22 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX.
I have been careful not to insert in the lists below
any doubtful species, unless personal identification has
satisfied me that it is an inhabitant of the river under
which it is named, and, therefore, a member of the
Essex Fish Fauna.
Of the small fresh-water section of England's
noblest river—the Thames—which we can claim as
belonging to this county, the list must necessarily be
brief, owing to the impure condition of the water. From
this list, scanty as it is, I fear, in truth, that some even
now may be absent. Whenever that golden time arrives
(as it must some day), when the Thames waters are
once more pure and undefiled, the lordly salmon will
again be seen passing up to its spawning grounds,
while numerous other species will people the clear
waters of the river, as in the days when, for conveni-
ence, fishing-tackle makers were fain to establish
themselves hard by it in Crooked Lane, London.
Fish found in the River Thames.
1. Flounder, Pleuronectes flesus.
2. Salmon, Salmo salar.
3. Sea-trout, Salmo trutta.
4. Smelt, Osmerus eperlanus.
5. Allis Shad, Clupea alosa.
6. Twait Shad, Clupea finta.
7. Eel, Anguilla vulgaris.
8. Sturgeon, Acipenser sturio.
9. Lamprey, Petromyzon fluviatilis..
10. Sea-lamprey, Petromyzon marinus.