464 AMERICAN FISHES. 



Hamlin writes: "This Trout inhabits many of the great lakes and 

 deep mountain torrents of Maine and New Brunswick, but it is believed 

 not to exist in those of Eastern New Brunswick, which singular hiatus in 

 its distribution, perhaps, may be explained by the absence of deep waters 

 in that country. It haunts the deepest waters, where the cold, or the re- 

 pose to which it leads, favors that development and conservation of fat 

 which is indeed a characteristic, and it steals forth in quiet at the approach 

 of twilight or at early morn to the shoals and the shores in quest of its 

 prey. ' ' 



The Winnipiseogee Trout, somewhat abundant in Lake Winnipiseogee 

 and supposed to occur in Lake George, is also a form of this species, 

 closely related to the Togue. 



The popular and scientific names which have been given to this species 

 are due to the wonderful tendency of variation in size, shape, and colora- 

 tion which this species, like the Brook Trout, exhibits. Every lake in 

 which they occur has its own varieties, which local authorities believe to 

 be quite peculiar. Some are black, some brown, with crimson spots, some 

 gray, with delicate reticulations like those of a pickerel. The usual type 

 to be found in the Great Lakes is brown or gray dappled with lighter 

 shades of the same general tint. Throughout Lakes Superior, Michigan, 

 and Huron, the fishermen are generally of the opinion that there are at 

 least two kinds of Lake Trout. It seems probable, however, that these 

 observers have been misled by superficial characters. 



The best study of the habits of the Namaycush, as an inhabitant of the 

 Great Lakes, was that made by Milner, in 1871. He observed that in 

 Lake Michigan, except in the spawning season, they remain in the deep- 

 est parts of the lake. In their autumnal migrations they do not ascend the 

 rivers, and although they are known to exist in a few small inland lakes, 

 connected with the main lakes by rapids, there is no knowledge that they 

 have ever been seen or taken in the outlets. In the northern parts of 

 Lake Michigan they are caught in depths of fifteen fathoms in small num- 

 bers by the gill-nets, and more plentifully through the ice in winter, 

 chiefly at a depth of more than thirty fathoms. 



They are ravenous feeders. In Lake Michigan, where a careful inves- 

 tigation into the nature of their food was made, it was found that they 

 were preying upon the cisco, Coregonus Hoyi, a well-known fish closely 

 resembling the white-fish. Mr. Milner was inclined to combat the 

 generally accepted theory of the fishermen that they are large consumers 



