside had
considerably changed. The muscular substance of the fish
was more pulpy than that of the Whiting. It was taken
with an ordinary bait, at a few miles from land."

The figure given at the head of this subject was carefully
reduced from the drawing sent me by Mr. Couch ; and I beg
here to record my sincere acknowledgement and thanks to
him for his obliging communication.

250

GAD1D.E.

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYG1I.

GAD1D&,

THE COALFISH.

Merlaiigus curbonurius, COVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 332.

,, ,, Coaljish, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 195, sp. 93.

,, ,, Colefiih, WILLUGHBY, p. 168, L. 3.

Gadus ,, ,, LINN^US. BLOCH, pt. ii. pi. 66.

,, ,, Coaljish, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 250.

,, ,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish.pl. 13.

Merlangus ,, Coal-Fish, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 446.

THE COALFISH is most decidedly a northern fish, but,
being a hardy species, is not without considerable range
to the southward. It was the only fish found by Lord
Mulgrave on the shores of Spitzbergen ; and the fry, only
four or five inches in length, were caught with the trawl-
net on the west coast of Davis's Straits, during the first
voyage of Captain Sir Edward Parry. It is found on
the coast of the United States. It abounds in all
the northern seas and in the Baltic, and may be said to
swarm in the Orkneys, where the fry all the months of
summer and autumn are the great support of the poor.
Dr. Neill, in his tour of the islands of Orkney and Shetland,
saw an old man, and perhaps one or two boys, seated
upon almost every projecting rock, holding in each hand a

COAL FISH. 251

wand or fishing-rod, and catching young Coalfisli as fast as
they coidd bait their hooks.

As an article of food, it is more prized when small
than when of large size. The flesh of specimens weighing
from fifteen to thirty pounds is usually preserved, either
salted or dried.

This fish has more provincial names than any other spe-
cies, some of which only refer to it when of a particular
size. Among the Scotch islands the Coalfish is called
Sillock, Piltock, Cooth or Kuth, Harbin, Cudden, Sethe,
Sey, and Grey-Lord. In Edinburgh and about the Forth
the young are called Podleys ; at Newcastle the fry are
called Coalsey ; and, when twelve inches long, Poodlers.
Many are caught along shore ; and frequently, also, from a
boat rowed gently, the angler using a rod in each hand, and
trailing a fly from each line.

Mr. Couch says, " It is in the highest condition from
October to December, at which season it prowls after prey
in large companies ; so that when met with they prove a
valuable capture to the fishermen : for though but coarse
food, yet being wholesome, substantial, and cheap, they
are eagerly purchased by the poor either fresh or salted.
They swim at no great depth, and with great rapidity ;
but when attracted by bait, will keep near a boat until all
are taken ; and I have known four men with two boats,
two men in each boat, take twenty-four hundred-weight
with lines in a very few hours. The season for spawning
is early in spring; immediately after which this fish becomes
so lank as to be worthless, in which state it continues through
the summer."

In the Orkneys, according to Mr. Low, the young appear
about May ; in the Tyne, about June ; and on the Cornish
coast in July. The adult fish are called Rauning Pollacks
by the Cornish fishermen : vanning being the ancient and

GAD1D.E.

even the popular modern pronunciation of ravening, used in
reference to voracity.

The Coalfish may be traced on the Irish coast from Wa-
terford along the eastern shore to Belfast, under the various
names of Black Pollack, Blockin, and Grey-Lord.

When detained and well fed in a salt-water pond, Coal-
fish acquire large size. " They were bold and familiar ;
floating about slowly and majestically, till some food was
thrown to them ; this they seized voraciously, whether it
consisted of shell-fish or ship-biscuit. They would also
occasionally approach the margin and take food from the
hand." Jesse's Gleanings.

From the point of the lower jaw to the end of the oper-
culum the length is to that of the body and tail as one to
three and a half ; the depth of the body about equal to the
length of the head : the first dorsal fin begins behind the line
of the origin of the pectoral fin and before the line of the
vent ; the second dorsal and the first anal fins end together
nearly on the same plane ; the third dorsal and second anal
fins nearly parallel : the fleshy portion of the tail elongated ;
the rays forked : the ventral fins small ; and the rays of the
pectoral fin only extending as far as the line of the vent.
The fin-rays are

D. 11. 20. 20. : P. 19 : V. 6 : A. 24. 19. : C. 32.

The head and body elegantly shaped ; the scales small
and oblong ; the lateral line silvery white and nearly straight ;
the upper part of the head and the back above the lateral
line almost black ; much lighter in colour below the line,
becoming greyish white with golden reflections on the sides
and belly ; pectoral, caudal, and dorsal fins, bluish black ;
ventral and anal fins greyish white : the upper jaw rather
the shortest ; the lips tinged with purple red ; the mouth
black ; the teeth very small ; the irides silvery white ; the
pupil blue.

POM.AI N .

253

SUBBRACHJAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

GADID&.

THE POLLACK.

WHITING POLLACK. LYTHE, Scotland.

Merlangus pollachius, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 333.

,, ,, Pollack, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 195, sp. 92.

,, ,, Whiting Pollack, WILLUGHBY, p. 167.

Gadus ,, LINNJEUS. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 68.

,, ,, Pollack, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 254.

,, Whiting Pollack, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 7.

Merlangus ,, Pollack, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 446.

THE POLLACK is much less abundant on some parts of
the coast than the Coalfish ; but, like that species, is an in-
habitant of the seas all round our shores. Mr. Low, in his
" Natural History of the Orkneys," says, " They are fre-
quently caught close in with the shore, almost among the
sea-ware, and in deep holes among the rocks. They seem
to be a very frolicsome fish ; and I have been several times
fishing for them when they would keep a constant plashing
in the water. They bite keenly, scarce allowing the hook
to be in the water before one or other jumps at it. They
are better eating than the Coalfish ; but I do not know
whether they are ever dried or preserved otherwise, as the
quantity caught is scarce worth curing." Hand-line fishing
for Pollacks, Mackerel, &c. is called whiffing.

25-i OADID.F..

This fisli is called Lythe in Scotland, as already quoted ;
l)ut whether this term is intended to refer to its supple,
pliant activity, or is derived from lithos, a stone, from its
living among rocks, I have not seen stated. Fine speci-
mens of the Pollack are taken about the rocky coast of
Scarborough, where they are called Leets.

The Pollack is caught at Hastings and Weymouth.
Colonel Montagu says it is frequently taken in Devonshire,
where it is bought by the inexperienced as Whiting. When
only twelve or fourteen inches long, the flesh possesses a
considerable portion of the pearly appearance and delicacy of
that fish.

Mr. Couch says, " The Pollack is at all seasons one of
our most common fishes, but it is not gregarious except in
pursuit of prey ; and it rarely wanders far from its usual
haunts, which are along the edges of rocks, where, with the
head directed towards the coming tide, it is ready for any
prey that approaches. The smaller ones, which occupy such
a station covered with oreweed, have their colours very
bright, and the belly of a saffron yellow ; while on clean
ground they are less brilliant. In summer evenings, they
are often seen eager in pursuit of the sandlaunce, frequently
spring from their element, and are often taken by anglers
from the rocks and piers. The Pollack spawns in winter
near the land ; and the young abound near the edge of the
tide in rocky ground at the beginning of summer."

In Ireland, the Pollack may be traced as occurring on
the coast of the counties of Cork, Waterford, Dublin, An-

trim, Londonderry, and Donegal, under the names of Pol-
lack, Laith, and Lythe.

The length of the head compared to that of the body is as
one to three and a half; the depth of the body is to the
whole length of the fish as one to four and a half: the first
dorsal fin begins, as in the Coalfish, behind the line of the

POLLACK.

255

origin of the pectoral fin, and before the line of the situation
of the vent ; the second dorsal fin and the first anal fin end
on the same line ; the third dorsal fin and the second anal
fin begin and end very nearly on the same plane ; the first
ray of each of the dorsal fins the longest ; the ventral fin
very small ; the anal aperture in a line under the middle of
the first dorsal fin ; the fleshy portion of the tail long and
slender ; the end of the rays concave. The fin-rays in num-
ber are

D. 12. 19. 15. : P. 19 : V. 6 : A. 24. 16. : C. 31.

The lower jaw is much the longest ; the mouth and lips
red, with various mucous orifices about them ; the hides sil-
very ; the sclerotic coat cartilaginous ; the upper angle of
the operculum produced ; the body elongated ; the upper
part of the head and the back above the lateral line olive
brown ; the sides dull silvery white mottled with yellow, and
in young fish spotted with dull red ; the lateral line dusky,
curved over the length of the pectoral fin, then descending
and passing in a straight line to the tail ; the dorsal fins and
tail brown ; the pectoral and anal fins brown edged and
tinged with reddish orange.

In December 1839, my kind friend, Robert Ball, Esq. of
Dublin, sent me notice of a curious monstrosity observed in
a Pollack caught during the previous spring, remarkable for
the great elongation of the rays of the first dorsal fin, which
had grown to more than three times their usual length.

256 OADIDE.

SUBBRACHTAL

MALACOPTERYGII. GADID/V.

THE GREEN COD.

Merlangus virens, CUVIEU, Regne An. t. ii. p. 33.

,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 195, sp. 94.

Gadus ,, LINN/EUS.

,, ,, Green Cod, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 253.

Merlangus ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 447.

THE GREEN COD was first added to the catalogue of
British Fishes by Pennant, on the authority of Sir Robert
Cullum, Bart.; and if a distinct species, which some have
doubted, it is not only abundant, but has an extensive
range.

It is mentioned as an inhabitant of the northern seas by
Linnseus and others, and is included in the recently pub-
lished works of Professors Nilsson and Rei.nb.ardt, who have
devoted particular attention to the fishes of Scandinavia.
Dr. Neill says it is taken in the Frith of Forth during
summer ; and Mr. Couch obtains it on the Cornish coast of
eight or ten inches in length. Mr. Forbes and Mr. Wal-
lace tell me it is abundant at the Isle of Man.

This fish is by some considered as the young of the Coal-
fish, and by others as the young of the Pollack. It appears,

GREEN COD. 257

however, to be decidedly distinct from the Pollack, in hav-
ing its jaws nearly equal in length : in the Pollack the
under jaw is by much the longest ; the lateral line in the
Green Cod is straight, in the Pollack the lateral line is
curved over the whole length of the pectoral fin. Mr.
Couch in his MS. considers the Green Cod as the young of
the Coalfish, with which it certainly agrees in both the par-
ticulars in which it differs from the Pollack, but differs also
decidedly in colour from the Coalfish. It seems to combine
in itself the colouring of the Pollack with some of the pecu-
liarities of the Coalfish, but appears also to be deeper for its
length than either ; though if the young of a large species,
judging by analogy, that would not be the case.

Following the example of the Northern naturalists, who
have opportunities of making constant comparison between
this fish and the Coalfish from the abundance of both, and
who have hitherto considered them distinct, the Green Cod
is here allowed a separate place. The figure is from a draw-
ing by Mr. Couch, whose opinion is entitled to attention ;
and the subject invites the investigation of those who are so
located as to be able to obtain examples of both.

Not possessing a specimen, the description here given is
derived from the Prodromus of M. Nilsson. The under
jaw scarcely longer than the upper ; the tail deeply forked ;
the lateral line straight, white ; the colour of the back dark
green, passing by degrees into silvery grey on the sides.

