166 



LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



maxillary bone reaching more or less beyond the eye. There are no teeth on the 

 hyoid bone, traces at least of such teeth being found in nearly all the other species. 

 Its color is somewhat different from that of the others, the red spots being large, and 

 the back more or less mottled and barred with darker olive. The dorsal and caudal 

 fins are likewise barred or mottled, while in the other species they are generally 

 uniform in color. 



The brook trout is found only in streams east of the valleys of the Mississip])i and 

 the Saskatchawan. It occurs in all suitable streams of the Alleghany region and the 

 great lake system, from northern Georgia northward at least to Labrador and Hud- 

 son Bay, the northern limits of its range being as yet not well ascertained. It varies 

 greatly in size, according to its surroundings, those found in lakes being larger than 

 those resident in small brooks. Those found farthest south, in the headwaters of the 

 Chattahoochee, Savannah, Catawba, and French Broad, rarely pass the dimensions of 



Fig. 101. — Salvelinusfnutlnalis, brook trout. 



fingerlings. The largest specimens are recorded from the sea along the Canadian 

 coast. These frequently reach a weight of ten pounds, and, from their marine and 

 migratory habits, they may be regarded as forming a distinct variety, Saloeliniis fon- 

 tinalis var. immaculatus. The largest fresh-water specimens rarely exceed seven 

 pounds in weight. Some unusually large brook trout have been taken in the Rangeley 

 lakes, the largest known to me having a reputed weight of eleven jiounds. 



The brook trout is the favorite game-fish of Amei-ican waters, pre-eminent in wari- 

 ness, in beauty, and in delicacy of flesh. It inhabits all clear and cold waters within 

 its range, the large lakes and the smallest ponds, the tiniest brooks, and the largest 

 rivers, and, when it can do so without soiling its aristocratic gills on the way, it de- 

 scends to the sea and grows large and fat on tlie animals of the ocean. 



Although a bold biter, it is a wary fish, and it often requires much skill to capture 

 it. It can be caught with artificial or natural flies, minnows, crickets, worms, grass- 

 hoppers, grubs, the sj)awn of other fishes, or even the eyes or cut pieces of other trout. 

 It spawns in the fall, from September to late in November. It begins to reproduce at 

 the age of two years, then having a length of about six inches. In sjiring-time, the 

 trout delight in rapids and swiftly running water, and in the hot months of midsummer 

 they resort to deep, cool, and shaded jiools. Later, at the ai)proach of the spawning 

 season, they gather around the mouths of cool, gravelly brooks, whither they resort to 

 make their beds. {Hallock.) 



