FISHES — SALMONIDAE — SALAR LEWISI. 



319 



exiguous. The eye is large and circular ; its diameter is contained a little over four times in 

 the length of the sides of the head. The nostrils are very large and nearer to the orbit than 

 the tip of the snout. The inferior part of the preopercle is expanded ; its external margin 

 very convex ; the opercle is very large, much deeper than wide, and a little broader below than 

 ahove ; the suh-opercle is rounded externally ; the inter-opercle is small. There are twelve 

 branchiostegal rays, short, very broad, and flattened. 



The dorsal fin is higher than long ; its upper outline is sub-convex, and its posterior margin 

 is a little lower than the half of the anterior, which is nearer the end of the snout than the 

 insertion of the caudal fin. The adipose is well developed, rather slender, and does not extend 

 quite as far as the tips of the posterior rays of the anal. The latter fin has the same general 

 aspect as the dorsal in the convexity of its external margin. The origin of the ventrals is 

 situated opposite the posterior fourth of the base of the dorsal ; the tips of its rays, conse- 

 quently, extend further backwards than those of the latter fin. The pectorals are broad and 

 lanceolated. The caudal is sub-crescentic upon its posterior margin, and constitutes a little 



more than the seventh of the total length. 



Br. 12 : 12 ; D 11 ; ; A 11 ; C 6, 1, 9, 9, 1, 5 ; V 10 ; P 16. 



The scales are small, elongated, sub-elliptical, narrower anteriorly than posteriorly, and 

 sometimes very irregular in their outline. 



The ground color of the upper regions of the head and body is bluish grey, over which are 

 spread small black spots or rather dots, extending over the dorsal, the adipose, and caudal fins, 

 most crowded upon the latter ; the ground color of these fins being olivaceous, these dots do not 

 extend beneath the lateral line, except on the peduncle of the tail. The inferior regions are of 

 a deep orange tint, which extends over the lower fins, much deeper along the rays. The sides 

 of the head present a combination of the bluish grey of the back and the orange of the belly. 



This is the trout alluded to iu Lewis and Clarke's " Travels." Being at the Falls of the 

 Missouri, " they caught half a dozen trouts, from sixteen to twenty-three inches long, precisely 

 resembling in form and the position of the fins the mountain or speckled trout of the United 

 States, except that the specks of the former are of a deep black, while those of the latter are of 

 a red or golden color. They have long sharp teeth on the palate and tongue, and generally a 

 small speck of red on each side behind the front ventral fins (pectorals !) ; the flesh is of a pale 

 yellowish red, or, when in good order, of a rose-colored red."— (London edition of 1814, p. 



192, 4to.) 



And further on, p. 487, we read : " The mountain or speckled trout are found in the waters 

 of the Columbia, within the mountains. They are the same with those found in the upper part 

 of the Missouri, but are not so abundant in the Columbia as in that river. We never saw this 

 fish below the mountains, but, from the transparency and coldness of the Kooskooskee, we 

 should not doubt of its existence in that stream as low as its junction with the southeast branch 



of the Columbia." 



It would be an interesting point to compare, side by side, specimens caught in the Columbia 

 with others from the Missouri. We should not be surprised if the result of such a comparison 

 should refer the specimens from the basin of the Columbia either to Fario gairdneri, or else 

 prove a distinct species. 



