ARTIFICIAL. PROPAGATION OF TROUT. 57 



Ralph E. Clark wrote (loc. cit.) that "the dark, silver-^ay trout 

 of the West seem to favor flies more in harmony with their own 

 coloring," and mentioned the gray hackle, brown hackle, coachman, 

 grizzly king, Seth Green, black gnat, and white moth : 



The junction of Yellowstone and Lamar Rivers is noted for fine fishing. 

 If you find the waters high, swift, and roily, you will probably try your flies 

 in vain. Put on a spinner or a little spoon and watch the fish rise to it, 

 almost touch it, and then go away. They are after live bait and won't touch 

 anything else. The grasshoppers are abundant. Catch a few, bait your 

 hook carefully, and let it float down with the current. A large trout will 

 rise to it, and if you are not very careful he will steal it away from you. 



VARIETIES AND DESCRIPTION. 



It has been said that there are two varieties of native trout in the 

 park, the larger ones of the Yellowstone, with bright yellow bellies, 

 and the smaller kind more silvery in appearance and exhibiting 

 much greater activity and game qualities, of which Tower Creek 

 fish are examples. Also trout of Yellowstone Lake seem to differ 

 from those of Heart and Henry Lakes in having more distinct and 

 rather less numerous black spots. However, in this respect very 

 much individual variation is shown. It has also been suggested 

 that the silvery color is a juvenile characteristic, while the " yellow 

 bellies '' are older fish. Who knows? 



This is the principal fish artificially propagated by the Bureau of 

 Fisheries at the hatcheries on Yellowstone Lake and Soda Butte 

 Creek. From 3,000,000 to 20,000,000 eggs are taken annually. After 

 the local park waters are liberally stocked the remaining young are 

 supi)lied to suitable waters in the adjoining States. The park, how- 

 ever, should have and does have first claim on the hatchery output. 



Jordan and Evermann^^ give the following description of the 

 fish and other information concerning it : 



The Yellowstone or Lewis trout (Salmo leivisi) inhabits the Snake River 

 Basin above Shoshone Falls and the headwaters of the Missouri. It is 

 abundant throughout this whole region in all accessible waters and is par- 

 ticularly numerous in Yellowstone Lake. As already stated the trout of 

 Yellowstone Lake certainly came into the Missouri Basin by way of Two- 

 Ocean Pass from the upper Snake River Basin. One of the present writers 

 has caught them in the very act of going over Two-Ocean Pass from Pacific 

 into Atlantic drainage. The trout on the two sides of the pass can not be 

 .'^eriiirated and constitute a single species. 



The cutthroat trout {Salmo clarkii) * * * jg found in all the coastwise 

 streams and lakes from northern California to British Columbia and pos- 

 sibly in southeastern Alaska. In the Columbia River Basin it is found as far 

 up the Snake River as Shoshone Falls and in the headwaters of the Pend d'- 

 Oreille. In the waters about Puget Sound it is very abundant, as it is, in 

 fact, throughout most of its range. It is known variously as cutthroat trout, 

 black-spotted trout, Columbia River trout, and by many other local names. 



In the earlier books this species was identified with the Mykiss of Kam- 

 chatka and was called Salmo mylciss or Salmo piirpuratus, but recent in- 

 vestigations have showTi that it is not identical with the Kamchatkan species, 

 and that there is a wide region between Kamchatka and southeast Alaska in 

 which no trout are found. 



The cutthroat trout and all of this series spawn in the spring and early 

 summer. Those in the streams seek the shallow waters of the smaller creeks, 

 while those of the lakes come to the shallow waters near shore or upon the 

 bars; in many cases they ascend tributary streams. * * * The cut- 



" American Food and Game Fishes. Pp. 176 and 179. By David Starr Jordan and 

 Barton Warren Evermann. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1902. 



