226 FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM ZOOLOGY, VOL. i. 



and first ray of pectoral fin in the largest specimen have a few 

 black spots. Some of the scales below lateral line on middle 

 and anterior part of the body each with a small black spot at 

 lower part of base. The maxillary curves rather abruptly down- 

 ward below the eye. Gill rakers very much longer than in the 

 following species. 



" This is a magnificent fish, and specimens have been taken 

 (alas, in the spring and on their spawning beds with the spear !) 

 weighing twenty-one pounds, and seventeen-pounders have been 

 captured on a spoon hook. It will take the fly in the spring, I 

 was told, but at other times of the year trolling a large spoon at 

 a depth of fifty feet or more is necessary. The largest killed 

 weighed thirteen pounds. The water of Lake Crescent is per- 

 iectly clear, and after a considerable struggle with my captive I 

 brought the fish within ten feet of the boat and about six from 

 the surface. As it tugged at the line with its side toward me 

 and the fins spread out to the utmost, every scale almost was 

 distinctly visible, and the glistening silvery side, contrasting 

 strongly with the beautiful deep blue of the head and back, 

 caused it to present one of the handsomest objects I had ever 

 witnessed in angling. Its rushes were tremendous, and made 

 the line pass through the fingers with such velocity as to cause it 

 to burn the flesh. Dr. Jordan, in his description of this species, 

 .gives the color above 'dark green,' misled, probably, by his alco- 

 holic specimens. The color above is, as I have already stated, a 

 dark, rich, ultramarine blue, and this gives to the fish its trivial 

 name of 'Blue Back. 1 This species is a dweller of deep water, 

 and only comes to the surface and visits shallow water in 

 the spring. A characteristic coloring, omitted in all descriptions 

 -of this trout that I have seen, is a broad iridescent band in the 

 center of the tail, and extending through it to the tip. This is 

 most beautiful, composed of brilliant metallic hues of rainbow 

 colors, and attracts the eye immediately as the fish is taken from 

 the water. The line of demarcation between the blue of the back 

 and silver of the sides is as abruptly drawn and sharply indi- 

 cated as if cut with a knife. Altogether it is a magnificent 

 species." (D. G. E.) 



Salmo gardneri crescentis Jordan & Beardslee. 



Speckled Trout of Lake Crescent. Eight specimens. 



