124 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



of local variety, except what may be caused in color by change of posi- 

 tion from still to rapid or fresh to brackish or salt water, to which the 

 species is very fond of repairing when accessible. The more southern 

 specimens are paler, while those from Lake Superior and Canada are 

 darker than is usual in the Middle States. This must be owing to some 

 natural law affecting the Salmouid;e. The New Mexico specimens of 

 8. virginalis in the Smithsonian collection show the same bleaching 

 when obtained from southern localities. TLie S. eryihrogaster, DeKay, 

 is nothing but tliis fish tinged with red during the breeding season. 

 This is the favorite game-fish of the Middle States, where its capture 

 during the proper season is one of the most keenly-relished sports of 

 our scientific anglers. Its weight rarely exceeds four pounds, and it is 

 rare indeed to find one in Southern Xew York weighing more than three. 

 The mountain streams, which are the sources of the Delaware, are favor- 

 ite resorts of anglers, where large numbers are taken without difficulty, 

 but unfortunately they are usually of small size. On Long Island much 

 larger fish are taken. There are there — especially on the south side — 

 many fine private ponds, where trout are carefully preserv^ed and their 

 management reduced to a specialty. Many of these ponds are owned 

 or leased by fishing clubs. Stringent rules exist against the destruc- 

 tion of fish below a certain size, or the killing of more than a limited 

 number daily. Probablj^ the finest and best preserved trout-pond on 

 the island, Massapequa, belongs to William Floyd Jones, esq. The 

 writer can testify to the excellence of the fishing there, the large 

 size of the fish, and the genuine hospitality of the proprie,tor. John D. 

 Jones, esq,, at his country-seat on the north side of the island, has 

 several artificial ponds in which, at the time of writing, (June, 1861,) he 

 is experimenting in the artificial raising and maintenance of this beauti- 

 ful fish. 



The following interesting remarks on the habits of ISalmo fontinalis 

 are extracted from a letter addressed to Dr. Storer, by I. B. Forsyth, 

 M. D., published in the Boston Journal of ]!^atural History, vol. v, p. 

 412. 



" The few observations I have to communicate upon the habits and 

 peculiarities of the salmon-trout, were made during a residence of ten 

 years in Sandwich, Cape Cod, where the facilities for that purpose are 

 very abundant. 



"It may be well to premise, that the distance, at this point of the cape, 

 from one bay to the other, varies from five to ten miles, and the laud is 

 gradually elevated from each shore, till it reaches the center, and con- 

 sequently the streams, for the most part arising from springs, are short, 

 terminating in creeks upon the marshes. Many of these are of sufficient 

 magnitude for mill-sites, and are therefore crossed by permanent ob- 

 structions; and hence it frequently happens, in the short space of a 

 quarter of a mile, you find specimens of both, as they are familiarly 



