SUCKLE Y— MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SALMO. 127 



extremity of the fish, and by a sudden jerk is inserted so as effectually 

 to secure him." • 



We also copy an extract from tlit^ Journal of theBost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 

 vol. vi, p. 49, a paper entitled " Observations on some of the habits of 

 Salmo foHtinalis. By Samuel L. Bigelow, M. D." 



" The following observations on the habits and peculiarities of a spe- 

 cies of Salmo were made in a comparatively short space of time, without 

 reference to science, but merely as a source of pleasure to m^'self, and 

 to gratify a natural curiosity. The pond in which these trout are found 

 is situated at the base of the northeast ridge of the Mouadnock Moun- 

 tain. It covers an area, I should think, of seventy-five or one hundred 

 acres, and is so deep about the center that soundings have not been 

 found, though a line has been sunk 200 feet. It is supplied entirely by 

 springs at the bottom, W'hich is composed of red and white sand and 

 rocks, so far as the depth of the water will permit of an examination. 

 The water is always very cold, and so clear that the bottom may be 

 seen in a bright day to the depth of 25 or 30 feet ; and although there 

 are neither inlets nor outlets, its height is nearly the same at all seasons. 

 Its deptli increases from the shore, where it is only a few inches, in some 

 parts gradually, and in others rather abruptly. 



" The form of the pond is quite irregular and has been fancied by some 

 to correspond very exactly to the base of the mountain, which is close 

 beside it. From this circumstance, together with its great central 

 depth, has arisen a legend of its lAiving been once filled by this mass, 

 now a mountain, which was heaved out by some convulsion of nature. 

 The southwest shore is more stony and less exposed than almost auj 

 other, and here it is that the trout form their beds and come to spawn. 

 Another natural ad\'antage which this point possesses over others is, 

 that hei-e the change from shallow to deep water is quite abrupt, afford- 

 ing the trout a better chance for escape in case of fright or danger. 



" Their beds, as they are called, are merely small cavities formed by 

 the accidental position of thr^e or four stones sunk to their upper sur- 

 faces in sand. Their capacity is generally from a pint to a quart, and 

 their forms are various; sometimes flat and shallow. They are most 

 numerous within 10 feet of the shore, and in not more than 10 of 12 

 inches of water. The trout having selected these little cavities, clean 

 them out with care, removing the finer particles of dirt by fanning with 

 their tails and the larger with their mouths ; this done, they have a bed 

 ■which they visit for a successive series of 3'ears, which will be longer 

 or shorter, as they are more or less disturbed. An old fisherman pointed 

 out to me abandoned beds on which he had in former years taken great 

 numbers. Tbey were on the south side of the pond, whence the fish had 

 gradually followed the shore till the year before last, when they came 

 up on the extreme southwest shore, where I'found them. They remain 

 in the deep water about the center of the pond during the entire year, 

 except the spawning season, which commences about the 1st of October. 



