12 



hybrids were merely the variation of individuals, accordi ■ to 

 Day, who has seen the specimens preserved in the British 

 Museum. 



I want to make it clear that ichthyologists do not believe 

 that trout and salmon hybridize, in a state of nature. No 

 museum has any wild trout or salmon which are hybrids. On 

 the other hand they have been produced by fish-culturists. 

 Hybrids between trout and charr are sterile, they have been 

 crossed by Coste in France and by Hansen in Norway. 



HYBRIDS IN SALMONID/E. 



BY DR. TARLETOxNT H. EEAN. 



A great many experiments have been made in crossing 

 species of the salmon family and with more or less satisfactory 

 results. It is not yet demonstrated that any valuable econ- 

 omic progress has been achieved by these efforts, except in 

 the case of very closely related species. No attempt is here 

 made to present a history of what has been accomplished by 

 hybridization, but I have described several hybrids whose his- 

 tory, except in a single instance, is well known. These are 

 the result of artificially uniting brook trout and rainbow trout, 

 lake trout and brook trout and brown trout and saibling. In 

 all of these hybrids the coloration differs remarkably from 

 that of both parents, the shape is modified, the variable char- 

 acters of the parents continue to be variable in their progeny 

 and in certain important features, the impression is stronger 

 ffjm oiiC parent than the other. 



The union of a large-scaled species with a small-scaled one 

 produces a large-scaled cross in all the specimens which I 

 have examined. 



As a rule, hybrids between members of distinct genera are 

 sterile. 



Supposed Cross Between Brook and Rainbow Trout. 



"About the middle of April, 1887, the Commissioner of Fish 

 and Fisheries called my attention to some curious living trout 



