346 ZOOLOGY. 



very closely, and probably is identical with it. They are caught freely with either common 

 bait, or the "artificial fly," but by preference choose more readily half-dried salmon-roe, which 

 fishermen, who are not too sportman-like to indulge in such unartistic angling, very frequently 

 use, preferring the roe in its half-dried, glutinous, sticky condition, because it adheres more 

 readily to the hook, With such bait, and with "artificial flies," the writer has taken in a few 

 hours large ' ' strings' ' of handsome trout, on one occasion catching thirty-four fish, the aggregate 

 weight of which, when some hours out of the water, amounted to fifteen pounds. A favorite 

 place for catching these fish is McAllister's creek, a small stream about eight miles from 

 Olympia, the capital of Washington Territory. The best "spots" for fishing there are below 

 the "old mill site," at a point where the stream meanders through the Nisqually "tide 

 prairies," and where the tide ebbs and flows strongly. The best angling is had during the 

 last of the chh, and half through the ^oocZ, at which time the trout, having retreated to the deep 

 holes, can be caught very rapidly. At the same place I have caught with a hook and line 

 several young "silver salmon," such as might be called by the English rjrilse, 



FARIO STELLATUS, Grd. 

 Oregon Brook-Trout. 



Plate LXIX, Figs. 5—8. 



Sp. Cn. — ^Body elongated and fusiform ; head well developed, contained four times and three-quarters in the total length ; 

 jaws equal ; maxillary gently curved, reaching a vertical line, drawn posteriorly to the orbit. Anterior margin of dorsal fin 

 a little nearer to the extremity of the mouth than the insertion of caudal fin. Back light olive; belly light yellowish white. 

 Head, body, and fins, profusely spotted with black. 



Hi^.—Fario steUaius, Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. So. Philad. VIII, 1836, 219. — Ibid, Gen. Eep. Fislies, p. 31C. 

 Opkalloo, Wasco Indians. — Common trout, vernacular. 



This trout is found in all the rivers about Shoal water bay, and above tide-water take the hook 

 readily in spring and fall. I consider it entirely a fresh water fish, though called there "salmon 

 trout." It grows to the length of two feet, and is said sometimes to weigh fifteen pounds. In 

 color it closely resembles the preceding. — C. 



The trout of Oregon and Washington Territories, which replace the Salmofontindlis, or com- 

 mon trout of the middle and Atlantic States, belong to two species, very similar to each other 

 in their habits, which are also much like those of their Atlantic congener just mentioned. They 

 belong to the species last described and to the present kind. 



The S. stcllaiiis is very abundant in all the brooks and small rivers emptying into the lower 

 Columbia and Puget Sound. It seems to enter the more rapid streams early in the spring, but 

 I doubt whether it can be strictly called anadromous, as it is found in sluggish fresh water at all 

 seasons; and I have caught it frequently from small lakes and brooks having no connexion with 

 the sea at any season. When living in brooks near the sea they seem to avail themselves, 

 however, of the invigorating efl'ects of salt Avater, as I have caught them sparingly in such 

 situations; but, as alreadj'^ stated, access to the sea seems to be by no means absolutely neces- 

 sary even to health. The spawning season appears to be at its height in mid-winter, and lasts, 

 occasionally, in certain individuals, as late as the first of March. 



While stationed at Fort Steilacoom I frequently amused myself by angling for trout, either 

 using the "artificial fly" or common bait. Angle-worms being not found, as yet, in that region, 

 I was obliged to rely upon meat, fresh fish, and salmon-roe, when desirous of using natural bait. 

 Unlike the 8. fontinalis, (the common brook-trout of New York,) this trout does not delight in 



