The varieties of fish taken by the angle-rod in Scot land, are comparatively few to those of England; but this we need not much regret, as those which we pos sess are in greater abundance, and afford by far the best entertainment to the angler. Indeed, our deficiency, if we except the grayling and the ruff, seems to lie in the genusCyprinus only, as we have no more than the roach and minnow belonging to it.
In the following catalogue, we hare placed, first, such as are inhabitants in common throughout the waters of the united kingdom; and from the asterisk to the end, are those of England exclusively : We shall give such descriptions, of the spawning haunts, habits, and modes of angling, for these fishes, as may be necessary for the information and amusement of the young angler, leaving the other parts of their natural history to be found under the article Ichthyo logy.
SALMO—Salar, Monarch of the British streams, is allowed to be the most beautiful and best eating of all the anadromous fishes, that is, such as make fresh and salt waters occasionally, or alternately, their elements. Salmon affect rather a cold climate. They take to the streams, when but a little above the freezing point, and the temperature in which they seem most to delight and thrive, is from 40 to 52 by Fahrenheit's scale. The regions in Europe where they are generally found, may be reckoned from the Moselle, (a river which falls into the Rhine at Coblentz,) to the arctic circle. The streams upon the north-west coasts of America, which run into the Pacific ocean, are said by our late naviga tors, to contain many of these fish. We know well, that to the northward of 41° on the east side of that continent, they are got in considerable abundance. Yet the remarkable purity, and moderate temperature of the rivers in this country, not being so warm in summer, nor so cold in winter, as they are in the same latitudes in other parts of Europe and America, render them more peculiar ly favourable for the breed and haunt of the salmon. The American rivers, too, are frozen during the whole of the winter; ours, on the contrary, are never shut, at least but partially so, and therefore seldom prevent what the fishermen call the free-run of the fish. Salmon gene rally deposit their spawn, from the first of September to the end of October; those that come in the early part of the season, from the sea, begin first, and so in pro gression. As the milts and roes increase, they grow worse both in appearance and in flesh, (which is indeed the case with all fish,) for when the latter become as large as the duck-shot of the fowler, they are then no better eating than if they were shotten. Some time be fore the shedding of their spawn, they betake them selves to brooks, branching from rivers, or remain in such retired shallows, as hardly to have their upper dorsal fin covered with the water in which they swim. There they make a kind of trough in the gravel, where the female drops her ova, and the male immediately thereafter emits a whitish fluid upon them, which has nearly the semblance and feel of the substance to be found, or that bleeds from lettuce, dandelion, or other milky plants. From this fact we conclude, although in opposition to the opinion of Linnxus, and several other naturalists of no mean note, that the eggs are not im pregnated until after exclusion. This operation being completed, the male and female proceed to throw up the gravel, with wonderful precision. They do not
form hillocks, as has been often said, nature having given them an instinct to lay the seeds of their future offspring in the safest manner, and in the least exposed situation ; for were it piled or elevated, it would be lia ble to be swept away with the winter floods, or blown into deep water by the early tempests of the spring. This is a process which continues for several days; the male seems to be the most active, both in the digging and in the covering of the pits: he frequently dies by over action, and at all times is longer than the female in recovering his strength.
In the beginning of April, when the rays of the sun become so warm as to reach the bottom of these shoals, the vivification of the spawn takes place. The young fry grow surprisingly fast. When the floods of May set in, an irresistible instinct hurries them down to the sea. It has been noticed, that upon their entering into brackish water, they make a stop, and continue there for some time, which no doubt is gradually to prepare themselves for the new element, which they are about to inhabit. In the months of July and August, these very fry, or smouts, come up as gilses to the same ri vers which they left in May, and in this state they re main until November or December, and frequently longer, when they revisit the sea; and upon their next return from it to the fresh waters, they then appear as perfect salmon. These positions, however, some natu ralists reject, and assert, that they are each of a distinct species. This idea is founded on the following obser vations: 1st, That gilses, when they go up the rivers in July or August, are full of spawn, therefore they must have arrived at maturity ; we admit the fact, but deny the conclusion, for we have noticed them even in the smout state, to contain the rudiments of milts and roes; and if we look at some land animals, which is un doubtedly the case with many fishes, we find them ca pable of reproduction long before they attain their full growth. The hog and rabbit, scarcely leave the teat before they become parents themselves.-2d, That per fect salmon sometimes weigh only five or six pounds, while gilses have been known to be upwards of seven pounds weight ; this is granted, but it is surely a very insufficient proof of their being of a different species. Have we not daily instances, throughout the whole ani mal creation, that of the same species, some are larger when growing than others are at full growth ?-3d, That salmon are forked, and gilses are straight in the tail; this is in some degree true, but it cannot be disputed, that many animals change the appearance of their parts, when approaching from an immature to a mature state. If gilses were a different species, they would in all pro bability appear in our rivers at all seasons, in the same manner as salmon; but it is a known fact, that they are seldom seen before the middle of July, or beginning of August, that is, until such time as the salmon fry, which were carried down in May to the sea, have had time to grow to a sufficient size and strength, so as to enable them to ascend their native stream. In confirmation of the truth of this circumstance, many fishermen have marked smouts, upon their journeying to the sea, and in their return, as gases, knew them perfectly by the marks they had put upon them ; nay more, those even remained upon some when they were caught, after be coming salmon.