DESCRIPTION OF A SUPPOSED NEW SPECIES OF CHAR (SALVE- 

 LINUS AUREOLUS), FROM SUNAPEE LAKE, NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



By TAKI.KTO.^ II. BKAIV. 



Ill October, 188"), Col. E. B. Hodge, fish and game commissioner of 

 New Uampshire, sent to the National Museum a Salvelinus, from Sun- 

 apoe Lake, weighing 5.^ pounds. Again on December 10, 1880, lie sent 

 several large specimens of the same species from the same locality. 

 During the summer of 1887 Dr. John D. Quackenbos, of Columbia Col- 

 lege, New York, obtained our first young specimens of the SalvdinuH 

 from Sunai)ee, and Colonel Hodge added one which was somewhat older. 



It was at first believed that this Salvelinus is identical with the 

 oqiiassa of Maine, and I am not quite sure even now that it is distinct 

 from oquassa. If the differences mentioned in the following description 

 prove to be constant, there will be no difficulty in distinguishing the 

 s[)ecies; but we have only young individuals of oqnassa in the collec- 

 tion, the size of our specimens ranging from about 9 to 10 inches. 

 Smaller specimens than these, and larger ones, if such exist, are still 

 necessary to a satisfactory determination of the question. 



It has been assumed that Salvelimis oqnassa never exceeds a length 

 of 10 inches or a foot. This may be true, but I can not believe it. All 

 of our numerous specimens show parr marks, and the breeding females 

 have such a small number of free eggs in the abdominal cavity that 1 

 am forced to consider them not fully grown. The differences by which 

 I have distinguished the Sunapee Salvelimis from oquassa are the fol- 

 lowing: 



(1) The Sunapee species has eight developed rays in the anal fin and 

 tbree rudiments, Avhile oquassa has ten developed rays and three rudi- 

 ments. 



(2) S. oquassa begin spawning when they are about inches long, 

 while Sunapee trout of the same length in our collection are all immature. 



(3) The oquassa trout in the fresh state are described as having the 

 back uniform steel-blue, while the young Sunapee trout have numerous 

 dark blotches on the top of the back, which give the fresh fish a very 

 different appearance. 



(4) It is stated by Fred. Mather that the embryos of the Sunapee trout 

 have a white line at the upper and lower edges of the caudal fin, where- 

 as no such marking has been observed in the embryos of oquassa. 



(5) It is said that the oquassa trout spawn in streams, while the Sun- 

 apee trout are lake spawners. 



(G) The gill-rakers of the Sunapee form are shorter and usually less 

 numerous than in oquassa^ and they are almost always curled up at the 

 ends, while in oqnassa they are always straight and slender. This may 

 be due to a ditlerence in the character of the food. 



The specimen described below is a young individual G| inches with- 

 628 



