The Salmon

Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus and species: Salmo salar

The Fish Shop Salmoniformes Salmonidae

Ed. note: William Yarrell (1836) refers to the bulltrout and the parr as separate species,
these being resp. a hybrid of Salmon and Sea Trout and land-locked Salmon parrs.

William Yarrell (1836) in "A History of British Fishes":

THE SALMON.

SMOLT, young. GRILSE, first year

Salmo salar, Linnæus.
" " Bloch, pt. i. pl. 20, female.
" " " pt. iii. pl. 98, male in autumn.
" " Salmon, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 382.
" " " Flem. Brit. An. p. 179, sp. 40.

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 ; branchiostegous 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 article of food, as well as for the immense quantities in which 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 the value of so much importance, as in the United Kingdom.
The history of the Salmon, and of the species of the genus Salmo, in this work, will extend to a considerable length; and some doubts existing as to the extent of their identity with the species of the Salmonidæ 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 characters 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 illustrated 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 the situation of the row of teeth that are fixed on the central bone of the roof of the mouth, called the vomer : Nos. 2, 2, refer to the teeth on the right and left palatin 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 Salmonidæ; 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 preoperculum ; No. 2, the operculum ; No. 3, the suboperculum; No. 4, the interoperculum ; No. 5, the branchiostegous rays: the four 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 Bull-Trout, and the Sea or Salmon Trout; which are also further distinguished 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.

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 Bull-Trout, and that on the right hand is the gill-cover of the Sea or 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 suboperculum 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 junction between the suboperculum and the operculum. The teeth of the Salmon are short, stout, pointed, and recurved : 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 bone, with a few only on the vomer between the palatine bones: the teeth on the vomer seldom exceeding two in number, sometimes only one, and that placed at the most anterior part; no other teeth extending along the vomer as in the Salmon-Trout, and more particularly so in some of those Trout that do not migrate.
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 second year, and by the fourth 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 longest 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 Bull-Trout.
As further specific distinctions in the Salmon, I may add that, according to Dr. Richardson, the cæcal appendages are in number from sixty-three to sixty-eight; and several observers have stated the number of vertebræ 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 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 Salmonidæ, as well as many specimens, "seem yet undecided ; 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." 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 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 water 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 circumstance 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 numbers."
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 appear to ascend only as far as the river is influenced by the tide, advancing with the flood, and generally retiring with the ebb, if their progress be not stopped by any of the various means employed to catch them, which will be explained hereafter. It is observed that the female fish ascend before the males; and the young fish of the year, 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 condition 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, frequently 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 attemping 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 themselves 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 Frasers of 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."
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 appearance of the cheek of a Labrus ; the lower jaw elongates, 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 valuable paper by Dr. Knox, published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, of Edinburgh.
"November 2. -- 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 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 confinement."
"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 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, Bull-Trout, Salmon-Trout, Parr, Common Trout, and Welsh Charr. I have never had an opportunity of examining the young of the Northern Charr, or the Great Lake-Trout; yet I have no doubt but that, when only two or three inches long, they also are marked in the same manner. In a specimen of the young of the Salmon six inches long, these transverse marks are still observable when the fish is viewed in a particular position in reference to the light ; and if the scales are removed, the marks are much more obvious. In a Parr of the same length these marks are still more conspicuous; they are also very distinct in the Common Trout and in the Welsh Charr for a consider-able time ; and as far as my own examination has gone, these lateral markings observable in the fry of the species of Salmo are lost, or become indistinct, sooner or later, depending on the ultimate natural size attained by the particular species: thus, they are soonest lost in the Salmon and in the Bull-Trout, and are borne the longest in the Common Trout and Parr; indeed, I have never seen the Parr, at any age or size, without some trace of the remains of these markings. It is this similarity in markings and appearance of the fry which has caused the difficulty in distinguishing between the various species when so young; and experimenters, believing they had marked young Parr only, have been surprised to find some of their marked fish return as Grilse, young Bull-Trout or Whitling, Salmon-Trout, RiverTrout, and true Parr.
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.
To return to the Salmon. 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 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 decided change ; obtaining, it has been said, a release from 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 versâ.