From six to twelve inches is the usual size allowed to the
Green Cod ; M. Nilsson gives it a length from two to three
feet, and adds that it spawns in winter.

The number of fin-rays as stated by Linnseus :

D. 13. 20. 19. : P. 17 : V. 6 : A. 24. 20. : C. 40.

Dr. Fleming adds, " Teeth in the upper jaw, numerous,
strong."

VOL. II. S

258

GADID.E.

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGIL

GA

THE HAKE.

Merlucius vulgaris, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 333.

M ,, Common Hake, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 195, sp. 95.

The Hake, WILLUGHBY, p. 174.

Gadus merlucius, LINN/EUS. BLOCH, pt. v. pi. 164.

,, Hake, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 257.

,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 28.

Merlucius vulgaris, Common Hake, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 447.

MERLUCIUS. Generic Characters. The head flattened ; the body elongated ;
the back furnished with two dorsal fins ; the first short, the second long ; but
one anal fin, also very long ; no barbule at the chin.

THE HAKE is another of the species belonging to this
large and valuable family of fishes, which has an extensive
range, being found in the seas of the North of Europe, and
also in the Mediterranean.

Though inhabiting the seas of the western coast of Nor-
way, and included by Linnaeus in his Fauna Suecica, Dr.
Fleming says it is rare in Scotland ; and it appears to be
most abundant along the southern coast of England. Ports-
mouth market receives an abundant supply, which is brought
by fishing-boats from the Devonshire coast ; and Montagu
says there is also an abundance in the market of Plymouth.

According to Mr. Couch, " The Hake is a roving fish

HAKE.

on the Cornish coast, without much regularity in its move-
ments. From January to April, which is its season for
spawning, it keeps near the bottom, and loses the great
voracity by which it is characterised at other times, so that
multitudes of them are caught in trawls, and but few with
a line ; but, when Pilchards approach the shores, it follows
them, continuing in incalculable numbers through the winter.
It rarely happens that Pilchards are taken in a scan without
many Hakes being enclosed with them ; and thus, when the
net remains in the water for several days, they have an
opportunity of glutting themselves to their heart's desire,
which is to such an extent as to render them helpless, and 1
have seen seventeen Pilchards taken from the stomach of a
Hake of ordinary size. Their digestion, however, is quick,
so that they speedily get rid of their load ; and fishermen
observe that, when hooked, the Hake presently evacuates the
contents of the stomach to facilitate its escape ; so that when
hundreds are taken with a line, in the midst of prey, not one
will have anything in its stomach : when near the surface,
however, this rejection does not take place until after they are
dragged on board."

The Hake may be traced nearly all round the coast of
Ireland ; and is so abundant in the Bay of Galway, that,
according to a recent writer, this bay is named in some
ancient maps the Bay of Hakes. On that part of the
Nymph Bank off the coast of Waterford, this fish is also
so plentiful, that one thousand have been taken by six men
with lines in one night. It is a voracious fish, as its sys-
tematic name of merlucius, Seapike, implies. It is a coarse
fish, not admitted to the tables of the wealthy; but large
quantities are annually preserved both by salting and drying,
part of which is exported to Spain.

The Hake is very common on the northern shore of the
Mediterranean, and considerable traffic is carried on with

260 GADID.E.

tins fisli ; they are packed with aromatic plants, and sent
to the towns removed from the coast. The Hake is de-
scribed and figured by Rondeletius, and was known to the
older naturalists before him.

A Hake of three feet eight inches long in the shop of
a London fishmonger, in May 1835, supplied the means
of obtaining the following particulars. The length of the
head, compared to the length of the body alone, as one
to three ; the depth of the body not so great as the length
of the head : the ventral fins are placed in advance of the
pectorals ; the rays not unequally elongated : the pectoral
fins commence in a line under the posterior angle of the
operculum ; the rays ending with the end of the first dorsal
fin : the first dorsal fin itself short and triangular in shape ;
the second dorsal fin commences in a line over the vent ;
the anal fin begins immediately behind the vent ; both the
second dorsal fin and the anal fin terminate on the same
plane, near the tail ; the rays of both, towards the end, elon-
gated ; the caudal rays about three inches long, and nearly
even. The fin-rays in number are

D. 10. 29. : P. 11 : V. 7 : A. 21 : C. 19.

The head is depressed : the inside of the mouth and
gill-covers black ; lower jaw the longest ; teeth slender and
sharp, in a single row in each jaw : the irides yellow with
a dark cuter circle. The lateral line of the body straight
throughout the posterior half, then gradually rising to the
upper edge of the operculum ; the appearance of the lateral
line is that of one white line between two dark ones : the
scales large ; colour of the body dusky brown above, lighter
beneath ; dorsal and caudal fins dark ; ventral and anal fins
pale brown.

I have inserted a new figure of our Hake at the com-
mencement of this subject ; the figure used in the former

HAKE. 261

edition, and which now, for comparison, is inserted as a
tail-piece, does not sufficiently exhibit the elongation of
the rays at the posterior part of the second dorsal and anal
fin, the rays being represented as rather adpressed, and ap-
pearing shorter than they were intended to be. This has,
I fear, led to some misconception, as the following extracts
seem to show.

In a communication from the Rev. R. T. Lowe, M.A.
printed in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for the
year 1840, page 36, describing certain new species of Ma-
deiran Fishes, and containing additional information relating
to those already described, Mr. Lowe observes, " The Ma-
deiran Hake, or Pescada, Merlucius vulgaris of my Syn-
opsis, page 189, proves, upon better acquaintance, distinct
from the common British Hake, Cuvier, Yarrell, he. Gadus
merlucius, Linn. Instead of being even, the dorsal and
anal fins are each produced at their hinder end into a rounded
lobe ; the jaws are nearly equal in length ; the teeth are large
and numerous ; the scales small. I do not name it, for I
believe it has already been called by Mr. Swainson M. sinu-
atus ; and I am doubtful whether it may not also be the
M. escidentus of Risso, vol. iii. p. 220, though in his syno-
nyms he has confounded it with the true Northern Hake. I
believe it to be the fish imperfectly figured long ago by
Salvianus, p. 73, copied by Willughby, t. L. membr. 2, n. 1,
which has usually been referred to also as the Northern
Hake."

Mr. Swainson's remarks in his Natural History and Clas-
sification of Monocardian Animals, more especially Fishes,
vol. i. p. 319, are as follow : " To the first of these (the
Merluciruz), named by Rafinesque Merlucius, after the
Gadus merlucius of Linnaeus, belongs the common Hake,
peculiar to the Northern seas, with which the Mediterranean
Hake (M. sinuatus, Sw. fig. 73), now for the first time

GADID.F..

described, has hitherto been confounded by all writers : we
presume this is the species, which, under the belief that it
was the common one, Cuvicr says is abundant in the Me-
diterranean."

It is to be regretted that Mr. Swainson has not mentioned
the characters upon which he founds his distinction between
the Mediterranean and the Northern Hake ; the name and
the figure given, which is here copied, are the only guides.
If the specific term sinuatus is intended to refer to the form
of the dorsal and anal fins as a distinguishing character, it
may be desirable to state that the figures of the common
Hake, as given by Dull am el and Bloch, present the same
peculiarities, particularly in reference to the elongation of
some of the posterior rays of the dorsal and anal fins. Pen-
nant, in describing our British Hake, says of the second
dorsal fin, " of which the last rays are the highest." Mr.
Couch, who lives on a part of our coast which abounds with
Hakes occasionally, sends me word, in answer to my inquiry,
that the new figure here employed at the commencement of
this subject is a good representation of the general form of
our Hake, but that the degree of extension of the fin-rays
and the character of the waved line formed by the margin of
the fins are varied in different specimens of the fish. Dr.
Parnell, in his minute description of the Hake found in the
Frith of Forth, says of the second dorsal fin, " the first
twenty-two rays of equal length, as long as the sixth ray of
the first dorsal, the twenty-third to the twenty-seventh rapid-

HAKE. 263

ly increasing : the remaining rays gradually diminishing, the
last very short." Of the anal fin, Dr. Parnell says, " the
first, second, and third rays gradually increasing in length,
the following eighteen about equal height ; the twenty-
seventh considerably the longest, the rest gradually diminish-
ing, the last very short." Lastly, I may add, that the repre-
sentation of the Northern Hake in the work now in progress
of the Fishes of Scandinavia by MM. Fries and Ekstrom ex-
actly accords with the new figure here engraved.

I have no reason to suspect that I made any mistake either
in the counting or the printing the number of the various fin-
rays in the specimen I examined ; but there are considerable
differences when compared with the enumeration by Pennant
and Dr. Parnell : thus the numbers are according to Pen-
nant

D. 9. 40. : P. 12 : V. 7 : A. 39.

According to Dr. Parnell

D. 10. 39. : P. 14 : V. 7 : A. 37 : C. 20.

The Hake, according to Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Storcr,
appears to be taken both at New York and at Boston.
The fin-rays as given by Dr. Mitchell :

D. 12. 38. : P. 13 : V. 7 : A. 41 : C. 27.

Dr. Storer :

D. 12. 38. : P. 13 : V. 7 : A. 39.

264

GADID.E.

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

GADJD/E.

THE LING.

Lota molua, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 333.

Asellus longus,
Gadus inotva,

Motva vulgaris,
Lota molva,

WILLUGHBY, p. 175, L. 2.

LINN^US. BLOCII, pt. ii. pi. 69.

Ling, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 262.

,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 102.

Common Ling, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 192, sp. 82.
Ling, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 448.

LOTA. Generic Characters. In addition to the elongated body, with two
dorsal fins and one anal fin, possessed by the species of Merlncius last described,
may be added, chin with one or more barbules.

THE LING is a very valuable species, scarcely less so than
the Coalfish or the Cod. Large quantities are taken among
the Western Islands, in the Orkneys, and on the Yorkshire
coast ; in Cornwall, and the Scilly Islands ; and may be
traced nearly all round the Irish coast. The fishing for them
is by hand-lines and long-lines ; and besides a portion that is
consumed fresh, the fish are split from head to tail, cleaned,
salted in brine, washed, and dried : but the demand generally
falls short of the quantity cured, and the hardy fishermen are
but poorly requited. The ports of Spain are the markets
supplied ; and so valuable an article of commerce was Ling
considered formerly, that an act for regulating the price of

LING. 265

Ling, Cod, &c. was passed as early as the reign of Edward
the Third.

The air-bladders, popularly called Sounds, are prepared
separately, and, with those of the Codfish, are sold pickled.
The roes, which are of large size, are also used as food, or,
preserved in brine, are sold to be employed to attract fish.
Another produce of the Ling is the oil extracted from the
liver, which is used by the poor to supply the cottage lamp ;
and as a medicine, Mr. Couch says, which those who have
been able to overcome the repugnance arising from its nau-
seous smell and taste, have found effectual in severe cases of
rheumatism, when taken in small beer in doses of from half
an ounce to an ounce and a half. Formerly from fifty to sixty
gallons of this oil, and that from the liver of the Codfish, were
dispensed in one large establishment for this purpose, and it
was found to act best when the perspiration was increased.
The exudation from the skin of those to whom it was ad-
ministered always became strongly tainted with it.*

In Zetland, the principal fishing for Ling is from May
to August. On the Yorkshire coast the young are called
Drizzles. In Cornwall they are caught in January and
February, and their favourite haunts are about the margins
of the rocky valleys of the ocean. The Ling is exceedingly
prolific, and of most voracious appetite, feeding on young
fish, not sparing anything that has life, and the prey is
swallowed whole, so that no great art is required to catch it.
It is tenacious of life, and survives great injury. " I once,"
says Mr. Couch, " saw a Ling that had swallowed the usual
large hook, shaft foremost, of which the point had fixed in
the stomach, and as the line drew it, it turned round, en-
tered the opposite side of the stomach, and fastened the
organ together in complicated folds ; yet having escaped by

* Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, vol. iii.;
and Dr. Bardsley's Medical Reports, 8vo. 1807, p. 18.

