294 The Trouts of America 



wood, sunk only a few hours before, to become 

 so crushed and broken as to be useless there- 

 after. The fish at this great depth feed on 

 myriads of worms that swarm on the blue clay 

 bottoms of certain parts of the lake, and get so 

 fat that when brought to the surface and re- 

 lieved from the great pressure, seem ready to 

 burst ; in fact, some of the fat vesicles become 

 ruptured, as indicated by the floating oil on the 

 water at and around the spot from which the 

 fish have been taken. This fish is caught by 

 the rod-and-line fishermen, by still fishing, and 

 occasionally at baited buoys. 



We now reach the charrs proper and undefiled 

 in their beauty of form, velvety richness of color- 

 ation, the chosen of anglers and the gourmet. 



As will be seen from the schedule pre- 

 viously given, the American charrs consist of 

 two genera, five species, and eight subspecies or 

 varietal forms. Of the first genus {Cristivomer), 

 there are one species and one subspecies, which 

 are popularly known as the Great Lake trout. 

 The other genus [Salvelinus) includes all the 

 charr trouts except the two named above. This 

 genus is subdivided into four species, and again 

 differentiated into seven subspecific forms: that 



