Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/311

Rh the 'Annals of Scottish Natural History' for April, Mr. J.A. Harvie-Brown has published "Notes on some Scottish Salmonidæ." In the well-known angling county of Sutherland, with its innumerable lochs and streams, there are many interesting varieties of Salmonidæ. All of these, however, rank, as the writer believes with Dr. Day, only as varieties of the principal species or types recognized in that author's 'History of British Fishes,' and still more recently accentuated in his 'British and Irish Salmonidæ.' These species are:—The Salmon, Salmo salar, L. ('British and Irish Salmonidæ,' p. 51); the Sea-Trout, Salmo trutta, L. (op. cit. p. 149); the Fresh-water Trout, Salmo farlo, L. (op. cit. p. 182); the Char, Salmo alpinus, L. (op. cit. p. 112); and all other so-called species must, Mr. Harvie-Brown considers, have their names sunk to the value of mere varieties—such as the Great Lake Trout (Salmo ferox), and many others, not speaking, of course, of aberrant forms of the Salmonidæ, such as the Sperling (Osmerus eperlanus). The notes refer mainly to certain varieties of the Salmonidæ belonging to the above species which are found in different lakes and rivers in Scotland, such as the Loch Maidaidh and Smoo Burn-Trout; Crasspuil Trout; Loch Sean Trout; the Tidal Trout of the rivers Inver and Kirkaig, known to the natives as "Fossacks"; Parr-marked Trout of Loch na Sgeirach; and Hump-backed Trout of Fheoir Lochan.

writer in the 'Westminster Gazette' has called attention to the decrease of Salmon in the Welsh Dee:—"This river is peculiarly fitted by nature for the abode of Salmon. Deep, swirling pools alternate with rapid runs and long sluggish reaches. It possesses a noble estuary, and numerous tributary streams, admirably adapted for breeding purposes, flow into it. From various causes the supply of Salmon has declined of late years, and at the present time the Fishery Board finds its operations seriously hampered. Its income is derived entirely from the licences taken out by rod and net fishers, and so marked is the scarcity of Salmon this year that there has been a great falling-off in the number of net licences, with a corresponding decline in the revenue. It is, of course, possible that an improvement may take place ere the close of the season, but present conditions do not favour the supposition, and there is reason to fear that, in common with many other rivers, the Dee is steadily deteriorating as regards the stock of Salmon. It is evident that as the income of the conservators falls off so does their ability to preserve the river. In the absence of funds they cannot pay watchers to guard it, and nowhere in the kingdom is poaching more rife during the close season than in North Wales. The state of affairs is serious, for when once a certain limit of scarcity is reached on Salmon rivers, matters are likely to go from bad to