134 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



dividual brook-trout which will weigh as high as three or four pounds ; 

 but owing to the want of tackle, &c., already alluded to, the writer was 

 never fortunate enough to secure any fish that exceeded a trifle above 

 two pounds. 



One peculiarity about the northwest trout is, that the fish remain in 

 good condition for the table until near Christmas, at which time they 

 begin to spawn. On the contrary, the trout of the Middle and New 

 England States spawn during the months of September, October, and 

 November, and may scarcely be said to be in good condition between 

 the 1st of September and the 1st of February, being, during the interval, 

 lean,, flabby, and insipid. 



The black-spotted brook-trout of the northwest is by no means de- 

 pendant upon occasional access to salt water, although he seems to avail 

 himself of its invigorating effects when practicable. 



In a lake near Bellingham liaj", and also in Chiloweyuck Lake, trout 

 of this species or its relative, the hrevicauda^ are said to attain a weight 

 of ten or twelve pounds ; and in the latter lake according to Lieut. D. B. 

 McKibben, of the United States Army, the common weight of the fish 

 caught will scarcely fall below three or four pounds. 



27. SALMO MASONI, Suckley. 

 mason's trout. 



Syn. — Fario clarkii, Grd. \_7>on Salmo clarlcii, Rich.] Vide Proc. Aoad. Nat. So. 

 Phil., viii., p. 219, 1856; also P. R. R. Rep., Geu. Rep., FLslies, vol. x, p. 314, 

 PI. Ixxi, figs. 5-8. 

 Salmo masoni, Suckley, racific Railroad Reports, vol. xii, p. 345; — Ibid. 

 Nat. Hist. Wash. Terr., p. 345. 



Sp. Ch. — Head forms nearly a fifth of total length. Dorsal outline 

 well arched; back dark olivaceous; sides silvery; belly white; the 

 whole sprinkled with small irregular spots of black, which, however, are 

 more faint than in S. iridea, as if the coloring matter was placed deeper 

 below the surface ; scales large ; tail forked ; upper fins and tail spotted 



Diagnosis. — It may be known from S. iridea by the absence of red 

 patches, also by its fainter spots, more convex dorsal outline, and 

 larger scales, nearly double in size to those of the iridea. From tS. bra- 

 vicauda the diagnosis is more difficult ; but in the latter the scales are 

 very loose, and the tail more encroached upon by them. 



Hab. — Small streams entering into the Columbia. This fish may 

 prove to be simply a variety of S. iridea, which, beyond a doubt, exists 

 in the waters of Oregon and Washington Territories. 



Dr. Cooper caught in the Katapootl Eiver the specimen (No. 582) 

 from which Dr. Girard drew his description of S. clarldi, and upon 

 which the description of the present species is based. The S. clarlcii of 

 Richardson is a very different fish, probably an anadromous salmon. 

 The habits of this fish are almost precisely similar to those of S. iridea. 



On the 13th of August, 1859, Mr. Gibbs obtained a trout on the Ska- 



