730 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



land. The gra3'ling- of Central Eiiropa seems to have a more general 

 distribution. 



A species of this genus, on the continent of Xorth America, was first 

 noticed by Sir John Richardson, in the narrative* of Sir John Franklin's 

 first journey to the Arctic Regions, where it was described and figured 

 as Coregonus sigiiifer, or Back's grayling. In his Fauna Boreali- Ameri- 

 cana, 1836, is a colored plate of this si^eoies, under the name of Thy- 

 mallus signifer Richardson. In both these works, another species is also 

 described, the lesser grayling; in the former work under the genus 

 Coregonus, in the latter as ThytnaUus tItgmaUoides. In the Fauna Bore- 

 all- Americana, he suggests that it may be the young of T. signifer. 



Richardson says that the range of Back's grayliug is north of par- 

 allel 62°, and between the Welcome and Mackenzie Rivers, tributa- 

 taries of the Arctic Sea. 



A specimen of a grayling was in the possession of Valenciennes about 

 1847 or 1818, supposed to have come from Lake Ontario, which he named 

 Thgmalus ontariensis. As there is no subsequent record of its coming 

 into the hands of any naturalist from the waters of the region, it has 

 been thought probable that the locality affixed to the specimen was 

 erroneous. Letters to Forest and Stream from correspondents have 

 asserted the existence of a grayling in the waters of Oanada in a stream 

 near Quebec, where it had the local name of " spearing," and in the 

 Northeastern United States near Derby Line^ Vt., and in a stream at 

 the headwaters of the Penobscot River in Maine. It has also been 

 claimed, with but little evidence advanced, to inhabit a region of Wis- 

 consin, and the vicinity of Points aux Pins, Canada, at the head of Saint 

 Mary's River of Lake Superior. 



During the winter of 1861 and 1865, Prof. Edward D. Cope, of Phil- 

 adelphia, examined a large collection of fishes belonging to educational 

 institutions of the State of Michigan, and, among tliem,.f(mnd s[)ecimens 

 of a grayling from the waters of the State, which he believed to differ 

 from any species previously described, and gave the name of Thymallus 

 tricolor. 



In 1871, while visiting the Traverse Bay region of Michigan, in con- 

 nection with my duties as assistant in the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion, a trip was made to the Jordan River for the purpose of procuring 

 specimens; but, although a good many were seen in the clear, cold 

 waters, they could not be induced to take the hook during the day 

 spent on the river. Arrangements were made for the collection of 

 specimens, and two were soon after sent to me at the Chicago Academy 

 of Sciences. They were lost, with the rest of the collections, in the 

 great fire of that year. 



In the winter of 1872-'73, Mr. D. H. Fitzhugh, of Bay City, Michigan, 



* Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of ihe Polar Sea in the years 1H19, '20, '21, '22. 

 By John Franklin, Capt. R. N., F. R. S. With an appendix on various subjects, includ- 

 ing science and natural history. 4to. London, lei23. p. 711. 