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 Salmonidæ, 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. Heysham'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 green ; sides above the lateral line marked with numerous 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 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 which has not acquired scales, 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. It rarely happens that any Salmon fry are observed in the rivers late in June. 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 circumstances 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 in others, as I know from having had specimens sent me, the Laspring is really only a Parr; and it must also be recollected that the fry of two other species at least 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 mixture 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 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 fish of the year 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 of the year breed during the first 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 considerable 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 : 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 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 followed 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 fry to that of Grilse has been shown to be very rapid; and the increase in weight attained during the second and each subsequent year is believed to be equal, if not to exceed, the weight gained within the first. The increase in size is principally gained during that part of the year in which the fish may be said to be almost a constant resident in the sea. That the food sought for and obtained to produce 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 themselves. 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 in the ocean, he has found to be the ova or eggs of various kinds of echinodermata, and some of the crustacea. From the richness of the food on which the true Salmon solely subsists, 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. Faber, 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 stomach. Sir William Jardine says, "In the north of Sutherland a mode of fishing for Salmon is sometimes successfully prac-tised 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 com-mon 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 to suppose that there is any material difference in their food." The following is an extract from a letter sent me by Sir William Jardine, dated St. Boswell's, 15 April 1835: -- "The fisherman 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 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 Minnow.
The present London season, 1835, has been more than of usually remarkable for large Salmon. I have seen 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. Salmon, 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 Walton, one is mentioned that weighed seventy pounds ; Pennant has noticed one of seventy-four pounds: the largest known, as far as I am aware, came 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, October 8, 1812, at Shepperton Deeps, Mr. G. Marshall, of Brewer-street, London, caught and killed a Salmon with a 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 affording 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 practised in Scotland, "that on one occasion Sir H. Davy happened by good fortune to hit upon an immense fish, weighing about forty-two pounds, immediately above Yair-bridge, and captured him after a severe struggle. This feat he makes no mention of in his Salmonia, although certainly worthy 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."
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 some facts to be 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, "Near 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 consequence of cataracts, cannot have access to the sea. They are small in size, and inferior in flavour. The year 1820 furnished 21,817."
A large landed proprietor in Scotland, 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 1883, 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 newrun fish."
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 convenient for intercepting them in their course."
"It so happens that Carrick-a-rede (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 in then prepared for each person. All things being ready, as soon as the watchman perceives the fish advancing to the net, he gives the watchword. 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 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 estuary, on each side of the mouth, and for miles up on both sides, stake-nets are used, of which the vignette 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 to the chambers, 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 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 shiel or house where the fishermen lodge ; and immediately a boat is rowed off by one man with great celerity, having a net attached 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 contractions of the stream, are fished with the coble and sweep net.
In the work by the Rev. William Hamilton already 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 down the river in the direction towards the sea: the dog watches and marks his approach 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 dog 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 dogs 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 watchfulness, 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.
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 either by daylight or torchlight, as practised in the North. These works are familiar to all, and repetition would be useless. For the following desscription of two other modes of taking Salmon I am indebted 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 funnel-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 extremity 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 retreat 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 returns of this fishing; but prime Salmon are occasionally taken both on the flood and ebb.
This kind of fishing being as yet open to all, and unfettered by parliamentary enactments, there is scarcely a cottage on the shores of the Solway Firth where the halve-net may 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 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, as represented in the specimen lying on the ground in the vignette ; the more elongated blade of the paddle in the hand of the fisherman is the form in use on the Dee. The boat, which in appearance 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, from corium, the hide of the beast with which they were formerly covered, are of great antiquity: they were known in Cæsar'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 Britains 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 the 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 modifications of this sort of net occur in different rivers. Cap-tain Medwin, in his Angler in Wales, says, "We stood on the bridge at Machynlleth for some time. to watch the operations of two fishermen in coracles. They were about 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' 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 fill about half-way 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 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. Vertebræ 60.

Salmon, and indeed all the Salmonidæ, 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 Salmon commands the highest price : the next in point of value is that sent up either from Woodmill or Christchurch in Hampshire; then those fish received from the Severn, which are usually brought 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 1883. 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.

* Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon.
** Letters concerning the Natural History of the Basalts on the Northern Coast of the County of Antrim, by the Rev. William Hamilton, A.B.
*** This word is sometimes written coriacle, and may be derived from coriago, hide-bound.
**** Hansard's 'front and Salmon Fishing in Wales, pages 145 and 184.

