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FISHES bifid spine beneath the eye will at once dis- tinguish the spined loach from the common or ' stone ' loach. MALACOPTERYGII 23. Salmon. Salmo salar, Linn. Passes up the Trent on its way from the sea to spawn, but at Newton Solney, where the Dove joins the main river, the salmon almost invariably enter the smaller stream. At Dove Cliff, two miles above this point, is a well known salmon leap provided with a ladder, where on favourable occasions the keeper of the mill told me he had seen as many as twenty salmon ascend in an hour. Some individuals, especially when the river is in flood, pass onwards up the Trent and have even forced their way into ditches, where when the water has fallen they have met an ignominious death. 24. Trout. Salmo trutta, Linn. According to the latest authorities the sea trout (S. trutta, S. cambricus) and the brown river trout (S. fario) are regarded as merely local races of one species. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the brown trout is common in Staffordshire, and that from the days of Izaac Walton at least the Dove has been famous for its large and well flavoured fish. The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain has called my attention to the following records of what must have been the largest trout ever taken in Staffordshire : From the Zoologist for 1848, p. 2342 : ' Capture of an enormous trout at Drayton Manor. A trout weighing upwards of 21 Ib. and measuring 41 J inches in length was taken on the 4th of November [1848], in a small tributary of the Trent, on the property of Sir Robert Peel, at Drayton Manor. It was transmitted to London by Sir Robert, and a faithful portrait of the fish has been painted for the honourable baronet by Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins. Edward Newman.' Again, in the Zoologist for 1896, p. 360, the following extract from the Angler's Journal of 20 December, 1884, is quoted, and seems to indicate the same fish as that referred to by E. Newman, although the weights given are not identical : ' The largest English trout on record is believed to be that from Drayton Park, which weighed 22j Ib., the skeleton of which was presented to the College of Sur- geons.' 25. Grayling. Thymallus vexillifer, Linn. Common in many of our rivers, especially the Dove and the Blythe. APODES 26. Common Eel. Anguilla vu/garis, Turt. Both varieties of the common eel the sharp-nosed (A. acutirostris, Yarrell) and the broad-nosed eel or grig (A. /atirostris, Yarrell) are common in Staffordshire. Adult eels begin to descend the Trent towards the sea, with us, in July. They breed in the sea, and from the larval form, the Leptocephalus brevirostris, Kaup., is developed the young eel or elver which ascends the rivers in numbers during spring and early summer. GANOIDS 27. Sturgeon. Acipenser sturio, Linn. made its way up the Trent as high as this The late Mr. Edwin Brown, writing in district [Burton], but no such occurrence has 1863, says : 'Instances are on record of this, been known of late years.' the so-called royal, fish having in olden times CYCLOSTOMES 28. Sea Lamprey. Petromyzon marinus, Linn. Rarely ascends from the sea as far as Staf- fordshire. Brown mentions an instance of one, 2^ feet in length, taken in the Dove in June, 1863. 29. Lampern or River Lamprey. Petromyzon ftuviatilis. Linn. Not uncommon. 30. Mud Lamprey or Pride. Petromyzon branchia/is, Linn. 135