266 GADID.E.

breaking the line, it survived to swallow another hook and be
taken several days after."

The most usual length of the Ling is from three to four
feet ; Pennant mentions having heard of one which mea-
sured seven feet ; and Mr. Couch has known them weigh
seventy pounds.

Not having an opportunity of describing from a specimen,
I copy, by permission, the description of the Rev. Mr.
Jenyns, as given in his Manual of the British Vertebrata,
page 458, species 133.

" Body slender, more elongated than that of the Hake ;
roundish : head flat : gape large : lower jaw shorter than the
upper, with a single barbule at its extremity : teeth in the
upper jaw small, and very numerous ; those in the lower
jaw longer and larger, forming but a single row : lateral
line straight : scales small, firmly adhering to the skin : two
dorsal fins of equal height ; the first short, commencing
near the head, not pointed as in the Hake, but with most
of the rays even ; second long, immediately behind the first,
reaching nearly to the caudal ; the posterior portion the
most elevated : vent in a line with the eighth or ninth ray
of the second dorsal fin : anal fin immediately behind it,
long, resembling the second dorsal fin, and terminating on
the same line with it : caudal rounded at the extremity.

" The fin-rays are

D. 15. 65. : P. 15 : V. 6 : A. 97 : C. 39.

" The back and sides grey, inclining to olive ; sometimes
cinereous, without the olivaceous tinge ; belly silvery : ven-
trals white ; dorsal and anal edged with white ; caudal
marked near the end with a transverse black bar ; the
extreme tip white."

BURBOT.

67

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGII.

GAD1DJE.

THE BURBOT.

EELPOUT. BURBOLT.

Lota vulgaris, Burbot, JENVNS, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 448, sp. 134.
,, ,, CUVIEH, Regne An. t. ii. p. 334.

,, ,, WILLUGHBY, 125.

Gadus lota, LINN/EUS. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 70.
Burbot, PENN. Brit. Zool. p. 265.

DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 92.
Moloa ,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 192, sp. 83.

THE BURBOT is the only British species of this numerous
family of fishes that lives permanently in fresh water, and
prefers in this country slow running rivers ; but is neither
so generally known, nor so much esteemed and encouraged, as
from the goodness of its flesh it deserves. It is said to be
found in various parts of the North of Europe, Siberia, Asia,
and India. In this country it is rather local. It occurs in
the Cam, and in some of the rivers of Norfolk and Lin-
colnshire. The Trent produces it, and Nottingham market
is occasionally supplied with examples for sale. The Tame
is said to contain the Burbot, and so also do several rivers
in the counties of Yorkshire and Durham ; as the Ouse, the

268

GADIDE.

Esk, the Skcrn, near Mainsforth, which afterwards runs into
the Tees near Croft Bridge, and the Derwent.

The Burbot is not unlike the Eel in some of its habits,
concealing itself under stones, waiting and watching for its
prey, consisting of aquatic insects and young fish, under
arches and near eddies, into which such small and weak
animals are likely to be brought by the current of the water.
It feeds principally during the night ; and, like the Eel, is
most frequently caught by trimmers and night-lines.

The Burbot is sometimes called Coney-fish, from its habit
of lurking and hiding itself in holes like a rabbit.

It spawns in February or March ; is very tenacious of
life, and is said to have lived a considerable time in a
damp and cold situation, fed on small fishes and raw meat.
In this country it has been known to attain the weight of
four pounds and a half; but a more common size is about
two pounds' 1 weight. Pennant mentions one taken in the
Trent which weighed eight pounds. In the Lake of Geneva,
into which it is stated the Burbot was introduced from
Neufchatel, it has been taken of seven pounds 1 weight.
The flesh is white, firm, and of good flavour, by some con-
sidered superior to that of the Eel ; and as the Burbot is in
its nature extremely hardy, few difficulties present them-
selves in the way of their increase in quantity, while the
value of the fish would amply repay the trouble or the cost
of the experiment. It would probably thrive well and mul-
tiply in large lakes.

Length from one to two feet : the head depressed, smooth ;
jaws equal ; chin with one barbule ; the gape large, with
small teeth above and below ; eyes of moderate size ; gill-
opening large : the length of the head compared to that of
the body as one to four : the form of the body cylindrical,
compressed posteriorly. The first dorsal fin is small and
rounded ; the second elongated, reaching nearly to the tail ;

BURBOT.

269

both dorsal fins nearly uniform in height : ventral fins placed
very forward, narrow, and pointed ; the pectoral fins large
and rounded ; the anal fin begins on a line behind the
commencement of the second dorsal fin, but ends very nearly
on the same plane : the tail oval, and slightly pointed. The
fin-rays in number are

D. 14. 68. : P. 20 : V. 6 : A. 67 : C. 36.

The colour of the body yellowish brown, clouded and
spotted with darker brown, and covered with a mucous secre-
tion ; the under parts lighter : the lateral line indistinct and
straight ; scales small ; the fins partaking of the colour of the
part of the body from which they emanate, those of the lower
surface being much the lightest.

270

GAD1D.E.

SUBBRACHJAL

MALACOPTERYGU.

GADW.L.

THE THREE-BEARDED ROCKLING.

SEA LOCHE. WHISTLE-FISH.

Motella vulgaris, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 334.
,, tricirrata, NILSSON, p. 48.

,, ,, Three-Bearded EocUing, JENYNS, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 449,

sp. 135.

,, ,, WlLLUGHBY, p. 121, II. 4, fig. 4.

Mustela marina, Rockling, RAY, Syn. p. 164, sp. 9, fig. 9.

Gadus tricirratus, BLOCK, pt. v. pi. 165.

,, mustela, Three- Bearded Cod, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 267, pi. 36.

,, ,, Hackling, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 2.

,, tricirratus, Three-Bearded Gade, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 193, sp. 86.

MOTELLA. Generic Characters. Body elongated, cylindrical, compressed
posteriorly ; the first dorsal fin very slightly elevated, delicate in structure,
scarcely perceptible ; second dorsal and anal fins long, continued nearly to the
base of the tail.

THE THREE-BEARDED ROCKLING, included by the
Rev. Mr. Jago in his Catalogue of the rarer Fishes of Corn-
wall, and published by Ray, with a figure, at the end of
his Synopsis, though not uncommon on the Devonshire and
Cornish coasts, as noticed by Colonel Montagu and Mr.
Couch, is more rare on our shores generally than the Five-

THREE-BEARDED ROCKLING. 271

Bearded Rockling, of which by some it has been considered
only as a variety. It is also rare on the east coast of Scot-
land. It frequents rocky ground that is well furnished with
sea-weed, among which it threads its way with great ease and
rapidity. Besides the localities mentioned, it has been taken
also at Weymouth, in Belfast Bay, and in the vicinity of
Carlisle, probably in the Solway Frith. The individual
figured by Willughby, whose early representation of this fish
is very good, was obtained by him at Chester.

Mr. Thompson says it is generally distributed on the coast
of Ireland.

Of its habits, Mr. Couch says, " It keeps in shallow
water, feeds on aquatic insects, and will take a bait ; but it is
not commonly used as food, because it smells unpleasantly
in the course of a few hours. It is not easy to explain
the use of the frinared membrane behind the head and before

O

the dorsal fin ; it has nothing in common with the fins ;
but when the fish is lying perfectly still, and all the fins are
at rest, this is often in rapid motion. The barbules on the
upper jaw are always extended in front, and probably serve
the same purposes as the antennae in insects. 1 "

Bloch says that it spawns in autumn ; but other observers
consider that it deposits its spawn in winter, like most of,
if not all, those of the same family.

Pennant, in his account of the Five-Bearded Rockling,
says, " The Cornish fishermen are said to whistle, and make
use of the words bod, bod, vean, when they are desirous of
taking this fish, as if by that they facilitated the capture,
in the same manner as the Sicilian fishermen repeat their
Mamassu di pajanu, &c. when they are in pursuit of the
Swordfish." But this name of Whistle-fish was, according
to Jago's Catalogue, attached to the Rockling with three
barbules only, and even among them was but occasionally
applied to the larger specimens. Pennant, it will be ob-

272 GADID.E.

served, speaks of the cause of the application of the name of
Whistle-fish on the authority of others ; and on inquiry, I
find that the custom of whistling when fishing is neither
practised nor known to the Cornish fishermen of the present
day, and, in fact, that this fish is of too little value to be
an object of any solicitude. I believe, indeed, that while
preserving the sound of the name, the term has been changed,
and a very different word substituted, and that for Whistle-
fish we ought to read Weasel-fish. Both the Three and
the Five Bearded Rocklings were called mustela from the
days of Pliny to those of Rondeletius, and thence to the
present time.

A specimen fourteen inches long, and beautifully spotted,
was presented to the Zoological Society in 1832. The
finest examples of this species I have seen were two given
me in December 1834, by Dr. Thackeray, the Provost of
King's College, Cambridge, from the largest of which, mea-
suring seventeen inches in length, the wood-engraving was
executed, and the following description taken.

The length of the head compared to the length of the
body alone, without the caudal rays, is as one to four ; the
depth of the body equal to the length of the head : the first
dorsal fin delicate in structure ; the first ray elongated, the
rest hair-like : the second dorsal fin commencing immediately
behind the end of the first, and reaching along the back to
the tail, but ending a little short of the base of the caudal
rays : ventral fins with the first two rays elongated, the
second the most so, the two disunited ; the other five rays
nearly equal, united, and short : pectoral fins rather large and
rounded : the vent half-way between the point of the chin
and the end of the fleshy portion of the tail ; the anal fin
commences immediately behind it, is one-fourth less in length
than the second dorsal, and ends on the same plane with it :
the tail moderate in size, and rounded at the end.

THREE-BEARDED ROCKLING. 273

The fin-rays in number arc

2nd D. 55 : P. 20 : V. 7 : A. 49 : C. 18.

The head is depressed ; the mouth wide : the jaws nearly
equal, but when separated, the lower jaw is the longest, with
one barbulc at the chin ; a mixture of small and large teeth
in each jaw ; the upper jaw with one barbule on each side
the middle, between the lip and the nostril ; inner part of
the upper lip crenate : the irides golden yellow ; the anterior
portion of the body of the fish cylindrical, or slightly de-
pressed ; the tail compressed : the general colour of the body
and head is a rich yellow brown, spotted on the top of the
head, along the back, the pectoral, dorsal, and caudal fins,
with rich chestnut brown ; the lower part of the sides, the
ventral and anal fins, pale yellow brown, approaching to
white, and without spots.

Young fish of this species arc of a uniform brown colour
until they have acquired six or seven inches in length ; in
this condition they are the Mustela alia of Ray.

VOL. II.

