124 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



of local variety, except what may be caused in color by cliauge of posi- 

 tion from still to rapid or fresh to brackish or salt water, to which the 

 species is very fond of repairing when accessible. The more sonthern 

 specimens are paler, while those from Lake Superior and Canada are 

 darker than is usual in the Middle States. This must be owing to some 

 natural law affecting the Salmonidte. The New Mexico specimens of I 

 S. virginalis in the Smithsonian collection show the same bleaching ^ 

 when obtained from southern localities. The S. erytkrogafiter, DeKay, , 

 is nothing but this fish tinged with red during the breeding season. . 

 This is the favorite game-fish of the Middle States, where its capture ^ 

 during the proper season is one of the most keeuly-relished sports of f 

 our scientific anglers. Its weight rarely exceeds four pounds, and it is ■: 

 rare indeed to find one in Southern N^ew York weighing more than three. . 

 The mountain streams, which are the sources of the Delaware, are favor- 

 ite resorts of anglers, where large numbers are takf^n without difficulty, , 

 but unfortunately they are usually of small size. On Long Island much i 

 larger fish are taken. There are there — especially on the south side — - 

 many fine private ponds, where trout are carefully preserved and their r 

 management reduced to a specialty. Many of these ponds are owned I 

 or leased by fishing clubs. Stringent rules exist against the destruc- 

 tion of hsh below a certain size, or the killing of more than a limited i 

 number daily. Probably the finest and best preserved trout-pond on 

 the island, Massapequa, belongs to William Floyd Jones, esq. The 

 writer can testify to the excellence of the fishing there, the large 

 size of the fish, and the genuine hospitality of the proprietor. John D. . 

 Jones, esq., at his country-seat on the north side of the island, has < 

 several artificial ponds in which, at the time of writing, (June, 1861,) he • 

 is ex[)erimenting in the artificial raising and maintenance of this beauti- 

 ful fish. 



The following interesting remarks on the habits of Salmo fonthmlis v 

 are extracted from a letter addressed to Dr. Storer, by I. B. Forsyth, . 

 M. D., published in the Boston Journal of Natural History, vol. v, p' 

 412. 



" The few observations I have to communicate upon the habits and 

 peculiarities of the salmon-trout, were made during a residence of ten i 

 years in Sandwich, Cape Cod, where the facilities for that purpose are 

 very abundant. 



"It may be well to premise, that the distance, at this point of the cape, ; 

 from one bay to the other, varies from five to ten miles, and the land is > 

 gradually elevated from each shore, till it reaches the center, and con- 

 sequently the streams, for the most part arising from springs, are short, 

 terminating in creeks upon the marshes. Many of these are of sutticieut 

 magnitude for mill-sites, and are therefore crossed by permanent ob- 

 structions; and hence it frequently happens, in the short space of a 

 quarter of a mile, you find specimens of both, as they are familiarly 



