466 AMERICAN FISHES. 



The Togue or Lunge of our northeastern boundary is held in much 

 higher favor by the angler. Hallock states that the young fish rise freely 

 to trout-flies in rapid ^yater, while the adults are extremely yoracious, par- 

 ticularly in May and June, when they can be taken near the surface. 



Prof. Arthur L. Adams, in " Field and Forest Rambles," gives a vivid 

 picture of the habits of this peculiar type : " It repairs to shallows to feed 

 on Trouts, smelts, and the like; indeed, the last named fish would appear 

 to constitute its favorite winter subsistence. It preys extensively, also, on 

 eels and cyprinoids, and is in fact a tyrant with an appetite so voracious 

 that quantities of twigs, leaves, and fragments of wood are constantly 

 found in its stomach. The great monster will sometimes rise to spinning 

 tackle, but in so sluggish and undemonstrative a manner that the troller 

 may fancy he has caught a water-logged pine or stone. In this way I had 

 my line checked in Schoodic Lake, when, striking gently, I found I had 

 missed a large Togue, whose trenchant teeth had made a series of deep 

 furrows in the chub with which the hook was baited. It is naturally slug- 

 gish and inert, and apparently much of a bottom feeder. As we glided 

 along the shore of one of the islets, composed more or less of granitic 

 bowlders, our attention was directed by the guide to a large black object 

 on the bottom, among a mass of stones. This he asserted was a monster 

 Togue, which, if such was the case, must have exceeded three feet in 

 length ; moreover, he showed us two notches on the side of his canoe, 

 representing the dimensions of an enormous individual which an Indian 

 had speared in the same waters during the spawning season, the admeasure- 

 ment being no less than four feet five inches." 



The Siscowet, or " Siskawitz," is a form of Lake Trout which, accord- 

 ing to many authorities, is a distinct species, and which has been observed 

 only in Lake Superior. Having never seen the fish in a fresh condition. 

 I cannot express an opinion as to its distinctness from the Lake Trout, 

 but good ichthyologists assure me that its peculiarities are very slight, con- 

 sisting chiefly in its wider head, its thicker skin, and its stouter body. 

 Since, however, it is always distinguished from the Lake Trout by the 

 Indians and fishermen of Lake Superior, who often see them side by side, 

 it seems possible that it may claim a sub-specific rank. It was first described 

 in 1850, in Agassiz's "Lake Superior," under \.\\Q\\^\\\t Sabiw siscowet. 

 Herbert, in his "Fish and Fishing," p. 17, gives the following descrip- 

 tion of its peculiarities: 



" This fish, like the former species, came frequently under my eye during 

 my late northern tour ; and I rejoice in the possession of a barrel of him 



