SALMO TRUTTA.
YOUNG STATES OF THE SEA TROUT OF THE SOLWAY.
P L A T E XI.
THE young states of our Migrawry Salmon have been long wrapped iu obsciirily ; <ui<] ullliough AnniiaJ Mignilions of
sumll fishes weru observed, and some were said to be tbe I'ty or young of die Salmon and Sea Troul, ihe proof still rcmaiiiod
wanting thai such was really the fad,
The experiments oí Mr. SHAW of Dnuulanriif decided several of the questionable points; and « e ¡ire indebted to his
kinduoss for some of the most interesting subjects for tliis Plot«. Mr. SHAW, after his successful breeding of liie youiii(
Salmon, turned his attention to the young states of the Sea Trout of the Solway ; and having prociu^d fisli in a bn-ediiiij
condition, treated them in a siniiliir way to that which he has detailed in hispajierson the clcvelopmeiit of the young Salinuii,
iiud he has succeeded in hatching and rearing the young of Salmo Trutui.
The results of Mr. SHAW'S experiments have been obtained from two ))air8 of fishes. In the Vignette below, the small
specimen represents the young at the age of three months, from fish of a size and age nearly shnilar to the large figures
on our Plate No. X. The fisli next in size is still mon- advanced, ant! the large specimen, ten montlis old, exhibits ihc
state where the spotting and colours preceding tlie migratory dress are nearly completely developed.
U))on the Plate ]S<i. XI. Fig. 1, represents the produce of a pair of fishes nearly equal in size to that of Plate
No. IX. at the age of rather more than fifteen months.
At Fig. 2 is figured what we consider to be states of the same fisli tiom the river Annan, just before the migratory
dress is completely assumed. In botli tliese there is a strong resemblance to the young of Salmo Fario ; and the dark
marking of the Dorsal Fin, which was considered as a specific character in the Common Troul, is veiy distinctly seen in
all the gradations.
The specimens engraved at Fig. 3 were procured in the Solway stake-nets in the month of Jiine, and are considered
as still lintlicr advanced states of tie same species. The smaller figure has not lost entirely its river dress, and retain:,
the rod spots ; while the laigcr fish Ims nearly completed its new or migratory api.eara:ice, but still retains a trace of
one or two red spots;—iu both the Dorsal Fins have lost their distinct river markings,
'J'his Plate, with tho Vignette, should be placed antecedent to Plate Nn. III.