FISHES. 1(;7 



The trout are rapidly (lisai)]ioariiig from our streams through tlic agency of the 

 manufacturer and the summer boartlei-. In the woi-ds of an excellent angler, Myron 

 W. Reed, — " This is the last generation of trout-fishers. The children will not be able 

 to find an)-. Already there are well-trodden paths by every stream in Maine, in New 

 York, and in Michigan. I know of but one river in North America by the side of 

 which you will find no ])aper collar or other evidence of civilization. It is the 

 Nameless Kiver. 



" Not that trout will cease to be. They will be hatched by machinery and raised 

 in ponds, and fattened on chopped liver, and grow flabby and lose their spots. The 

 trout of the restaurant will not cease to be. He is no more like the trout of the wild 

 river than the fat and songless reed-bird is like the bobolink. Gross feeding and easy 

 pond life enervates and depraves him. 



"The trout that the children will know only by legend is the gold-sprinkled, living 

 arrow of the white water; able to zig-zag up the cataract; able to loiter in the rapids; 

 whose dainty meat is the glancing butterfiy." 



The brook trout adapts itself readily to cultivation in artificial jionds. It has been 

 successfully transi)orted to Europe, and is already abundant in certain streams in 

 England and elsewhere. 



The " Dolly Varden " trout {Salvelinus mahna) is very similar to the brook trout, 

 closely resembling it in size, form, color, and habits. It is found in the streams of 

 northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, mostly to 

 the westward of the Cascade Range. It often enters the sea, and specimens of eleven 

 pounds weight have been obtained by the writer in Puget Sound. 



The Dolly Varden trout is, in general, deeper in body, and less compressed than the 

 eastern brook trout. The red spots are found on the back of the fish as well as on the 

 sides, and the back and upper fins are without the marblings and blotches seen in Salve- 

 linus fontinalis. In value as food, in beauty, and in gaminess, Salvelinus mulma is 

 very similar to its eastern cousin. The Greenland charr {Salvelinus stagnalis) seems 

 to be distinguished chiefly by the great length of its fins. Little is known of its 

 habits. 



Allied to the true charrs, and now placed with them in the genus Salvelinus, is the 

 great lake trout, otherwise known as Mackinaw trout, longe or togue (Salvelimis 

 namaycush). Technically, this fish differs from the true charrs in having on its vomer 

 a raised crest behind the chevron, and free from the shaft. This crest is armed with 

 strong teeth. There are also strong, hooked teeth on the hyoid bone, and the teeth 

 generally are proportionately stronger than most of the other species. 



The great lake trout is grayish in color, light or dark, according to its surroimd- 

 ings, and the body is covered with round jjaler spots, which ai-e gray instead of red. 

 The dorsal and caudal fins are marked with darker reticulations, somewhat as in the 

 brook trout. The great lake trout is found in all the larger lakes frotn New Enghmd 

 and New York to Wisconsin, Montana, and Alaska. It reaches a much larger size 

 than any other Salvelifius, specimens of from fifteen to twenty pounds weight being 

 not uncommon, while it occasionally attains a weight of fifty to eighty pounds. As a 

 food fish it ranks high, although it may be regarded as somewhat inferior to the brook 

 trout or the white-fish. 



Compared with other salmonoids, the great lake trout is a sluggish, heavy, and 

 ravenous fish. They have been known to eat raw potato, liver, and corn-cobs, refuse 

 thrown from passing steamers. According to Herbert, " A coarse, heavy, stiff rod, a 