Ed. note: William Yarrell (1836) refers to the bulltrout and the parr as separate species,
these being resp. a hybrid of Salmon and Sea Trout and land-locked Salmon parrs.

William Yarrell (1836) in "A History of British Fishes":

THE BULL-TROUT.

THE GREY TROUT. WHITLING. ROUNDTAIL.

Salmo eriox, Linnæus.
" cinereus aut griseus, Willughby, p. 193.
" griseus seu cinereus, Ray, p. 63, A. 3.
" eriox, Grey, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 394.
" Cambriscus, Sewin, Don. Brit. Fish. pl. 91.
" eriox, Grey, Flem. Brit. An. p. 180, sp. 46.

THE BULL-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 backwards ; 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 interoperculum much deeper vertically ; the vertical edge of the preoperculum more sinuous.

The teeth in the Bull-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 occupy the most anterior part only. The tail is square by the time this fish is twelve months old, as is shown in the figure above, from a female fish in its first winter, at which period and during its second season it is called a Whitling in the Tweed ; it is afterwards called a Bull-Trout: and the central rays of the tail continuing to increase in length with age, the posterior edge becomes convex; a variation in form which has caused this fish to be designated in the Annan by the name of Roundtail when old, and Sea-Trout when young. It is to this species also that the names of Norway Trout and Norway Salmon are believed to refer, as used occasionally on Tweed, and some of the northern parts of Scotland. The Warkworth Trout and Coquet Trout of Northumberland and Durham are the young of the Bull-Trout.
The Bull-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 existence 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. Heysham includes this fish among those of the rivers of Cumberland that run into the Solway. Mr. Low says it is found in the loch of Stenness, Orkney.
The Bull-Trout appears to be the Salmo maculis cinereis caudæ extremo æquali of Artedi, page 23, sp. 2 ; and probably also, as quoted, the Graia Salmo cinereus seu griseus of Willughby and Ray, whose specific names have precedence of eriox. This fish sometimes attains the weight of twenty pounds ; but it more commonly occurs under fifteen pounds' weight. It ascends rivers for the purpose of spawning, 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 : it feeds voraciously, taking any fly or bait freely ; 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 estimation as food as the Salmon or Salmon-Trout: the flesh, even when the fish is in season, is of a pale orange colour at other times yellowish white. But few are sent to the London markets, and these produce comparatively but an inferior price.
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 Bull-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 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 Bull-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 ventral 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 the Bull-Trout in number are

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

In six specimens out of seven, the number of vertebræ was fifty-nine; in the other, sixty. Fifty-nine will probably prove to be the normal number in the Bull-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 muscular : the males are the strongest in the water, but the females are the most eager for bait, and their teeth are rather smaller. The colours of the males in the spawning season 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 Salmo hucho of English authors is probably the same as the Bull-Trout.

Ed. note: William Yarrell (1836) refers to the bulltrout and the parr as separate species,
these being resp. a hybrid of Salmon and Sea Trout and land-locked Salmon parrs.

William Yarrell (1836) in "A History of British Fishes":


THE PARR, OR SAMLET.

