BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



REPLIES TO QUESTIONS OF IIEKR VOIV BEIIR, CONCERNING SALVE- 

 JLINUS FONTINALIS ANB> NA B, .HO IIUDEA. 



By -LIVINGSTON STONE. 



I. — Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). 

 II. — California Trout (Salmo iridea). 



1. — We always hear now that Salmo fontinalis is rather a Salvelinus 

 (and there is no doubt about it), but don't 3*011 have our Trutta fario f 

 You use the words Salmo fontinalis and brook trout as synonymous, 

 while formerly we thought brook trout to be our Trutta fario! 



A. It is true that the New England brook trout, sometimes called 

 the American brook trout and commonly known by the name of Salmo 

 fontinalis, is properly a Salvelinus (Salvelinus fontinalis), but the Trutta 

 fario of Great Britain and the continent of Europe does not exist and 

 has never existed in America. The common brook trout (Salvelinus 

 fontinalis) of New England and other States of the Atlantic slope is 

 not the common brook trout of Europe (Trutta fario). 



My following questions are meant about Salmo fontinalis (Salvelinus) : 



2. — How heavy do they get °? 



A. — The Salvelinus fontinalis or common brook trout of the Atlantic 

 slope varies very much in size and weight. Those found in high 

 altitudes in the very small and usually cold rivulets that form the 

 headwaters of the streams are the smallest, and often are of such 

 diminutive size that they will not average over two or three ounces 

 each. The larger and somewhat warmer brooks lower down, that are 

 formed by the confluence of these little rivulets, furnish the next larger 

 size of fontinalis, and so on till we come to the streams emptying into 

 the ocean or the Great Lakes, where we find the largest of the species. 



Brook trout were thought to attain the weight of 9 or 10 pounds until 

 the famous 10-pound trout caught by Mr. George Sheppard Page in the 

 Bangely Lakes was declared to be Salmo oquassa, since which time the 

 reputed maximum weight of fontinalis has had to fall a little, though I 

 still think it possible for fontinalis to attain a weight, under the most 

 favorable circumstances, of 7 or 8 pounds ; but Atlantic brook trout of 

 3 or 4 pounds are now getting extremely rare even in tidal streams, and 

 in the brooks farther in the interior a pound or three-quarters of a pound 

 is considered a good weight for fontinalis. 



3.— Are they living in the same water with Trutta fario or Salmo iridea f 



A. — Salvelinus fontinalis has never been found naturally living together 

 with Trutta fario or Salmo iridea. But since the introduction by human 

 agency of fontinalis in Great Britain, fontinalis has occupied" the same 

 waters with Trutta fario, and since the California brook trout have been 

 brought to the Atlantic slope and Atlantic brook trout have been car- 

 ried to the Pacific slope these two latter varieties (Salvelinus fontinalis 

 ei Salmo iridea) have lived together in the same waters. 



