310 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



ing a period of eight years I have never seen a particle of ice floating 

 down the stream, or forming, save on its banks, and then only after 

 there had been a rise in the river and then freezing weather, which 

 formed ice as the river fell. During these eight years I have known 

 the river but once to rise as high as 7 feet above low water. Some win- 

 ters it does not rise 2 feet, and for a majority of the eight winters it did 

 not rise over 3 feet. All these points seem to me to make it a very de- 

 sirable stream for the propagation of salmon. As the river enters the 

 Columbia above all the principal salmon-fisheries, it would be an equal 

 benefit to all. 

 Warm Springs, Crook County, Oregon, July 27, 1885. 



99— THE MOUNTAIN OR 8AL9ION TROUT OF OREGON. 



By Prof. DAVID S. JORDAN. 



The trout from Portland* is the common Eocky Mountain trout or 

 Clarke's trout, or Red-throated trout — Salmo purpuratus Pallas. 



In Washington Territory it is known as mountain trout when taken 

 in the rivers and brooks, and as salmon trout when taken in the sea or 

 river mouths. Sea-run specimens are more silvery, with finer spots and 

 less red than those taken in the small streams, and larger individuals 

 are sometimes taken in the sea than are often seen in the rivers. 



There is not the slightest doubt that the so-called salmon trout of the 

 fish-dealers and the mountain trout of the sportsmen are one and the 

 same fish, the only differences being temporary, dependent on the water 

 and possibly on the food. I have myself caught hundreds of these 

 same trout with the seine about Tacoina, in the sea, the locality from 

 which this specimen was obtained. This species may always be known 

 when fresh by a deep scarlet or crimson blotch on the membranes of 

 the lower side of the lower jaw. This fish is, therefore, both a mountain 

 trout and a salmon trout, as the names are understood in Washington 

 Territory and Oregon. If the laws permit the killing of one and pro- 

 hibit the killing of the other, the only test is whether caught in fresh 

 or salt water. 



Indiana University, 



Bloomington, Ind., February 17, 1885. 



*Mr. J. C. Mendenhall, dealer in Columbia River salmon, at Portland, Oreg., for- 

 warded a specimen,. January 30, 1885, for identification, and wrote as follows: "To- 

 day the Multnomah Rod and Gun Club of this city will send you a salmon trout for 

 classification. This fish was taken from a net containing flounders, porgies, and 

 smelt, off Tacoma Harbor, in Puget Sound, and it is called by all fisbermen a salmon 

 trout. Tbey are caught in tbe waters of tbe Puget Sound and in tbe Columbia and 

 in the tributaries near their mouths, but never near their sources or above falls or 

 rapids. In this case the club claims it to be a mountain trout or a brook trout.'' 