Salmo salmulus, 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 Salmonidæ, has given rise to more discussion than any other species of the genus. Abounding in our Salmon rivers, and conspicuous for those lateral marks which are now known to be borne also for a time by the young of the Trout as well as the fry of the other Salmonidæ, and this fish always appearing of small comparative size, it has frequently been insisted upon as the young of the Salmon, and local regulations have as generally been invoked for its preservation.
The fry, however, of the different species of migratory Salmonidæ are even now probably accurately known only to a few persons : their great similarity when very small has so frequently deceived even those who have lived the greater part of their lives on the Salmon river banks, 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, Bull-Trout, Salmon-Trout, and River-Trout. That the Parr is not the young of the Salmon, or indeed of any other of the larger species of Salmonidæ, as still considered by some, is sufficiently obvious from the circumstance that Parrs by hundreds may he taken in the rivers all the summer, long after the fry of the year of the larger migratory species have gone down to the sea ; and the greater part of those Parrs taken even in autumn do not exceed five inches in length, when no example of the young of the Salmon can be found under sixteen or eighteen inches, and the young of the Bull-Trout and Salmon-Trout are large in proportion. As has been before stated, 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, are obliterated by degrees, and at periods depending on the ultimate size attained by the individual species when adult ; the soonest probably in the Salmon, and certainly the latest in the Parr.
"Some of the rivers of Scotland being unprotected, are poached to such an extent that very few Salmon or Salmon-Trout escape the nets or spears of their relentless pursuers ; yet the Parr swarms in shoals." -- Statistics of Scotland.
"In the Western Isles there are streams in which Parrs are common, although Salmon never visit them ; and although the Salmon and the Sea-Trout, Salmo trutta, frequent some of the lakes, yet the Parr has never been seen in these lakes."*
Dr. Heysham, of Carlisle, devoted particular attention to the history of this fish, which is there called Branlin and Samlet ; and some, of his observations are here repeated, adopting only the name of Samlet, for reasons that will be hereafter explained.
"The old Samlets begin to deposit their spawn in December, and continue spawning the whole of that month, and perhaps some part of January. As this season of the year is not favourable for angling, few or no observations are made during these months. As soon as they have spawned, they retire, like the Salmon, to the sea, where they remain till the autumn, when they again return to the rivers."
"The spawn deposited by the old Samlets in the sand begins to exclude the young or fry, according to the temperature of the season, either in April or May. The young Samlets remain in the rivers where they were spawned during the whole of the spring, summer, and autumn, and do not acquire their full size till the autumn, about which time the old ones return from the sea. Hence it is evident that, although there are Samlets of various sizes in the spring and fore part of the summer, there will be no very large ones till the autumn, when the young ones have nearly acquired their full size, and the old ones have returned to associate with their offspring."
"If the weather be mild and open in January and February, Samlets are taken when retiring to the sea with empty bellies, and in a weak emaciated condition. In short, we see Samlets of various sizes -- we see them with milt and roe in various stages, and we see them perfectly empty ; all which circumstances clearly prove that they axe a distinct species."

