BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 241 



Haack, and that the " saibling" is a most valuable fish will be most 

 enthusiastically affirmed by our South German friends. How much 

 more valuable must be a "saibling" which is not confined to lakes, as 

 is the case with our Salmo salvelimts? Mr. Charles G. Atkins, an assist- 

 ant of Professor Baird, was kind enough to furnish, at my request, 

 the following account of the Salmo fontinalis: 



"A. Koie. — Our best authorities now count the Salmoofntinalis as 

 belonging to the genus Salvelinus (Richardson). This fish is, with us, 

 known everywhere by the common designation 'brook- trout.' In some 

 localities, where — in lakes — this fish reaches a large size, it is known 

 by the popular name of ' salmon-trout.' By this last-mentioned name 

 the fish is also known in some parts of Canada, where it goes into the 

 sea, and is often caught in salt water. 



"B. Localities where this fish is found. — It is very generally 

 found in the Northern States of the Uuion east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and in all the streams of British America which flow into the Atlantic 

 Ocean or into the Hudson Bay. Farther south this fish is found in 

 the mountaiDOus regions, as far south as Georgia. 



" G. Waters in which this fish lives. — It is found in all fresh 

 waters which furnish suitable spawning-places, and do not contain too 

 many predaceous fish, such as pike, percb, &c. These last-mentioned 

 fish prevent the occurrence of the Salmo fontinalis in most of our rivers 

 and streams, with the exception of their more northerly, and therefore 

 colder, portions ; but it is found in nearly all brooks and in the higher 

 parts of the United States, e. g., the Adirondack Mountains in New 

 York, the Raiigely Region in Maine, &c, where it is more numerous 

 than any other fish. 



" D. Habits. — The Salmo fontinalis — no matter where it lives, in 

 rivers, lakes, ponds, or in the sea, invariably selects for spawning, in 

 autumn, gravel bottom in clear fresh water. In the forty -fourth degree 

 of northern latitude it spawns late in October, about three or four 

 weeks before the small lakes are covered with ice. 



" E. Food. — Insects, crustaceans, and small fish form its food. It 

 seems to prefer the two former. 



"F. Size. — In the brooks the Salmo fontinalis generally remains 

 small, weighing less than half a pound; in rivers and lakes it often 

 reaches a weight of 3 pounds ; in large lakes, where the conditions for 

 its development are particularly favorable, it reaches a weight of 6 to 

 7 pounds, sometimes even 10 pounds. Fish weighing 10 pounds, how- 

 ever, have only been found in the Rangely Lakes in Maine ; and even 

 there they are of rare occurrence. The fish from the Rangely Lakes 

 are, in all the stages of their growth, distinguished by their greater 

 strength above the fish living in brooks; even their eggs and embryos 

 are stronger. 



"As a general rule the size of the eggs of the salmon corresponds 

 with that of the fish; only with the comparatively small 'land-locked' 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 82^ 16 March 91, 1883. 



