FAMILY SALMONIDAE 107 



qualities, and ability to withstand conditions untenable for native brook 

 trout. When the Loch Leven or Scotch brown trout, Sahno trutta 

 levenensis Walker, reached the United States we do not know, but eggs 

 purported to be of this subspecies were secured from the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries in western Montana in 1923. Subsequently many 

 thousands of the resulting fingerlings were planted in the streams and 

 lakes of Minnesota. Apparently there are no strong characters separat- 

 ing the two forms, but jario seems to be a more robust fish, with the 

 ocellated red spots well defined, whereas "levenensis" is inclined to 

 slenderness, with the spots obscured, the red spots usually entirely so. 

 Hubbs states in a letter that he can find no good evidence for separat- 

 ing Loch Leven trout from brown trout. 



Brown trout were introduced into Lake Superior principally through 

 the stocking of tributary streams, and are now fairly abundant. During 

 October and November they ascend the mouths of many streams to 

 spawn. Many of them spawn on rocky reefs alongshore. Some gorgeous 

 individuals are secured at this season, when males, most of them highly 

 colored, with sides a rich brick red, and weighing over 12 pounds, are 

 taken. Four large females taken at Knife River north of Duluth Novem- 

 ber 12, 1923 produced 10,212 eggs, or 46 ounces. 



For years it has been maintained by some that the brown trout is a 

 serious competitor of the native brook trout. In 1902 Mr. William C. 

 Harris stated: "The brown trout has lost popularity among numbers 

 of American fishing clubs and anglers because of its rapid growth, large 

 size, and consequent ability and inclination to devastate waters in 

 which our smaller trouts live. Being able to exist and thrive in waters 

 of a higher temperature than is adapted to other trouts, they should 

 never be placed in streams which the latter inhabit. True, most, if not 

 all, of our native salmonoids are cannibals, in fresh or salt water; but 

 owing to the size of the brown trouts and the practice of putting them in 

 comparatively small and shallow trout streams, where they can ravage 

 at will on fontinalis, planting of them should be discountenanced and 

 discontinued." 



Mr. Harris took the extreme view, and he may be right in many par- 

 ticulars, but the fact remains that the brown trout is the onlj^ logical 

 successor to the native brook trout. We should become reconciled to 

 the fact that we have here a species that will perpetuate trout fishing in 

 many localities for generations after the brook trout has ceased to exist 

 there. 



Brown trout are about the only trout that can exist under present-day 

 conditions in many streams in the southern part of Minnesota. Con- 

 sequently many have been planted in that section of the state, with 

 excellent results. At present they are found more or less commonly in 

 the White Water River and other streams in that region and have 

 pushed their way up the St. Croix River into many of its larger tribu- 

 taries in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Thev are now common in 