Sir William. Jardine, during an excursion in Sutherlandshire, observed that the Parr decreased in numbers as he proceeded northward ; and detailing the result of his observations made on the Parr of the Tweed, further adds, "that the difference of opinion among ichthyologists, or rather the difficulty which they appear to have in forming one, whether this fish is distinct, or only the young of some others, has rendered the solution of it interesting. The greatest uncertainty, however, has latterly resolved itself into, whether the Parr was distinct, or a variety or young of the common Trout, S. fario ; with the migratory Salmon it has no connexion whatever."
"Among the British Salmonidæ, there is no fish whose habits are so regular, or the colours and marking so constant. It frequents the clearest streams, delighting in the shallower fords or heads of the streams. having a fine gravelly bottom, and hanging there- in shoals, in constant activity, apparently day and night. It takes any bait at any time with the greatest freedom; and hundreds may be taken when no Trout, either large or small, will rise, though abundant among them. That part of its history only which is yet unknown is the breeding. Males are found so far advanced as to have the milt flow on being handled ; but at that time, and indeed all those females which I have examined, had the roe in a backward state ; and they have not been discovered spawning in any of the shallow streams or lesser rivulets, like the Trout."
"In the markings they are so distinct as to be at once separated from the Trout by any observer. The row of blue marks which is also found in the young Trout, and in the young of several Salmonidæ, in the Parr are narrower and more lengthened. The general spotting seldom extends below the lateral line, and two dark spots on the gill-cover are a very constant mark. On a still closer comparison between the young, Trout and Parr of similar size, the following distinctions present themselves : -- The Parr is altogether more delicately formed ; the nose is blunter, the tail more forked ; but the chief external distinction is in the immense comparative power of the pectoral fin : it is larger, much more muscular, and nearly one-third broader ; and we at once see the necessity for this greater power, when we consider that they serve to assist in almost constantly suspending this little fish in the most rapid streams. Scales of the Parr taken from the lateral line below the dorsal fin were altogether larger, the length greater by nearly one-third, the furrowing more delicate, and the form of the canal not so apparent or so strongly marked towards the basal end of the scale. The greater delicacy of the bones in the Parr is still kept up very distinctly. The operculum forming the posterior edge of the gill-cover is much more rounded than in the Trout, approaching in this respect to the Salmon ; in the Trout the lower part is decidedly angular. The interoperculum in the Parr is longer and narrower. The maxillary bone is broader at the posterior corner, but much shorter in the Parr ; the vomer is much weaker ; the bones or rays of the gill-covers are longer and much narrower than those of the Trout. The teeth of the Parr are smaller ; the bone of the tongue longer, weaker, and not so broad; the under jaw much weaker, and the distance between the two sides of the under jaw in the Parr about one-third less. These are the most conspicuous distinctions, but every bone varies ; and not in one only, but in the many specimens which I have lately examined, the distinctions were the same, and at once to be perceived. In this state, therefore, I have no hesitation in considering the Parr not only distinct, but one of the best and most constantly marked species we have, and that it ought to remain in our systems as the Salmo salmulus of Ray." **
By the kindness of various friends, I have received Parrs from several rivers on the east, south, and west shores ; and from close comparative examination of specimens from distant localities, and these with the young of others of the Salmonidæ, I believe the Parr to be a distinct fish. The largest I possess measures full eight inches and was sent to me by Dr. George Johnston, with several others not more than five inches long, from the Tweed, and taken in the month of July. The representations which illustrate this subject were taken from these specimens. The smallest Parr I have preserved measures but three inches and one quarter, and was sent me with others nearly double the size by Sir William Jardine, Bart.: these were taken in summer from the Annan. I have also received Parrs, the Skirling of Pennant, not exceeding four inches in length, from Glamorganshire and from the Ribble, in June, as well as from other localities between the Tweed and the Annan.
An opinion prevails that the Parrs are hybrids, and all of them males. Dr. Heysham, at different times and seasons, opened and examined three hundred and ninety-five Parrs or Samlets, as they are called at Carlisle, and found one hundred and ninety-nine males, and one hundred and ninety-six females. I am indebted to J. C. Heysham, Esq. for a specimen measuring seven inches in length, having both lobes of roe in a forward state : no such accumulation, I venture to say, will be found in the young of the Salmon, Bull-Trout, or Salmon-Trout, when only seven inches long The specimen just referred to was taken in the middle of February. Mr. Heysham, among other communications on the subject of fishes, sent me word he had seen a female taken in March, in which the ova were very large : and the Rev. W. F. Cornish, of Totness in Devonshire, on the Dart, where this fish is called the Heppar, preserved a specimen of a female, also taken in March, in which the ova were very large ; much larger, he said, than he could have thought it possible so small a fish could have matured. The three specimens last mentioned might be examples of late breeders, and Dr. Heysham's view of the breeding period is probably the correct one : the Parr being, as that gentleman considered, a migratory species, deposits its spawn in the depth of winter, like the other migratory species of the same genus.
The Skegger of the Thames is the Parr or Samlet. Laleham, between Staines and Chertsey, where the water is shallow, formerly afforded the greatest quantity ; forty and even fifty dozen have been taken in one day by a skilful fly-fisher ; but the numerous gas and other manufactories on the banks of the river are considered so greatly to have affected the quality of the water, that a Salmon or a Skegger in the Thames is now but rarely seen. It was customary to permit fishing for Skeggers only, before the usual period for angling in the Thames,*** from the belief that these fish were migratory and their return uncertain.
The length of the head is, as compared to the whole length of the head, body, and tail, including the caudal rays, as one to five ; the body of greater girth than that of the young of the Salmon when of the same length ; the pectoral fin of great breadth and length, nearly as long as the head ; the base of the last ray of the dorsal fin exactly half-way between the point of the nose and the end of the upper half of the tail ; the base of the dorsal fin considerably shorter than the third ray of that fin, which is the longest; the second dorsal or fleshy fin half-way between the origin of the first ray of the dorsal fin and the end of the upper half of the tail, and in a line over the origin of the last ray of the anal fin ; the tail deeply forked, much more so than that of the Trout ; the lower jaw shorter than the upper ; the teeth small, placed in five lines on the upper inner surface of the mouth ; two or three small hooked teeth on the superior lateral portion of the tongue on each side towards the tip, and a row of small teeth on each side of the under jaw : the eye large, its diameter one-fourth of the length of the head, and placed at the distance of its diameter from the point of the nose. The fin-rays in number are --