274 GAD1DE.

SUBBRACHIAL

MALACOPTERYGII. GADIDJS.

THE FOUR-BEARDED ROCKLING.

Motella cimbria, The Four-bearded Rockling, PARNELL, Wern. Mem. vol. vii.

p. 449, pi. 44.
Gadus cimbrius, LINN^US, Syst. Nat. p. 440, sp. 16.

RETZ, Faun. Suec. p. 323.

Enchelyopus cimbrtcus, SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth. p. 50, sp. 1, tab. 9.
Motella cimbrica, NILSSON, Prod. Ichth. Scand. p. 48, sp. 2.

THIS species of Motella^ first described by Linnaeus, is
included by Dr. Parnell in his description of tlie Fishes of
the Forth, a specimen, fourteen inches in length, having
been brought to him by a Newhaven fisherman, who had
caught it a little to the east of Inchkeith on a Haddock line
baited with muscles. It is a species perfectly distinct from
the Three or the Five-bearded Rockling, so much more
common on various parts of the coast, and may at once be
distinguished from either by the greater length of the fila-
ment, which is placed in advance of the almost obsolete
first dorsal fin. This filament in a fish of nine inches
long, measures one inch and seven-eighths ; and in another
fish of ten inches and a half in length, measures two inches
and a quarter, as I find from portions of two specimens

FOUR-BEARDED ROCKLING. 275

sent me by Mr. Euing of Glasgow, to whom I am indebted
for the opportunity of making known the new species of
Smelt. These two specimens of the Four-bearded Rock-
ling were taken near Rothsay, and in reference to them
Mr. Euing's letters contain the following remarks: "I
have never met with the Three or the Five-bearded Rock-
ling, but small specimens of that with four cirri are fre-
quently brought in on the long lines from deep water. It
is, indeed, by no means a very rare fish with us, and I have
seen it at almost every visit to the coast since 1827, the year
in which I first observed it."

I have since received two preserved specimens from Dr.
Edward Clarke, who obtained several examples from the
Frith of Forth while he was residing in Edinburgh ; he is
now settled at Hartlepool, and Ichthyology is likely to be
greatly assisted by his observation and exertions.

This fish is rare in the Baltic, but is not uncommon on
the southern coast of Sweden ; it is found also among the
islands of the Catigat, on the west coast of Norway, and in
the Atlantic.

Dr. Parnell says, " on dissecting the specimen, I found
the stomach filled with shrimps and small crabs. The csecal
appendages were few in number; the roe was large; the ova
small and numerous, and apparently in a fit state to be de-
posited. It is probable that the habits of this fish are similar
to those of the other species, but from its rarity it is diffi-
cult to determine. 1 ' 1

Description by Dr. Parnell, from a specimen fourteen
inches in length : " Form closely resembling that of the
Five-bearded Rockling, but the length of the head somewhat
greater compared to that of the body. The body elongated,
rounded in front, compressed behind, tapering from the vent
to the caudal extremity ; greatest depth less than the length
of the head. Head one-sixth of the entire length, caudal

T 2

276 GADID.E.

fin included, slightly depressed ; snout blunt, projecting con-
siderably beyond the under jaw ; eye large, of an oval form,
placed high up, and about its own length from the point of
the nose ; operculum rounded, oblique ; gill-opening large ;
gape wide ; maxillary extending in a line with the posterior
margin of the orbit ; teeth sharp and fine, forming two rows
in the under jaw, and five rows in the upper ; a few are also
placed in a cluster on the anterior part of the vomer ; bar-
bules four, one a little in front of each nostril, one at the
extremity of the upper lip, and one on the chin ; tongue
fleshy, smooth, and without teeth. Fins : the first dorsal
fin obsolete, scarcely discernible, commencing over the oper-
culum, and terminating a little in front of the second dorsal,
composed of a number of short, fine, capillary rays, of which
the first is by far the largest ; second dorsal taking its
origin in a line over the ends of the pectorals, and termi-
nating a little in advance of the caudal ; anal fin commencing
in a line under the twelfth ray of the second dorsal, and
ending under the last ray but three of the same fin, in form
similar to the second dorsal, but the rays scarcely more than
one half the length ; the first ray simple, the rest branched ;
caudal rounded at the extremity, the length of the middle
rays equalling the space between the first and the twelfth
rays of the anal, the lateral rays simple ; ventral fins jugular,
the second rays the longest, about two-thirds the length of
the pectorals ; the pectoral fins rounded at the extremities,
equalling the length of the caudal ; the first rays stout and
simple, the rest branched. The fin-rays in number are,

IstD. 50 : 2nd D. 50 : P. 16 : V. 5 : A. 43 : C. 20. Vert. 52.

" Scales small, smooth, and adherent, covering the head,
body, and membranes of the dorsal, caudal, and anal fins ;
lateral line formed by a number of oval depressions, placed
at intervals from each other, commencing over the opcr-

FOUR-BEARDED ROCKLINO.

871

culum, taking a bend under the ninth, tenth, and eleventh
rays of the second dorsal fin, from thence running straight to
the middle ray of the caudal. Colours : Back and sides of
a greyish brown ; belly dirty white ; second dorsal fin lighter
in colour at the edge ; pectorals, caudal, and lower part of
the dorsal, dark brown, approaching to black ; anal and ven-
trals dusky.""

278

GAD1D.E.

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYG1L

GAD1D.X.

THE FIVE-BEARDED ROCKLING.

Motella qutnquecirrata, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 334, note.

,, mustela, Five-Bearded Rochling, JENYNS, Man. Brit. Vert.

p. 450, sp. 136.

Mustela vulgaris, WILLUGHBV, p. 121.

Gadus mustela, LINNSUS.

,, ,, Five-Bearded Cod, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 268,

pi. 36.

,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 14.

,, ,, ,, Gade, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 193, sp. 85.

I HAVE found the Five-Bearded Rockling, when of small
size, a very common fish on the Kentish coast in autumn,
left by the retiring tide, in small pools among the rocks, and
generally lying concealed under the tufts of sea-weed that
hang over the edges of the stones into the water. I have
observed this fish as far to the westward as Portland Island.
Colonel Montagu considered it more rare in Devonshire than
the species with three barbules at the mouth, just described :
Mr. Couch observes it on the Cornish shore : it is generally
distributed in Ireland ; and Mr. Low says it is common in
Orkney, where it is found under stones among sea-weed, but
seldom exceeding nine or ten inches in length. Pennant

FIVE-BEARDED ROCKLING. 279

says it attains the length of eighteen or nineteen inches. It
spawns in the winter, and feeds principally on small thin-
shelled crustacea and young fishes. Mr. Low says, " They
are reckoned pretty good eating, but are never got in any
quantity ; never caught at a hook : the only method of getting
them is by shifting the stones at low water, when they are to
be found with the Blennies."

Dr. Johnston says it is not uncommon at Berwick, and
Dr. Parnell finds it in the Forth : the young are about two
inches long in July.

In its habits it closely resembles the Three-Bearded Rock-
ling, and several naturalists consider them only as varieties of
the same species. Professor Nilsson regards them as dis-
tinct, and follows Linnseus in considering a fish with four
barbules also as a distinct species.

The length of the head compared to the length of the
body alone, is as one to four ; the depth of the body less
than the length of the head : the shape of the body less cy-
lindrical than that of the Three- Bearded, and the nose more
pointed ; the position and elevation of the fins similar to
those of the fishes last described, but the first ray of the first
dorsal fin is longer and more conspicuous, and the vent is
nearer the head than in those species, being less than half the
distance from the nose to the end of the fleshy portion of
the tail. The fin-rays in number are

2nd D. 52 : P. 14 : V. 6 : A. 40 : C. 20.

The body compressed ; the head depressed ; the mouth
rather small, with a band of small teeth in each jaw, and a
patch of similar teeth at the anterior part of the roof of the
mouth ; the under jaw the shortest, with a single barbule at
the chin ; the upper lip plain, without crenation, with two
small barbules near the point of the nose, and two others, as
long again, about as much before and within the nostrils as

280 GADID.E.

the nostrils are before and within the eyes. The eyes small,
and placed near the nose. The colour of the upper part of
the head, back, and sides, uniform dark brown ; lower part of
the sides lighter brown ; under surface of the lower jaw, the
ventral fins, and the belly to the vent, white ; the other fins
dusky brown : the course of the lateral line distinctly marked
by a series of short, slender white streaks, as shown in the
wood engraving.

I have been favoured by Dr. Richardson with the follow-
ing description of the appearance of a fine example of this
species : General colour of the body pale bronze, approach-
ing to that of jeweller's gold, with streaks of purer gold co-
lour above the lateral line in the direction of the ribs. The
upper parts of the head and the gill-covers yellowish brown,
blended on the cheeks with the bronze. The fins are also of
a brownish orange or bronze colour, but without the metallic
lustre, and their margins are blood red ; the red tinge is more
general on the pectorals ; the irides silvery, the pupils bluish
black.

The three species last described have been called mustela
by different authors. Linnaeus attached this term to the
species with five barbules : Cuvier, in the Regnc Animal,
identifies the Three-Bearded Rockling with this same word.
As the number of barbules appear to be constant in each, a
reference to the number in the specific name is, perhaps, the
least objectionable. Linnaeus, and other authors to the
present time, continue, as before stated, to consider the
northern species with four barbules as distinct from both, and
there is no doubt that they are all three good species.

MACKEREL MIDGE.

SUBBRACU1AL

MALACOPTERY011. GADID.E.

THE MACKEREL MIDGE.

Motella glauca, Mackerel Midge, JENYNS, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 451, sp. 137.
Ciliata ,, ,, ,, COUCH, Zool. Journ. vol. i. p. 132.

,, ,, ,, ,, Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 15 and 16>

fig. 2, and p. 741.

MB. COUCH'S MS. account of tins beautiful little fish is
as follows : " It is about one inch and a quarter in length,
moderately elongated ; head obtuse, compressed : upper jaw
the longest, with four straight barbules ; the under jaw with
one barbule ; teeth in both jaws : gill membrane with seven
rays ; eyes large and bright ; a fringed membrane in a depres-
sion behind the head ; pectoral and ventral fins rather large
for the size of the fish ; dorsal and anal fins single, and reach-
ing near to the tail ; scales deciduous ; colour on the back
bluish green ; belly and fins silvery. This seems to be one
of the species spoken of by the older naturalists under the
name of apua ; and which, from their minute size, and the
multitudes in which they sometimes appeared, they judged
to be produced by spontaneous generation from the froth of
the sea, or the putrefaction of marine substances. The name
I have assigned to it is that in use among our fishermen,
and is descriptive of its colour and very minute size, for it is
the smallest fish with which I am acquainted. "

282 GADID/E.

" This fish is gregarious and migratory, never making its
appearance before May, after which it is abundant from the
edge of the shore to every part of the Channel. Its winter
station is probably deep in the water ; but in summer it
keeps near the surface, and seeks the shelter of everything it
finds floating; a circumstance that often leads to its destruc-
tion, for it is frequently hauled on board boats among the
corks of nets, or with the line, or floating weeds ; and in a
storm they are often thrown into boats through the breaking
of the sea, a circumstance which shows that at such seasons
they must be on the crest of the wave. 1 ' 1

" This fish dies instantly on being taken out of the
water."

