The Brook Trout 303 



oration is striking; the red spots, sometimes 

 ocellated with blue, are brighter or fainter under 

 the influence of a dark or light, temporary or per- 

 manent, habitat ; they are seldom seen on the 

 back, but those on the sides are always present 

 and irregularly placed, and unlike those on the 

 German or brown trout they are seldom, if ever, 

 located in a regular row just above or slightly 

 below or directly along the lateral line. The belly 

 is usually a creamy white, and all of the body 

 in the male fish during the spawning season 

 becomes clothed in a rich orange-gold, a fit 

 bridal robe for this pride of the rills. The tex- 

 ture and appearance of the skin is somewhat 

 velvety, and the mottled fins on the back, with 

 the distinctive light bands on the belly fins, in 

 contrast with the orange-golden hue of the sides, 

 justifies the angling phrase so often heard on the 

 stream — " the glow of the trout." 



The coloration of this charr presents curious 

 contrasts. Some become dark and dingy as they 

 grow old and blind ; others again have been 

 found without red spots when living side by side 

 with their congeners of brilliant ones ; and others 

 are born albinos. The cause of a uniform black 

 or blackish coloration in fishes living in surface 