D. 13 : P. 14 : V. 9 : A. 9 : C. 19 : Vertebræ 60.

The following description of the colours of the Parr is derived from Dr. Heysham's paper already quoted, my specimens being affected by immersion in spirits.
"Head green and ash colour. Gill-covers tinged with a variable green and purple, and marked with a round dark-coloured spot : in some specimens there are two of these spots on each gill-cover. Back and sides, down to the lateral line, dusky and marked with numerous dark-coloured spots. Belly white. Along the lateral line there are from sixteen to thirty bright vermilion spots. The sides are marked with nine or ten oval bars of a dusky bluish colour. Dorsal fin with a few dusky spots; colour of the lower fins inclining to yellow." The number of scales in a row above the lateral line twenty-two, below it nineteen.
In its feeding, the Parr is voracious : the stomachs of several examined were distended with the larvæ of waterbeetles of various sizes, -- Dytiscidæ.
It would be very desirable to discontinue the use of all the names bestowed upon this fish except those of Parr and Samlet ; the terms Brandling, Fingerling, Skirling, Gravelling, Laspring, Sparling, &c. not being sufficiently defined, but referring either to some quality or habit observed in other species.
The Gravelling of the river Taw, as figured in the Magazine of Natural History for January 1835, is the young of the Salmon, but with a greater number of spots than I have usually seen them.

* By the Editor of the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.
** Sir William Jardine, Bart. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for January 1835.
*** Angling in the Thames, within the conservancy of the Lord Mayor of London, which extends to Staines Bridge, is prohibited during the months of March, April, and May, under a penalty, and with loss of rod and line.

Alwyne Wheeler (1969) in "The Fishes of the British Isles and North West Europe":

Salmon

Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758

NAMES Fr. Saumon; Du. Zalm; Ge. Lachs; Da. Laks; Nor. Lax.

IDENTIFICATION The salmon is distinguished from the trout by its narrow caudal peduncle, which provides a firm handhold and prevents it from slipping through the fingers as the trout does. There are ten to thirteen (usually eleven) rows of scales between the rear edge of the adipose fin and the lateral line. The tail fin is shallowly forked. The jaw extends at the furthest to the hind margin of the eye or only a little beyond it. The jaws in adult males may become enormously hooked just before and during the breeding season. There is a staggered single row of teeth on the vomerine bone, but no patch of teeth on the head of the vomer (Fig. 56A). These teeth become fewer with age.
D. 12-14; A. 9-10; lateral line 120-30; vertebrae 57-60.
The salmon's colour depends on whether it is in fresh or salt water. At sea the back is a silvery bluegreen, the sides silvery and the belly white, with small black x-shaped and round spots above the lateral line. On entering fresh water it loses its silvery pigment and becomes greenish or brown mottled with red or orange, and has large dark spots edged with a lighter colour.
The parr is dark bluish or brown on the back, has eight to eleven dark, rounded crossbars (parr marks) on its sides, scattered black spots on the body and head, and an orange mark between each of the parr marks. The older young - the smolt - is silvery overall, this pigment overlaying the spots and marks of the parr.