Part of a letter received from Mr. Couch in May 1840 is
to the following effect : " I yesterday had an opportunity of
observing the actions of a little company of Mackerel Midges
that had been left by the tide in a large pool. Sometimes
they gamboled about, keeping the body permanently bent at
nearly a right angle, and moving the tail with great rapidity ;
at other times they kept under the shelter of a piece of sea-
weed, or other floating substance, and, passing across it re-
peatedly, seemed to delight in rubbing their backs against it."

This small fish, with much the appearance of being the
young of a larger species, and closely allied in form to the
Five-Bearded Rockling, presents in its economy some of the
attributes of a species. Unlike the fish last described, which
is very tenacious of life, this little fish, it is said, dies in-
stantly on being taken out of the water : it does not appear
every summer, as might be expected if it was the young of
so common and local a species as the Five-Bearded Rock-
ling ; and although present, as it is frequently said to be,
during the greater part of the summer, when fry grow most
rapidly, no increase is observed in its size.

SILVERY OADE.

SUBBRACHIAL

MALACOPTERYGII. GADIDJE.

THE SILVERY GADE.

Molella argenteola, YARRELL.

Gadus urgenteolus, Silvery Gade, MONTAGU, Mem. Wern. Soc. vol. ii. pt. '2,

p. 449.

THE following is Colonel Montagu's account of this small
fish : " There is a small species of Gadus, which is occa-
sionally found on the western coast, that is nearly allied to
the Three-Bearded Cod (Rockling) in most particulars ; but
the shape of the head and the colour are essentially different.
It has very much the appearance of the fry of some larger
species, and might have been suspected to be the young of
the Ling, had it not been for a little difference in the first
dorsal fin, and the two cirri which this has before the nostrils.
If a fourth cirrus could have been discovered, suspicions
would have arisen whether it might not have been the cim-
brius of Gmelin. Its essential characters may stand thus :

" With two dorsal fins, the anterior very obscure, except
the first ray, which is much the longest : cirri three, two be-
fore the nostrils, and one on the chin : upper jaw longest ;
back bluish green ; sides and belly silvery.

" The head is obtuse ; eyes lateral, irides silvery : all the
fins are of a pale colour, and the whole fish is of a silvery
resplendence, except the back, which is blue, changeable
to dark green : the pectoral fin is rounded with sixteen or
eighteen rays ; ventral, six or seven, the middle ray consider-
ably the longest, and placed much before the pectoral : first

284 GADID.E.

dorsal fin commences above the gills, and the rays are very
minute and obscure, the first excepted, but more than thirty
have been counted ; the second dorsal commences close to
the other, in a line with the end of the pectoral, and termi-
nates close to the caudal ; the rays are innumerable : the anal
fin begins immediately behind the vent, and terminates even
Avith the dorsal ; the caudal fin is nearly even at the end.
Length about two inches.

" I first noticed many of these fishes thrown upon the
shore in the south of Devonshire, in the summer of 1808,
and have taken two or three since. The fishermen called it
Whitebait, but I afterwards found they had mistaken it for
the fry of Herring and Pilchard, which indiscriminately go
by that name, and are sold together in some places under the
name of Herring-Sprat.

" The Three-Bearded Cod (Rockling) is a very common
species on the western coast, and which I have taken of all
sizes, from the most minute to its full growth of sixteen or
seventeen inches, and never observed it to vary in colour,
except as it grows large it becomes more rufous and throws
out spots, which is never observed till it exceeds six or seven
inches, but is invariably rufous brown in its infant state."

It is worthy of remark, that this little fish, representing in
miniature the Three-Bearded Rockling, offers an instance
perfectly analogous to the representation in an equally dimi-
nutive size of the five-bearded species, by Mr. Couch's recent
discovery of the Mackerel Midge.

TORSK, OR TUSK. 285

SUBBRACHIAL

MALACOPTERYGLl. GAD1DJE.

^^^^^^^^^l^v

^K rr ^

'\.*"-~-=*''

^p

'***&*&*'.'.... . : ,: : :yy^" <<.. ... , .,. . .. >

THE TORSK, OR TUSK.

Brosmius vulgaris, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 334.

Erasmus ,, Common Tusk, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 194, sp. 90.

,, ,, Torsk, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 452.

Gadus brosme, ,, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 269, pi. 37.

,, ,, Scotch Torsk, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 70.

,, ,, NILSSON, Prod. p. 47, sp. 14.

BROSMIUS. Generic Characters. Body elongated ; a single dorsal fin, ex-
tending the whole length of the back ; one barbule at the chin ; ventral fins
fleshy.

THE TORSK, OR TUSK, is a northern species, which is
only occasionally caught in the Forth, and is then brought
to the Edinburgh market. It is found more frequently in
the Orkney Islands, and swarms among those of Shetland,
where it makes a very considerable article in their fish trade.
It is caught with lines and hooks when fishing for Ling and
Cod, and is salted and dried in the same manner. When
eaten fresh, it is very firm and rather tough ; which makes
most people prefer it dry. It is one of the best fishes when
cured, swells much in boiling, and parts into very thick
flakes. I observed three examples of this fish, each about

286 GADID.E.

sixteen inches in length, in the London market, during the
month of January 1831. These were brought from the
North in the lobster-boats. The length assigned to this
species by M. Nilsson is from eighteen inches to two feet,
rarely three feet. Mr. Low says the largest he had heard of
was three feet and a half. Mr. Donovan's specimen, which
was brought alive to London in the well of a fishing-boat,
measured twenty-five inches.

But little being known in the South of the habits of
this fish, an abridgment of Faber's account of it may be
interesting.

" A northern fish, scarcely occurring below 60 or above
73 ; not migrating regularly, and therefore rarely seen by
the ichthyologists of the South. Plentiful on the coasts of
Norway as far as Finmark, of the Faroe Islands, and the
west and south coasts of Iceland ; rare on the north and east
coasts of Iceland. It must be uncommon in Greenland, as
Fabricius only knew it from the report of the natives.
Just touches the most northern point of Denmark, at Skagen
in Jutland, where it is sometimes taken ; not at all in the
south. Approaches the land early in the year in shoals, that
of Iceland in January ; remains there in company with the
Five-Bearded, and goes away again late in summer. Lives
in deep water, and is therefore seldom taken, even when it is
most abundant. Prefers a rocky bottom, on which sea-
weeds grow. Never found anything in its stomach ; and this
has probably given rise to the saying, that it lives on the
juice of sea-weeds. Spawns in April and May among the
fuci along the coast. Is rarely taken with the Cod hooks,
more frequently at the smaller lines. Sometimes taken by
the Norwegian fishermen among the Holibuts. It must
have less power of resisting the violence of the sea than its
congeners, as it is thrown up dead in incredible numbers on
the coasts of the Faroe Islands and the south coast of Iceland

TORSK, OR TUSK. 287

after a storm. Its flesh is hard, but well flavoured. In Ice-
land seldom dried, but eaten fresh. Jan Olsen says that the
fresh flesh is badly tasted, but when dried it is the best food.
In Norway it is treated like the Stockfish, but forms no
branch of merchandise. The hard roe, according to Pontop-
piclan, has a good flavour. Its enemies are the larger species
of Cod. It is much infested by a worm which forms a nidus
in its skin, and produces rounded swellings.

Dr. Storer says that a fish which he believes to be the
same as our Torsk is not uncommonly seen in the Boston
market in spring, but that in winter it is more rare. It is
taken with the hook when fishing for deep-water Cod.

The description of this fish by Mr. Low is here adopted,
with slight modification. The measurements of the specimen
from which this description was taken were the following :
" The whole length twenty inches and a half: the greatest
breadth four and a half, which was taken at the end of the
pectoral fin ; at the vent four inches ; something more than
half-way from the vent to the tail, two inches ; at the tail,
one inch and a quarter : the length of the head four inches ;
from the point of the nose to the commencement of the dorsal
fin, six inches ; length of the dorsal fin thirteen inches ;
from the point of the lower jaw to the vent, eleven inches ;
length of the anal fin, eight inches ; tail something more
than two inches."

" The head small in proportion to the fish, with a single
barbule under the chin : the upper jaw very little longer than
the lower ; in the jaws there are great numbers of very small
teeth, and in the roof of the mouth a rough or toothed bone,
much in the shape of a horse-shoe ; a pretty broad furrow
runs from the nape to the commencement of the dorsal fin,
which runs the whole length of the back to within about an
inch of the tail ; the tail is rounded ; the anal fin begins at
the vent and ends at the tail, but is not joined with it ; the

288

G ABIDE.

rays of the dorsal and anal fins are numerous, but the soft-
ness of these and the thickness of the investing skin hinder
them from being counted with exactness : the edges of the
dorsal, anal fin, and tail, are white ; the rest dusky: the pec-
toral fins are rounded, broad, and of a brown colour; the
ventrals small, thick, and fleshy, ending in points ; the body
to the vent is roundish ; the belly from the throat growing
suddenly very prominent, continuing so to the vent, where it
becomes smaller to the tail ; behind the vent the body is
pretty much compressed : the colour of the head is dusky ;
the back and sides yellow, which becoming lighter by degrees,
is lost in the white of the belly ; the lateral line is scarcely
discernible, but runs nearer the back than the belly, till to-
wards the middle of the fish, in its passage backwards, it
curves a little downwards, and runs straight to the tail."
The fin-rays, according to Mr. Donovan, are

D. 49 : P. 21 : V. 5 : A. 37 : C. 35.
The vignette represents a fishing-boat of Cadiz Bay.

GREAT FORKED BEARD.

289

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGIL

GADIDJE,

THE GREAT FORKED BEARD.

FORKED HAKE. MAKERS DAME, Cornwall.

Phycisfurcatus, Common Fork Beard, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 193, sp. 84.

,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 335.

Barbus major, Great Forked Beard, RAY, Syn. p. 163, fig. 7.

Blennius physis, Forked Hake, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 259, pi. 35.

Phycisfurcatus, Common Fork Beard, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 452.

PHYCIS. Generic Characters. Body elongated ; two dorsal fins, the first
short, the second long; ventral fins with a single ray only at the base, after-
wards divided ; chin with one harbule.

THE GREAT FORKED BEARD was first discovered on
the Cornish coast by Mr. Jago, and inserted by Ray, with a
figure, in his Synopsis, as referred to. Pennant's fish was
taken on the coast of Flintshire. A specimen appeared in
Carlisle market in December 1833, which was caught near
Bowness ; communicated to me by T. C. Heysham, Esq. :
and this fish has also occurred at St. Andrews in Scotland,
as noticed in the sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Wer-
nerian Natural History Society, page 569. It is obtained

VOL. II.

u

290 GADID.E.

occasionally in Cornwall ; Mr. Dillwyn lias published a notice
of one, measuring two feet in length, which was cast ashore
in Oxwich Bay, and weighed four pounds ; and Mr. William
Thompson has noticed the occurrence of this fish in Ireland.

The figure here given is taken from a drawing by Mr.
Couch, whose MS. contains the following notice of this
species : " The head flat on the top, compressed at the
sides, small in proportion to the body : eyes large ; nostrils
in a depression before them : mouth wide : under jaw short-
est ; teeth in both fine ; some larger teeth on the palate : a
barb at the lower jaw: body compressed, slender towards the
tail, which is small in proportion ; belly tumid ; lateral line
elevated at first, afterwards low ; body and head with scales :
two dorsal fins, the first elevated and pointed ; second dorsal
and anal fins long, expanded, bound down towards the
tail ; the ventral fins simple rays, very long, divided or
forked, one of the divisions longer than the other; a few
spines before the anal fin ; tail rounded, all the rays soft.
Colour of the sides and back dusky brown ; on the gill-
covers sometimes greenish ; fins dusky purple, except the
ventrals ; belly whitish.

