SUCKLE Y MONOGEAPH OF THE GENUS SALMO. 153 



found ou a muddy bottom are generally grayish, while those from a 

 gravelly bottom are of a reddish color, with much brighter fins. The 

 sexes differ in shape, the male having a more pointed head than the 

 female, although the jaws are of equal length. The ventral fins are 

 placed very far back — a valuable specific mark in the Salmonidoe, a 

 family in which it is very difticult ou characteristic differences. 



In answer to a question from Dr. Storer, Professor Agassiz replied 

 that he did not notice the amethystine color in the mouth of this species. 



39. SALMO COXFINIS, DeKay. 



LAKE-TROUT. 



SYx.—.Srt ?mo coiifiitis, DeKay. Nat. Hist. N. Y., p. 238, 1842. 



Sp. Ch. — Colors blackish, with numerous gray spots. Body robust; 

 comparatively short in proportion to its depth. Caudal fin, with sinuous 

 margin. Length 2 to 4 feet. The body thicker and shorter than the 

 common salmon. Head flattened. Snout produced, and, in old indi- 

 viduals, with a tubercular enlargement on the extremity of under jaw, 

 which is the shortest, and received into a cavity in the upper. A row 

 of teeth on the central furrow of the tougue. Attains a weight of 30 

 pounds. 



Hab. — Lakes in Xortheru New York. Silver Lake, Pennsylvania. 

 The foregoing description is condensed from Dr. DeKay's. He adds 

 the colors of a freshly caught fish : " All the upper part of head and 

 body, bluish-black. Sides of head and body, base of first dorsal, cau- 

 dal, and anal fins with numerous rounded, crowded, irregular, gray spots." 

 * * * Chin, brownish bronze. Irides, salmon-colored. Dr. DeKay's 

 notes, as hinted at by Herbert, probably refer to two different species 

 of fish — the present species, and perhaps S. symmetrica, Prescott. This 

 will account for the discrepancy between his observations and the re- 

 corded evidence of others, as to size, &c. Ko specimens of ^. eonfims 

 are in the Smithsonian collection. 



Herbert's account of this lake-trout may possibly be applicable to the 

 >S'. symmetrica, but, being quite interesting, is here introduced : 



" Concerning no fish have I seen occasion so greatl}' to alter my ex- 

 pressed opinions, founded chiefly on the opinions of others, and, where 

 original, formed from examination of fish taken in the waters of the. 

 Eastern States, and in Lakes George and Champlaiu, in none of which 

 is it either a game-fish, or, in my opinion, a good fisli. 



" I still doubt greatly whether there be not two distinct species of lake- 

 trout; one quite peculiar to the small lakes of ISTew York. Certainly I 

 never saw or tasted any lake-trout similar in appearance, or equal in 

 taste and flavor, to those which I ate at Geneva, and which were subse- 

 quently sent down to me in ice, b}^ my friend, Mr. Mandeville, of that 

 city. The description of these fish exactly tallies with the account of 

 the red-fleshed lake-trout of Hamilton County, where I have never fished. 



