42 SEA TROUT. 
anal, properly speaking, lias eleven rays, but the first is 
so delicate and so lost in the fleshy part of the tin, that 
it is hardly distinguishable. 
The coloring of these fish difi*ers greatly from that of 
the common trout, but it is universally conceded that 
color is no test or distinction of species. When fresh 
run from the sea, and when still inhabiting the salt 
water, they are gloriously brilliant ; their backs a liquid 
bluish green, the under part flashing like molten silver. 
The spots and scarlet specks on their sparkling sides are 
of a purer tone, and the lower fins more slender and 
delicate. 
They are found in the bays of Prince Edward's Island, 
in the harbors of Kew Brunswick, and in all the gulf 
and river of St. Lawrence and its lower tributaries. In 
Frank Forrester's " Fish and Fishing," a letter from Mr. 
Perley, the British Commissiouer of Fisheries, is quoted, 
page 123, in which he says these fish do not ascend into 
purely fresh water. In this I am reluctantly, out of 
respect to his great experience as a fisherman and high 
standing in scientific attainments, compelled to difler 
from him. I have unquestionably taken these fish far 
above tide water, and have the best authority for saying 
that usually, if not invariably, the larger trout at least 
ascend to the head-waters of the mountain streams to 
spawn. I venture to say that no large sea trout are 
taken in the tide water after the last, and rarely after 
the first of August. It is probable that he has been 
misled by the fact that there are trout in the same 
streams that never descend to the sea, and there is a 
marked difference in color between them and their 