" This fish grows to the length of two feet : in a specimen
of this size the longest portion of the ventral ray was eight
inches, the shortest five inches and a half.

" Hake's Dame is the name by which alone this fish is
known to our fishermen. It is not uncommon in Cornwall ;
but I have never seen it except in winter, when it seems to
come into shallow water to spawn. It takes a bait, and is
used as food, but is not much esteemed. 1 '

The number of fin-rays are

1st D. 9 : 2nd D. 58 : P. 16 : V. 1 : A. 51 : C. 18.

It is desirable to notice the specific characters of this
fish, in order to distinguish between it and a Mediterranean

GREAT FORKED BEARD. 291

species of the same genus, which, according to Cuvier, is
the true Blennius phycis of Linnaeus, and not the British
fish, as supposed by Pennant and others. The British fish
has the first dorsal fin triangular, much higher than the
second, the anterior rays produced ; the ventral rays twice as
long as the head. The Mediterranean fish, of which I
possess a specimen, has the first dorsal fin low and rounded,
very similar in character to that of the Burbot, as figured at
page 267 of this volume, with the ventral rays much shorter.
A description and figure of this fish is given by Willughby,
page 205, pi. N. 12, fig. 3.

At the time of the publication of the first edition of this
work, I had not seen a specimen of this fish. Since then I
have received a very fine example sent me by T. C. Heysham,
Esq. of Carlisle, from the west coast, where it has occurred
lately in two or three instances : one was taken on the coast
of the Solway Frith, near Whitehaven. Mr. Couch has very
kindly sent me two examples of this species, one an adult
specimen, the other a young fish only three inches long, which
was fished up in the shell of a large pinna, from a depth of
fifty fathoms, in July 1837.

u 2

292

OADIDK.

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGU.

GADJD/E.

THE LESSER FORKED BEARD.

TRIFURCATED HAKE. TADPOLE FISH.

Raniceps trifurcatus, Trifurcated Hake, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 194, sp. 88.
,, Jago, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 89.

,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 336.

Barbus minor, Lesser Forked Beard, RAY, Syn. p. 164, sp. 8, fig. 8.

,, ,, Forked Hake, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 261.

Batrachoides trifurcatus, Trifurcated Tadpole Fish, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii.

p. 272, pi. 38.
Raniceps trifurcatus, Tadpole Fish, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 453.

RANICEPS. Generic Characters. Head depressed, body compressed ; two
dorsal fins, the first very small ; the second dorsal and the anal fins elongated ;
ventral fins small, the first two rays lengthened and separated.

DR. GEORGE JOHNSTON, of Berwick, in his address to
the members of the Berwickshire Naturalist's Club, read at
the first anniversary meeting in September 1832,* when
referring to the various species of fishes which had occurred
to him during the previous twelvemonths, remarks at page 7 :
" Of the Tadpole Fish, which is one of the rarest British

* See also Mr. Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. vi. page 11.

LESSER FORKED BEARD. 293

species, and previously known only as an inhabitant of the
shores of Cornwall, I had the pleasure of exhibiting to you
a living specimen, which had been captured in Berwick Bay.
When alive, and when recently dead, the body appeared
everywhere smooth and even ; but after having lain three
days on a plate and become a little shrivelled, there ap-
peared an obscure row of tubercles, running backwards from
the pectoral fins, and these pea-like tubercles could be more
readily distinguished by drawing the finger over the skin.
I would call attention to this fact, because the only good
distinction between the Raniceps trifurcatus and R. Jago
of Dr. Fleming is derived from the presence of these tuber-
cles ; in the former, the lateral line is said to be tubercu-
lated above the pectoral fins, in the latter it is said to be
smooth : but here we have a specimen which when alive
exhibits the character of Jago, when dead, that of the tri-
furcatus ; and hence I am induced to think that both are
the same animal, having the tubercles more or less promi-
nent and obvious according to the leanness or other condi-
tions of the body."

The difficulty of deciding the point without possessing
a specimen, which the rarity of the fish rendered almost
hopeless, probably induced Dr. Fleming to follow Pennant
in giving both names a place in his History of British
Animals. The description of Mr. Couch is quoted by
Dr. Fleming as belonging to the Cornish fish and the Lesser
Forked Beard of Jago ; and Cuvier, in a note at the foot
of page 336 of the second volume of the Regne Animal,
quotes the Gadus trifurcatus of Pennant as belonging to
his genus Raniceps.

The advantages of equal communication and assistance on
this point from Mr. Couch and Dr. Johnston enable me to
carry the comparison of the two fishes still further.

Mr. Couch has favoured me with a drawing and a dcscrip-

294 OADID.E.

tion of a specimen taken in Cornwall. The description is
already given by Dr. Fleming. Dr. Johnston has also fur-
nished me with a coloured drawing, a penciled sketch, and a
description. These compared together, these again compared
with the double representations in the last two octavo editions
of Pennant's British Zoology, and each with the figure of
Jago's fish in Ray's Synopsis, will, I think, leave little doubt
that all are intended to represent the same fish.

Sir William Jardine has reminded me that a tolerable
figure of this fish occurs in M tiller's Zoologia Danica, under
the name of Bhnnius raninus. The figure here given is
from Dr. ParnelFs engraving in his History of the Fishes of
the Frith of Forth.

Dr. Johnston's description is as follows :

" The comparison implied in the name Tadpole Fish is
very expressive of its general form and colour ; for when
alive it was entirely black, and the anterior parts are large
and tumid, while the hinder are much compressed. The
extreme length of our Berwickshire specimen was eleven
inches ; and its greatest circumference, which is immediately
before the pectoral fins, was seven inches, whence it tapered
rapidly to the tail. The head is very large, obtuse, and
flattened on the crown, where there is a slight depression
between the eyes, which arc an inch distant from each other,
lateral, prominent, round, and black. The mouth is wide ;
and under the chin there is a small conical barb or feeler :
the lips are rounded and white ; the inferior jaw armed with
two close rows of sharp teeth, and the upper, which is move-
able, with similar teeth, but more numerous, and not dis-
tinctly rowed. On the palate, behind the jaw, there is a
semilunar cartilaginous prominence or tubercle roughened
with small teeth ; and the wide entrance into the oesophagus
is guarded with four similar tubercles, but of a roundish
figure, two above, and two smaller below. The branchial

LESSER FORKED BEARD. 295

rays are few in number, and on the inner side of each of
them there are two rows of minutely spinous tufts. The
first dorsal fin is very minute, but is terminated by a rather
long ray : the second dorsal fin commences just behind it,
or one-third of the whole length from the head, and extends
nearly to the tail ; it is half an inch broad, equal throughout,
the rays ending in free single points. The anal fin is like
the dorsal : the pectorals are oblong wedge-shaped, one inch
and a half long : the ventral fins are small, and their two
anterior rays are very long, white, and detached ; the fore-
most one-half the length of the second, which measures
little less than two inches. Tail wedge-shaped. The scales
are small, and lie close to the body : they have an oblong
square form, marked with parallel lines or striae, which on
the exposed part of each scale run in a transverse, and on
the covered parts in a longitudinal direction."

The numbers of the different fin-rays, according to Pen-
nant are

1st D. 3 : 2nd D.62 : P. 23 : V. 6 : A. 59 : C. 36.

Mr. Couch says this fish is too rare for us to be much
acquainted with its history. The only specimen he ever
saw was taken with a line in rocky ground, in the month of
April ; at which time its roe was small. The remains of
an echinus were in its intestines. Other examples have since
occurred ; it has been taken on the east and west coasts of
Scotland, and once in Ireland off Donaghadee Harbour, as
recorded by Mr. William Thompson. Dr. Parnell says it
spawns in April, and feeds on small insects.

The following note appears at the end of Mr. Couch's
account of this fish :

" Mr. Jago, whose name occurs at the head of a list of
fishes at the end of Rny^s Synopsis Piscium, was a native
of Cornwall, and a minister of the Church of England.

296

GADID.E.

When Bishop Trelawney, so well known as one of the
six bishops committed to the Tower by James the Second,
endowed the Chapel of Ease at East Looe, and thereby ob-
tained the consent of the Rector of St. Martin to name the
curate, he appointed his friend Mr. Jago to the curacy ; and
the latter embraced the favourable opportunity thus placed
within his reach to make collections for an intended History
of Cornish Fishes, which, however, he never perfected.
Never having been married, his MS. and drawings at his
decease came into the possession of his friend Mr. Dyer, by
whom they were delivered to Dr. Borlase, the author of the
History of Cornwall.

PLAICE.

297

SUBBEACH1AL

MALACOPTERYGll.

PLEURONECTW&*

THE PLAICE.

Platessa vulgar it,

Plaise, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 198, sp. 103.
,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 338.

,, ,, Pluise, WILLUGHBY, p. 96, F. 4.

Pleuronectes plutessa, LINN.EUS. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 42.

,, ,, Plaise, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 304.

,, ,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish.pl. 6.

Platessa vulgaris, Common Plaice, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 454.

PLATESSA. Generic Characters. Body rhomboidal, depressed; both eyes on
the right side of the head, one above the other ; a row of teeth in each jaw, with
others on the pharyngeal bones; dorsal fin commencing over the upper eye, that
fin and the anal fin extending nearly the whole length of the body, but neither
of them joined to the tail ; branchiostegous rays 6.

THE character and appearance of the various species of
Pleuronectidte, or Flatfish, as they are popularly called, arc
so peculiar and so unique among vertebratcd animals as to
claim particular notice.

The want of symmetry in the form of the head ; both
eyes placed on the same side, one higher than the other,
* The family of the Flounders, popularly called Flatfish.

298 PLEURONECT1D/E.

frequently not in the same vertical line, and often unequal
in size ; the position of the mouth ; the inequality of the
two sides of the head, and the frequent want of uniformity
in those fins that are in pairs, the pectoral and ventral
fins of the under or white side being in some species smaller
than those of the upper ; and the whole of the colour of the
fish confined to one side, while the other side remains per-
fectly white, produce a grotesque appearance : yet a little
consideration will prove that these various and seemingly
obvious anomalies are perfectly in harmony with that station
in nature which an animal bearing these attributes is ap-
pointed to fill.

As birds are seen to occupy very different situations, some
obtaining their food on the ground, others on trees, and not
a few at various degrees of elevation in the air, so are fishes
destined to reside in different situations in the water : the
Flatfishes and the various species of Skate are, by their de-
pressed form of body, admirably adapted to inhabit the
lowest position, and where they occupy the least space,
among their kindred fishes.

