270 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



color and character of rocks, or other matter, composing the 

 bed of the stream or lake in question, and the fact should 

 never be lost sight of, that if a Trout be taken from any one 

 of these waters, transported and placed alive in any other 

 water inhabited by Trout, he will in a few hours, or da3-s at 

 most, be substantially like his new neighbors, not only in 

 color but in other respects. 



There are Trout in the Bitter Root River that grow to 

 weigh ten to fifteen pounds — light-colored, long-waisted fel- 

 lows — which the natives call Cannibal Trout, because they 

 can only be caught with a live minnow. The ranchmen on 

 that stream will tell you that Cannibal Trout are not found 

 in any other water in the territory. 



And when all these supposed species of Trout come to be 

 critically examined by a skilled ichthyologist they prove to 

 vary from the type of their species only on account of cer- 

 tain conditions under which they have lived. Salt water, 

 brackish water, fresh water of slow current and only par- 

 tially clear; the milky, lime-charged water of the glaciers; 

 the clear, cold water that foams over rapids in the typical 

 mountain streams; scant or abundant food, and its' quality 

 as well as quantity; sex, old age or youth, are all important 

 factors in coloring and shaping Trout. If one of the Sea 

 Trout were taken from Puget Sound and placed in the icy 

 currents at the foot of the Tacoma glaciers, and one of 

 the Glacier Trout taken from his home and turned loose in 

 the sound, they would change color, and, to some extent, 

 other characteristics, soon after changing places. 



All these Tacoma Trout, as well as the Cannibal Trout ^ 

 and in fact as well as nearly all Trout to be found in any 

 mountain water west of the Missouri and north of the fortieth 

 parallel of north latitude — belong to the species that forms 

 the subject of this paper — i.e., the Rocky Mountain Trout, 

 Salino piirpuratns. This species is described b}' Professor 

 David S. Jordan and Charles H. Gilbert in 



