Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/30

TROUT salmon family {Salmonidx). The best- known species, and that which par excel- lence receives the name, is the Salwo fario or common trout, a fish which in- habits clear and running streams, and is mostly to be found tenanting some spe- cial nook from which it has to be warily drawn by the fly of the angler. The color of the tront is very characteristic. It is of a yellowish -brown color above, variegated with a dark reddish-brown hue, and marked by spots of a brilliant carmine along the lateral line. Below, a silvery white luster prevails, and the under part of the sides are a rich golden- yellow. Trout subsist largely on insects, worms, and the like fare. The bait which tempts it varies greatly from the fly to the minnow. A very peculiar and at the same time interesting fashion of capturing trout is in vogue among juve- nile fishers, and is named "tickling." Great Britain and of northern Europe at large.

A second species of trout is the salmon trout (Salmo ttnitta), which closely re- sembles the salmon in its general habits, especially in those relating to migration to the sea, and returning to the rivers to spawn. The common trout spawns about the end of October, the sexual difference between male and female then becoming markedly apparent in the elongation of the lower jaw of the former; the salmon trout spawning at about the same period. Certain species of trout are confined to certain lakes or streams, and are not found outside the bounds of these waters. In such cases special -markings indicate the specific character of the fishes. Of such cases, a well-known example is the Loch Leven trout (S. Leveriensis), which inhabits Loch Leven in Kinross-shire, a lake also tenanted by the common trout.

This process consists in feeling beneath the river banks for these fishes, in holes and like situations where they rest; when a fish is touched, the hand is out- spread to prevent its escape, while, ap- parently, the fish, mesmerized by the ac- tion of the fingers on its sides, remains sufficiently quiet to permit of its sudden and speedy capture. The color and flesh of the trout appear to vary with the particular locality in which the fish is found. The average weight of the com- mon trout is from three-fourths to one pound. Fishes which exceed one pound in weight may be regarded as exception- ally fine specimens. The trout is found in all the large streams and lakes of From the latter the Loch Leven trout is distinguished by its larger size, and by the more pointed form of the pectoral fins. The tail fin is also more pointed than in the common trout, and the flesh is reddish, and wants the white or pink tint of the common trout's muscles. The pyloric caeca, or blind and pocket-like appendages attached to the hinder mar- gin of the stomach of most fishes (and supposed to represent a pancreas or sweetbread), number from 60 to 80 in the Loch Leven trout, whereas in the common trout they are much fewer. A third species of trout is the Great Lake trout (S. ferox), common in some of the larger lakes of Great Britain and Ire-