Preferring sandy or muddy shores, and unprovided with
swimming-bladders, their place is close to the ground, where,
hiding their bodies horizontally in the loose soil at the bot-
tom, with the head only slightly elevated, an eye on the
under side of the head would be useless ; but both eyes
placed on the upper surface affords them an extensive range
of view in those various directions in which they may either
endeavour to find suitable food, or avoid dangerous enemies.
Light, one great cause of colour, strikes on the upper surface
only ; the under surface, like that of most other fishes, re-
mains perfectly colourless. Having little or no means of
defence, had their colour been placed only above the lateral
line on each side, in whatever position they moved, their
piebald appearance would have rendered them conspicuous

PLAICE. 299

objects to all their enemies. When near the ground, they
swim slowly, maintaining their horizontal position ; and the
smaller pectoral and ventral fins on the under side are advan-
tageous where there is so much less room for their action,
than with the larger fins that are above. When suddenly
disturbed, they sometimes make a rapid shoot, changing their
position from horizontal to vertical : if the observer happens
to be opposite the white side, they may be seen to pass with
the rapidity and flash of a meteor ; but they soon sink down,
resuming their previous motionless, horizontal position, and
are then distinguished with difficulty, owing to their great
similarity in colour to the surface on which they rest.

Though the appearance and situation of the eyes and
mouth seem to indicate a degree of deformity, yet the head
contains modifications of all the bones that are found in a
symmetrically-formed head. The vent is situated very far
forward between the ventral fins and the commencement of
the anal fin ; but the abdominal cavity, though circum-
scribed, extends backwards to a considerable distance, the
intestine returning by a convolution.

Most of the Flatfishes are deservedly in great request as
articles of food. The number of species diminishes as the
degrees of northern latitude increase. In this country we
have sixteen species ; at the parallel of Jutland, Denmark,
and the islands at the mouth of the Baltic, there are thir-
teen ; on the coast of Norway they are reduced to ten spe-
cies ; at Iceland the number is but five, and at Greenland
only three.

The Plaice is described and figured by Rondeletius, and
was known to the older naturalists long before his time.
It inhabits sandy banks and muddy grounds in the sea ; and
among the Orkney islands is caught by lines and hooks ;
but as it is not of large size there, it is not much sought
after : it is common, however, in the Edinburgh market, where

JJOO PLEURONECTID.E.

the small ones are called Fleuks. On the English coast the
Plaice is taken in abundance generally wherever either lines
or trawl-nets can be used ; and in Ireland, this fish is re-
corded to be taken from the shores of the county of Cork on
the south, round by the eastern coast to the county of Done-
gal on the north-west.

The Plaice spawns in February or March, and is consi-
dered to be in the finest condition for the table at the end of
May. Diamond Plaice is a name attached to those which
are caught at a particular fishing-station off the Sussex coast,
which is called the Diamond ground. The fish are remark-
able for the purity of the brown colour and the brilliancy of
the spots.

Plaice feed on the soft-bodied animals generally, with
young fish and small Crustacea, and have been known to
attain the weight of fifteen pounds ; but one of seven or
eight pounds' weight is considered a Plaice of large size. It
is taken sometimes in almost incredible numbers. So great
a glut of Plaice occurred once in Billingsgate market, that,
although crowded with dealers, hundreds of bushels remained
unsold. Great quantities of Plaice, averaging three pounds'
weight each, were sold at one penny per dozen. One sales-
man, having in vain endeavoured to sell a hundred bushels
at the rate of fifty Plaice for four-pence, left them with Mr.
Goldham, the clerk of the market, requesting him to sell
them for anything he could get. Unable to dispose of them
otherwise, Mr. Goldham, by direction of the Lord Mayor,
divided them among the poor.

In some parts of the North of Europe, where from the
rocky nature of the soil the sea is remarkably transparent,
Plaice and some other Flatfish of large size are taken by
dropping down upon them, from a boat, a doubly-barbed short
spear, heavily leaded to carry it with velocity to the bottom,

PLAICE. .')01

with a line attached to it, by which the fish when transfixed
is hauled up.

In East Fricsland the Plaice has been transferred to fresh-
water ponds, where it is established and thrives well.

Like other ground-fish, all the Pleiironectidte are very
tenacious of life.

The length of the head compared to the whole length of
the head, body, and tail, is as two to nine ; the depth of
the solid part of the body, without including the dorsal or
anal fins, rather more than one-third of the whole length ;
the form subrhomboidal ; the mouth and teeth rather small ;
the upper eye the largest, and placed rather more backward
than the lower eye, with a strong and prominent bony ridge
between the orbits, and several tubercles forming a curved
line from the posterior part of the ridge to the commence-
ment of the lateral line : the preopcrculurn is in a vertical
line over the origin of the ventral fin ; the operculum ter-
minates in an angle upon the base of the pectoral fin ; the
lateral line prominent, commencing at the upper margin of
the operculum, arched over the pectoral fin, then straight
along the middle of the fleshy portion of the tail, and ex-
tending over the membrane connecting the central caudal
rays. The dorsal fin commences over the upper eye ; the
longest rays rather behind the middle of its whole length :

O /

the anal fin, preceded by a spine, begins in a line under the
origin of the pectoral fin ; the longest rays rather before the
middle : both dorsal and anal fins end on the same plane,
and short of the end of the fleshy portion of the tail, which,
as well as the caudal rays, is narrow and elongated ; the
tail rounded.

The fin-rays in number are

D. 73 : P. 11 : V. 6 : A. 55 : C. 16.

The body is smooth on both sides, the scales small ; the

302

PLEUEONECTID.E.

colour of the upper or right side a rich brown, with a row of
bright orange red spots along the dorsal and anal fins, and
other spots of the same colour dispersed over the body ; the
under side entirely white. Young Plaice have frequently
a dark spot in the centre of the red one.

The fishes of this first division of the Pleuronectid<e with
the eyes and the colour on the right side of the. body are fur-
ther distinguished by the term dextral fishes.

The vignette represents the bones of the head in the genus
Platessa.

FLOUNDER.

SUBBRACHIAL
MALACOPTERYGI1.

P/.Ef/ROA'ECT/D//;.

THE FLOUNDER.
FLOOK, Merret. MAYOCK FLEUKE, Edinb. BUTT.

Platessa jiesus, Flounder, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 198, sp. 104.

,, ,, Le Flet, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 339.
Pleuronectesfluviatilis, Fluke, WILLUGHBY, p. 97, F. 4.

,, Jiesus, ,, LINN,<F.US. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 44 & 50.

,, ,, Flounder, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 305.

,, ,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 94.

Platessa ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 455.

THE FLOUNDER is one of the most common of the Flat-
fish, and is found in the sea and near the mouths of large
rivers all round our coast, being more particularly abundant
where the bottom is soft, whether of sand, clay, or mud.
All the bays, creeks, and inlets of Orkney produce it, accord-
ing to Mr. Low ; and it is taken in abundance in different
parts of Scotland, where it is called Fluke and Mayock
Fleukc, a term having reference to the flattened form of

304 PLEURONECTID.E.

the fisli. It is common at Berwick and Yarmouth, at which
latter place it is called a Butt a northern term ; and those
Flounders that are caught in the extensive backwaters behind
Yarmouth, where there is a considerable deposit of mud,
are in consequence so dark in colour as to be distinguished,
from the lighter-coloured ones caught on the sands of the sea,
by the name of Black Butts. This similarity in colour be-
tween certain fishes and the bottom upon which they arc
found has been already referred to as affording security to
the defenceless from the attacks of their enemies, and exhibits
a beautiful instance of the design employed for the preserva-
tion of species. In Sweden, according to Linnaeus, this fish
is called Flundra, from which our word Flounder is proba-
bly derived, and is said to refer to its manner of swimming
when close to the ground.

The Flounder lives and thrives whether stationary in the
sea, the brackish water, or the fresh water. In the Thames
it is taken as high up as Teddington and Sunbury : Mr.
Jesse mentions having seen the Flounder pursue Minnows
with great eagerness into the shallows where the Mole runs
into the Thames at Hampton Court. This species is caught
in considerable quantities from Deptford to Richmond by
Thames fishermen, who, with the assistance of an apprentice,
use a net of a particular sort, called a tuck-net, or tuck-sean.
One end of this net is fixed for a short time by an anchor or
grapple, and its situation marked by a floating buoy ; the
boat is then rowed, or rather sculled, by the apprentice in
a circle, the fisherman near the stern handing out and clear-
ing the net : when the circle is completed and a space in-
closed, the net is hauled in near the starting point in a
direction across the fixed end.

Flounders ascend rivers generally. Colonel Montagu says
they are found up the Avon within three miles of Bath.
They have been successfully transferred to fresh-water ponds :

FLOUNDER. 305

being long-lived out of water, the carriage from one place to
another is a matter of very little difficulty. Along our
southern shore the Flounder is very common ; and it occurs
on the Irish coast from Cork up the eastern side to Antrim,
and thence northward and westward to Donegal.

The Flounder feeds upon aquatic insects, worms, and
small fishes, and has been known to acquire the weight of
four pounds, but is not usually seen near so large. It
spawns in February or March, and the young Flounders may
be seen alive by the end of April. Varieties of the Floun-
der occur much more commonly than those of any other
species of Flatfish. I have before me, while now writing,
specimens without any colour on either side ; specimens
coloured on both sides ; and specimens with both eyes and
the whole of the colour on the left side instead of the right.
Those without any dark colour on either side are albino
varieties, through the transparent skins of which the colour
of the blood-vessels and muscles has suggested the trivial
names of rosea and carnaria to the authors who considered
them species. The PL passer, figured by Bloch, pt. ii.
pi. 50, is certainly only a reversed Flounder, having the
eyes and the colour on the' left side ; a variety so common,
that it is scarcely possible to examine a peck measure of
Flounders without finding one or more reversed specimens.
One of the most remarkable specific distinctions of the
Flounder, the series of denticulated tubercles placed be-
tween the rays of the fins along the dorsal and abdominal
lines, is distinctly figured in both Bloch's plates as quoted,
pt. ii. plates 44 and 50.

The length of the head is to the whole length of the fish
as one to four ; the greatest width of the body, without the
fins, is to the whole length of the fish as one to three : the
mouth small : the teeth in one row in each jaw, small and
numerous ; the upper eye nearly over the lower ; the lateral

VOL. II. X

306 PLEURONECTID-i:.

line but very slightly curved over the pectoral fin, and
marked with numerous rough stellated tubercles at its com-
mencement, some more of which are arranged in two lines,
one above, the other below the lateral line throughout its
course : the body smooth ; the scales small ; the dorsal and
abdominal lines armed with a series of denticulated tubercles,
one in each space, between the rays, and alternating with
them ; the dorsal fin extends from the eye almost to the
tail ; the ventral fin is placed a little farther back than in the
Plaice, under the margin of the operculum ; the anal fin,
preceded by a spine directed forwards, also commences far-
ther back ; both dorsal and anal fins terminate on the same
plane ; the fleshy portion of the tail narrow, its rays elon-
gated, and almost square at the end. The fin-rays in num-
ber are

D. 55 : P. 11 : V. 6 : A. 42 : C. 14.

The colour of this species is variable, the shades of brown
depending on the nature of the ground from which the fish
is taken, but generally mottled with darker brown ; the
fins light brown, occasionally varied with patches of darker
brown, but generally lighter than the body. Examples
sometimes occur with a few indistinct reddish spots on the
upper surface ; but the roughness of the lateral line in the
Flounder, and its smoothness in the Plaice, is a distinguish-
ing character in these two species, however similar they may
happen to be in colour or size.

COMMON DAI:

301

SUBBRACHIAL
UALACOl'TERYCll.

PLEUROXECTIDX.

COMMON DAB.

SALTIE, AND SALT-WATER FLEUK, Edinburgh.

