New illustrated natural history of the world / by Ernest Protheroe ... with 24 coloured plates (73 figures) and nearly 300 photographs direct from nature chiefly by W.S. Berridge.

  • Protheroe, Ernest.
Date:
[1910]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: New illustrated natural history of the world / by Ernest Protheroe ... with 24 coloured plates (73 figures) and nearly 300 photographs direct from nature chiefly by W.S. Berridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    521/639 (page 452)
    largest of this species are commonly called Bull Trout, and in South Kensington Museum is a specimen that weighed 55 lbs. The bright-scaled, carmine-speckled, active Brook Trout (S fario) is perhaps the greatest favourite of the angler. Its strength^ agility, and spirited courage in endeavouring to free itself from the hook, are sporting excellences rarely met with in any individual fish. It is found in rapid and clear-running streams, preferring the shelter of some stone or hole in the bank from which to watch for its prey. The average angler accounts himself fortunate when he lands a fish of from 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. in weight. Specimens over 10 lbs. are rare in Britain, but in 1907, in the New River, was caught a magnificent Trout that weighed 18 lbs. The Rainbow Trout (5. irideus) is a native of North America, and is seen at its best in streams in the Rocky Mountain regions. RAINBOW TROUT It has, however, been introduced into British rivers with marked success, its acclimatisation resulting only in a slight loss in the brilliance of its colours. The Grayling [Thymallus vulgaris) and the Smelt {Osmerus eperlanus) belong to the same family as the salmon and trout. The last named is of particularly delicate flavour. A near ally is the Oolachan, or Candle Fish {Thaleichthys pacificus), a native of the Fraser and neighbouring rivers. It is excellent eating, but often serves an entirely different purpose. Its flesh is of so oily a nature that, if a cotton wick be threaded through the body, it makes a very serviceable candle, which burns with a bright light for a considerable time. 1