FISHES mill-tails. It is not so common in the Gwash, but is found there in small numbers. None of the rivers are very suitable for it. The spined loach [Cob'ttis tietiia) does not seem to occur. MALACOPTERYGII 19. Trout (Brown Trout). Salmo fario, Linn. Both the Gwash and the Eye take rank as trout streams, but the fishing in both of these is not so good as it used to be, the fish being smaller and not cutting so pink or tasting so clean. In the Gwash many were turned down some years ago, but the fish of the older stock were the finer — very deep and thick and with large red spots. A 2 lb. trout is a good fish in either stream, but a few of 3 lb. and over have been taken, and one of 5 lb. was caught in 1886 with rod and line in the Eye brook above Allexton. Trout are seldom found in the Welland, but one or two large fish have been caught in that river. 20. American Brook Trout (Loch Leven Trout). Salmo fontina Us (Mitchill). These have been introduced into the Gwash, where small ones of 4 or 5 oz. have been taken with the fly ; and into the Eye brook in 1892, where I caught one of about f lb. weight II May, 1894. 21. Great North American Lake Trout. Salmo namaycuih (Wal.) Mr. Montagu Browne in his Fertehrata of Leicestershire and Rutland records that from 20,000 to 30,000 of these have from time to time been turned into the river Gwash from the breeding waters at Burghley-by-Stamford. 22. Rainbow Trout. Salmo irideus, Gibbons. Has been introduced into the Gwash in the same way as the other varieties of trout. 23. Grayling. Thymallus vexillifcr, Linn. Five thousand were turned into the Gwash in 1893. They have thriven slowly but well, and are pretty numerous up to about i;^ lb. in weight, but are not of good eating quality. They appear to have proved detrimental to the trout. APODES 24. Eel. Angullla vulgaris, Turt. There are two sorts of eels found in Rut- land — the silver-bellied and the yellow-bellied — both of which occur in the Welland and the Chater, but in the Eye and Gwash only the silver-bellied are found. Of the yellow as many as 4 cwt. have been caught on their passage down at Middleton Mill, and of the silver i cwt. at Caldecott. In the Gwash and Eye these eels are very abundant and much superior to the yellow-bellied ones for eating purposes. CYCLQSTOMES 25. Lamprey. Petromyzon fluviatilis, Linn. Many have been caught in the Welland and it also occurs in the Gwash. The small lampern or pride {Petromyzon hranchialis) has not been recorded. 53
