to seek a cooler temperature and to deposit their ova. The fishermen at Gratz say they spawn in the Mur, between March and May. In those I have caught at Laybach, which however were small ones, the ova were not sufficiently developed to admit of their spawning that spring. Marsigli says, that they spawn in the Danube in June. You have seen how violently they pursue their prey: I have never taken one without fish in his stomach; yet, when small, they will take a fly. In the Kleingraben, which is a feeder to the Laybach river, and where I have seen them of all sizes-from 3lbs. downwards the little ones take a fly, but the large ones are too ravenous to care about so insignificant a morsel, and prey like the largest trout, often hunting in company, and chasing the small fish into the narrow and shallow streams, and then devouring them.But I see your tackle is ready. As a more experienced angler in this kind of fishing, you will allow me to try my fortune with this fish. I still see him feeding; but I must keep out of sight, for he has all the timidity

peculiar to the salmo genus, and, if he catches sight of me, will certainly not run at the bait. ORN.-You spin the bleak for him, I see, as for a great trout. O! there! he has run at it and you have missed him. What a fish! You surely were too quick, for he

sprung out of the water at the bleak.

HAL.-I was not too quick; but he rose just as the bleak was on the surface, and saw me; and now he is frightened, and gone down into the deep water. We must retire till we see him feeding again, which will be, I hope, in some minutes, for his violence shows he is not yet satisfied.

POIET. I think I saw him moving in another part of the pool: it is now ten minutes since we saw him last.

HAL.-You are right; he is again on the feed, and in a place where we have a better chance of hooking him, as the water is deeper and in the shade. He has run again at the bleak, but only as it shone on the surface-but he is not frightened. Ah! he has taken it, and is floundering and struggling! He is a powerful fish.

ORN. He fights well, and runs towards the side where the rock is.

HAL.-Take the net and frighten him from that place, which is the only one where there is danger of losing him. He is clear now, and begins to tire, and in a few minutes more he will be exhausted.-Now land him.

POIET.-A noble fish!

But how like a

trout-exactly like a sea trout in whiteness,

HAL. He is much narrower, or less broad, as you would immediately discover if you had a sea trout here. But now we must

try another pool, or the tail of this; that fish was not alone, and at the moment he took the bait, I think I saw the water move from the stir of another fish. Take your rod and fit your own tackle, Ornither; half the glory of catching this fish is yours, as you prepared the hooks. I see you are in earnest; the blood mounts in your face. Oh! oh! Ornither! you have pulled with too much violence, and broken your tackle. Alas! alas! the fish you hooked was the consort of mine: he will not take again.

ORN.-The gut was bad, for I do not think I struck too violently. What a loss! How hard, to let the first fish of the kind I ever angled for escape me!

HAL.-There are probably more: try

again.

ORN.-Behold! the loss was more owing to the tackle than to my ardour; for the two end hooks only are gone, and you may see the gut worn.

HAL. The thing is done, and is not

worth comment. If you can,

fish that rises hook himself.

let the next

When we are

ardent, we are bad judges of the effort we make; and an angler, who could be cool with a new species of salmo, I should not envy. Now all is right again: try that pool. There is a fish-ay! and another, that runs at your bait; but they are small ones, not much more than twice as large as the bleak; yet they show their spirit, and though they cannot swallow it, they have torn it. Put on another bleak. There! you have another

run.

ORN.-Ay, it is a small fish, not much more than a foot long; yet he fights well. HAL.-You have him, and I will land him.

I do not think such a into this kind of sport.

fish a bad initiation

He does not agitate

so much as a larger one, and yet gratifies curiosity. There, we have him. A very beautiful fish; yet he has the leech, or louse, though his belly is quite white.

ORN. This fish is so like a trout, that, had I caught him when alone, I should hardly have remarked his peculiarities; and I am not convinced that it is not a variety of the common trout, altered, in many genera