BIOLOGY The salmon spawns in winter, usually in November or December. The female digs and shapes a nest (redd) in the gravel of the river bed by alternately bending and straightening her body, thus forcefully moving her tail and dislodging the gravel from beneath her. The smaller stones and silt are swept away by the current, the larger ones moving only slightly to the rear of the redd. Both male and female rest in a pool below the gravel shallow. When the redd is between 6 and 12 in deep, depending on the size of the female, the male joins her at the redd. Spawning follows, the female adopting a ‘crouched’ position with open mouth when she is joined by the male, who adopts a similar attitude. The spawn and milt are ejected simultaneously and fall into the interstices of the gravel. Immediately after the eggs are laid the male returns to the resting pool downstream; meanwhile the female begins cutting another redd above the first, which has the effect of deeply burying the eggs. The fully grown adult salmon are often joined in the spawning redd by partly grown male salmon parr which also fertilise the eggs. It has been found that up to 75 per cent of male parr become sexually mature, and there is little doubt that they make a substantial contribution to the successful fertilization of the eggs. This remarkable fact may be a form of biological insurance; the parr's contribution of milt to the spawning being ejected deep into the gravel, where that of the adult male might not penetrate due to the strong current which is usual on a redd.
After spawning the adults (now kelts) are greatly debilitated and sometime suffer from ‘salmon disease’, a bacterial infection of abrasions which is often accompanied by white patches of fungus, Saprolegnia. The spent females drop downriver to the sea almost immediately; the males stay in resting pools and take part in further spawnings, until at the end of the season they, too, are spent and return to the sea. Those that survive the journey recover condition in the sea, where they spend anything from five to eighteen months, growing fat and maturing for another spawning. Depending on local conditions variable numbers of mended kelts return to spawn a second time, this proportion varying with locality from 0.7 per cent (males) to 34 per cent (both sexes) with an average around 5 per cent. Extremely few make a third spawning, and hardly any (.02 per cent in the Wye) a fourth.
Little is known of the movements in the sea of either the mended kelts or the smolts. Those in the vicinity of large rivers may well stay within their influence, but it is believed that most of the salmon from western Europe travel widely in the sea. This might be one reason why so few are caught at sea in the heavily fished European grounds. In recent years there have been numerous reports of fish tagged in British, Swedish and Canadian waters being re-caught off the west coast of Greenland which suggests that some, if not most, of our salmon make a transatlantic journey. Estimates of speed made for shorter migrations than this lie between five and sixty-two miles per day; the majority reported in Irish waters travelled at less than ten miles per day, but it has been estimated that long distances may be covered at about twenty-five miles a day or more.
The salmon’s food in the sea is varied, but is largely confined to fishes and crustaceans. Of the former the species most commonly reported are herring, sprat, sand eels, mackerel, capelin and various gadoids, principally young pollack, cod, whiting and polar cod, Boreogadus saida. The crustaceans eaten include euphausiid shrimps, prawns, gammarid amphipods and various crabs. The adult salmon do not feed in fresh water, where their stomachs usually contain only a little yellowish fluid. It is difficult to reconcile this with their ready acceptance of a bait and controversy has existed and no doubt will continue, as to why this should be. In fresh water the food of the young smolts and the parr is very varied and is mainly a cross-section of the available food in the river. Feeding goes on all year round, although both local and seasonal variations occur. The predominant diet items are aquatic insects, particularly larval Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Chironomidae and Simulium. An increase in the proportion of surface-living animals in the diet is apparent during the summer and autumn. These are often terrestrial insects, but also include the winged adult forms of the aquatic insects which figure in the diet as larvae and pupae. It is during this period of rich, warm weather feeding that the greatest growth occurs.
The parr’s growth has been investigated in a number of waters and has been found to vary from river to river. In general, rapid growth takes place from mid-April to the end of July, and at the end of their first year (i.e. after one winter) the most rapid-growing parr may make their seaward journey as smolts at an average length of 4-6 in (10-15 cm), depending on the river. Smolts of two years are from 5 to 6½ in (13-16 cm) long and those of three years from 5 to 8 (13-20 cm). Few four-year-old smolts are encountered.
In the sea they grow rapidly, and this phase of their life is never shorter than a full year. Grilse which return after spending a complete year and part of a summer in the sea may measure about 20 in (51 cm). Their weight will also vary from river to river and annually, but averages about 6 lb (2.6 kg), and rarely exceeds 10 lb (4.5 kg). Small summer fish (which spend a further year in the sea) weigh, on average, 12 lb (5.4 kg) hut may weigh nearly 14 lb (6.3 kg). Large summer fish, which spend three or more winters at sea, average about 25 lb (11 kg). It can be seen from these figures, which are largely derived from Irish sources, that the size of a salmon is not so much an expression of its age as of the length of time it has fed at sea. The largest fish are those that have grown for three or four whole years without the physiological demands made by spawning.
The salmon is one of the most valued food fishes in the world. Its fisheries were worth £4.5 million in 1962 in Europe. Substantial sums are also involved in the sport fisheries, salmon fishing rights on rivers commanding extremely high prices. All told, the total value of the salmon runs into many millions of pounds per year.
Man is not alone in his appreciation of the salmon as food. It is extensively preyed on by many fishes, birds and mammals, including herons, mergansers, and grey and common seals.

DISTRIBUTION

South to Biscay and also American Atlantic.