Platessti limaiida,

Dab, FLEM. Brit. An. 198, sp. 105.

La Limande, CUVIEH, Regne An. t. ii. pp. 339 & 340.

Passer asper, Dab,

Pleuronectes limanda, LINN/EUS.
Dab,

Platessa

WILLUGHBY, p. 97, F. 4.
BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 46.
PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 308.
DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 44.
JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 456.

THE DAB is common to all the sandy parts of the coast,
and is usually caught along with Plaice and Flounder ; but
is immediately distinguished from either by its more uni-
form and lighter brown colour, its more curved lateral line,
and the roughness of the scaly surface, from which latter
circumstance it has been called in Latin, limanda, from //ma,
a file. Dr. Neill reports it as common in the market of
Edinburgh, where it is called Saltie, or Salt-water Fleuk.
I have received it from Berwick, and it is taken at Yar-
mouth. It is very common in the London market, and
Colonel Montagu says it is caught along the Devonshire
coast with the seine-net ; many are also taken by trawling.

x 2

308 PLEURONECTID.E.

It occurs in Cornwall, and is recorded as found on several
parts of the east coast of Ireland between Waterford and
Belfast.

The Dab feeds on small fish, Crustacea, and testacea, par-
ticularly Pecten obsoletus ; and is in best condition for the
table in February, March, and April. Its flesh is considered
superior to that of the Plaice or Flounder ; Cuvier says it is
in higher estimation in Paris than the Flounder, because it
bears carriage better. It spawns in May or June ; inhabits ,
deeper water generally than the Flounder ; and on some parts
of the coast is caught both by sea-lines and hand-lines, the
hooks of which are baited with the usual marine sand-worm,
or a portion of the body of some of the testaceous mollusca.
The size of the Dab is commonly about eight or nine inches
in length, and seldom exceeds twelve inches.

The form of the body is like that of the Flounder : the
length of the head is to that of the body as one to five ; the
greatest breadth compared to the whole length is as two to
five : the mouth and teeth small, the latter separated ; the
eyes rather large, the orbits divided, but the bony ridge is
not very prominent ; the length of the pectoral fin nearly
two-thirds the length of the head ; ventral fins small, in a
line under the origin of the pectoral fin : the dorsal and anal
fins extending along the body nearly to the tail, both ending
on the same plane ; the longest rays of both are placed be-
hind the centre : tail slender, elongated, and slightly rounded.
The fin-rays in number are

D. 76 : P. 11 : V. 6 : A. 59 : C. 14.

The form of the body is subrhomboidal ; the scales rough,
their margins ciliated ; the lateral line arched high over the
pectoral fin, the remainder to the tail straight ; the rays of
the dorsal and anal fins scaled ; the colour of the fish a uni-
form pale brown, with the under surface white.

LEMON DAB.

30.9

SUBBRACHIAL

MALACOPTERYGIL

PLEURONECTIDJE.

LEMON DAB, SMOOTH DAB.

SMEAR DAB. SANDFLEUK, Edinburgh.

TOWN-DAB, Hastings. MARY-SOLE, Devonshire.

Rhombus Icevis Cornubicus, JAGO, Ray, Syn. p. 162, f. 1.
La vraie Limandelte,

Platessa microcephalus,
,, microcephula,

Pleuronectes l&vis,

DUHAJVI. T. des Peches, t. iii. Sect. IX. p. 268, tab.

VI. f. 3 and 4.

Smear Dab, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 198, sp. 106.
Lemon Dab, JENYNS, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 457,

sp. 144.

Smear Dab, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 309, pi. 47.
microcephalus. Small-headed Dab, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 42.
microstomus, NILSSON, Prod. Ichth. Scand. p. 53.

THE LEJION DAB, or SAIOOTH DAB, is not of such
frequent occurrence as the common Rough Dab ; and is, on
account of a mixture of various shades of reddish brown and
yellow colours, a prettier fish to look at. It approaches
to a rhomboid in form, even more so than any of the
species of this genus as now restricted to a certain portion
only of those Flatfishes that have the eyes on the right side.

310 PLEURONECTID.E.

In tracing the occurrence of the Smooth Dab round the
coast, Dr. Neill of Edinburgh says it is taken off Seton
Sands and Aberlady Bay. Dr. Richard Parnell, who has
devoted great attention to the fishes of the Forth, and to
whose kindness I am indebted for the largest example of this
species I have yet seen, obtained it, and other specimens, on
the Fifeshire coast during the months of February, March,
and April. I have received specimens also from Dr. John-
ston of Berwick. It is not uncommon in the London mar-
ket ; and is taken on the Sussex coast, where it is known by
the name of Town-Dab. Colonel Montagu observed it fre-
quently in Devonshire, where it is called Mary-Sole.

Mr. Couch says it is rather a rare fish in Cornwall, and
does not readily take a bait ; but he has known it to be
caught in the trawl-nets. Mr. Couch adds, he has no
doubt this fish is the Kitt of Jago, figured in Ray's Synop-
sis, No. 1 ; the fish being reversed on the paper, and ap-
pearing with its eyes and colour on the left side, as in the
sinistral fishes.

Mr. Thompson says the Smooth Dab is widely distributed
on the coasts of Ireland, but limited in numbers.

The flesh of the Smooth Dab is considered equal to that
of the Common Dab, and the substance of the body is much
thicker. This species spawns in May. It feeds on testa-
ceous and crustaceous animals, and is said to feed also on
chitons.

Duhamel was well acquainted with the Smooth Dab ; but
considered it a rare fish on the coast of France, and on some
parts of it entirely unknown.

The form of the body rhomboidal ; small-sized specimens
are more elongated : the length of the head is to that of the
head and body, without the caudal rays, as one to five and a
half; the depth of the body, including the dorsal or anal fin,
only just equal to half the whole length of the fish ; the

LEMON DAB.

311

mouth small ; lips tumid ; the jaws equal in length ; teeth in
an even, close, regular row in each jaw, but extending further
back on the white under side of the fish than on the upper or
eye side ; nostrils double : the eyes exactly over each other ;
the orbits separated by a strong, prominent, body ridge, but
without tubercles : the head small ; the pectoral fin but little
more than half the length of the head ; ventral fin small ; the
dorsal and anal fins reaching near to the tail, but distinct ; the
tail rounded. The fin-rays in number are

D. 86 : P. 10 : V. 5 : A. 70 : C. 16. Vertebrae 46.

The general colour of the upper surface of the body is a
mixture of pale reddish brown and yellow, with small dark
brown specks ; the lips are orange, as is also the posterior
edge of the operculum, and the anterior edge of the body
immediately behind it : the body smooth, and covered with
a mucous secretion ; the lateral line but little arched over the
pectoral fin ; the under parts white.

The vignette below represents a Peter-boat as used by the
Thames fishermen between and above the different bridges.

312

PLEURONECTIDE.

SUBBRACHJAL
MALACOPTERYG1I.

PLEURONECTWJE.

LONG ROUGH DAB.

SANDNECKER. SAND FLEUK, AND LONG FLEUK, EfUnb.

Platessa limando'ides, Sandnecker, JENYNS, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 459, sp. 146.
Pleuronectes ,, ,, PARNELL, Edinb. Phil. Journ. July 1835,

p. 210.
,, ,, Long Rough Dab, BLOCH, pt. vi. pi. 186.

THE LONG ROUGH DAB is a very recent .addition to
the catalogue of British Fishes. The first notice I had
of the occurrence of this species on our coast was in the
autumn of 1833, from Dr. John Hanvood, of St. Leonard's,
near Hastings, who had seen a specimen that was taken
on the Sussex coast. In the summer of 1834? I received
two specimens from Dr. George Johnston of Berwick, which
had been taken in that vicinity. In May 1835 I was
favoured by Dr. Parnell with the largest specimen I have
yet seen, measuring fifteen inches ; who, at the same time,
sent me word they were to be had frequently in the Frith

LONG ROUGH DAB. 313

of Forth in May, June, and July. Soon afterwards I
learned by a letter from George T. Fox, Esq. of Durham,
that a specimen of PL limandoidcs of Bloch had been taken
some years before on the coast of Sunderland, and was still
preserved in the possession of Thomas Wilkinson, Esq. of
Bishop Wearmouth. The first recorded notice of this fish
as British, that I am aware of, is that by Dr. Parnell,
in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, already quoted,
where, by an error of the press, the fish is called PL liman-
danus, but this was corrected in the History of the Fishes of
the Frith of Forth.

Bloch received his specimen from Hamburgh, and states
that this fish is caught by the hook in the vicinity of Heligo-
land. He says it feeds on young crabs and young lobsters,
and that its flesh is white and good.

The length of the head compared to the whole length
of the fish is as one to five ; the breadth of the body,
not including the dorsal or anal fins, is equal to one-third
of the whole length ; with the dorsal and anal fins it is
equal to half the distance from the point of the nose to
the end of the fleshy portion of the tail : the form of the
body is an elongated oval, almost equally pointed at both
ends ; the parts of the mouth capable of some protrusion ;
teeth in a single row in each jaw, separate, conical, and
curving slightly inwards : eyes rather large ; the upper one
a little before the line of the other ; the orbits separated
by a bony ridge : pectoral and ventral fins small ; the former
only half the length of the head : dorsal and anal fins ex-
tending nearly to the tail ; both fins ending on the same
plane : the tail slightly rounded.

The cheeks, operculum, and body, covered with harsh,
ciliated scales, the surface exceedingly rough to the touch ;
a row of ciliated scales along each ray of the dorsal and anal
fins ; the lateral line straight, or very slightly inclining up-

PLEURONECTIDE.

wards as it approaches the operculum ; tlie head and body
one uniform pale brown ; the fins lighter ; the under surface
of the body rough and white.
The fin-rays in number are

D. 76 : P. 10 : V. 5 : A. 64 : C. 16.

The vignette represents a Folkstone fisherman selling his
fish by auction on the beach after landing. This is done,
according to the Dutch fashion, by lowering the price de-
manded for the lot till a bid is made, when the bargain is
struck by dropping the shingle, which is held, as represented,
between the fore-finger and thumb.

I- li

I'OLF.

315

SUBBRACHIAL

MALACOPTERYGll.

PLEUROKECT1DJE.

THE POLE, OR CRAIG FLUKE.

Platessa Pnlu, La Pole, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 339.

,, ,, The Pule, JENYNS, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 458, sp. 145.

,, ,, Craig Fluke, PARNELL, Ediub. Phil. Journ. July 1835,

p. 210.
Pleiironectes Pola, La Pole, LACEPEDE, vol. iv. p. 368. New 8vo.

Edition, vol. x. p. 74.

,, cynoglossus, LINN. Syst. Nat. i. p. 456.

,, ,, GRONOV. Mus. Ichth. i. p. 14, sp. 39.

,, nigromanus, NILES. Prod. Ichth. Scand. p. 55.

THIS second addition to the British Fishes in the genus
Platessa is still more rare on our coast than the PL liman-
do'ides last described. In the month of May 1833 I ob-
served a specimen twelve inches long in the shop of Mr.
Groves of Bond-street ; and on pointing out the differences
between this and other Flatfishes by comparison with several
species among which it was placed for sale, and mentioning
its rarity, Mr. Groves immediately sent it to the Zoological
Society for preservation, observing that he had not noticed
the difference, and did not recollect that he had ever seen
that species before. From this specimen th