XI.-*THE LAKE TROUTS. 



Bt a. Leith Adams, M. A., M. B., F. R. S., F. G. S. 



The non-raigTatory lake troiits of North America, as far as has yet 

 been ascertained, comprehend three forms, to which the following 

 specific names have been given : the Namaycush, or Great Trout of 

 the Lakes : the Togue, or Gray-spotted Lake-Trout ; and the Sis- 

 cowet. The first was described by Pennant, at the close of the last 

 century; the second by Dekay, in 1842; and the third by Agassiz, in 

 1850. According to the present state of our knowledge of their haunts, 

 it appears that the Namaycush inhabits the great lakes extending from 

 the Northern United States to the Arctic Sea. The Togue is said to fre- 

 quent only the New England, Nova Scotian, and New Brunswick lakes, 

 including the State of Maine, while the Siscowet is seemingly restricted 

 to Lake Superior, where Agassiz also recognized the Namaycush. But 

 little is known of their habits ; moreover, several instances have oc- 

 curred lately of one or other of these fronts turning up in lakes where 

 their presence was unsuspected ; it is, therefore, not unlikely, when their 

 geographical distributions are better worked out, that this seeming par- 

 tiality to certain waters may, after all, be more apparent than real. Fur- 

 ther, it appears that their claims to be considered distinct species rest 

 altogether on certain minor details of structure and coloring in each, 

 which, however, have been further abridged by late researches. It 

 will not, therefore, be surprising to such observers as may have enjoyed 

 opportunities of studying them in their native haunts, should these so- 

 called species turn out to be only varieties of seasonal or sexual condi- 

 tions of one gray-spotted lake-trout, common to the boreal regions of 

 the continent. I shall now point out the recorded differences between 

 each, together with my own personal observations of the Togue, as met 

 with within the boundaries of our region. 



The Namaycush, Mackinaw salmon, and salmon-trout of the Cana- 

 dians is known to Indians by various other names. It was first de- 

 scribed by Sir John Eichardson, who gives a lucid account of the tish.t 

 The most noticeable differences between it and the other two are in the 

 formation of the labials, where the crest projects beyond the limb 

 of the bone, the latter being not quite three times the length of the in- 



* From Field and Forest Rambles, with notes and observations on the Natural History 

 of Eastern Cauada,by A. Leith Adams, M. A., M. B., F. R. S., F. G. S., Staif Surgeon- 

 Major. Loudon, Henry S. King & Co., 1873. 



t Fauna Boreall-Americana, jiart third, The fish, p. 179, pi. 79, 85. 



