854 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [4] 



River. Tliese fish, two or three tons iu all, were caugiit in the river 

 and tributaries, and all, or nearly all, are above 2 pounds in weighty 

 and probably all are over two years old. 



After a thorough examination of the fish, both alive and dead, I am 

 compelled to give it as niy opinion, which I admit is not based on a 

 scientific study of them, that there is only one variety of black-spotted 

 trout in the United States ponds on the McCloud River, or that if there 

 are two or more varieties, they shade into each other by imperceptible 

 degrees. 



It is the opinion of Mr. Myron Green and Mr. Loren Green, w^ho- 

 have had more experience with these fish than any other white men, 

 that there is only one variety of trout in the United States trout ponds 

 and in the McCloud river, or, if there are more, that they breed together 

 indefinitely, so that all specific characteristics of distinct varieties, if 

 there were any, have become lost. 



One thing is certain, which is that if there are two or more species of 

 trout in the ponds, the eggs distributed from these ponds are the fruit 

 of an intermixture of both or all the varieties, for the males and females 

 in the ponds are used indiscriminately in the spawning season, and all 

 seem to be equally efficient in producing fertilized ova. 



The only distinction which the writer could discover between the so- 

 called fine-scaled and the coarse-scaled varieties was simply this, viz : 

 that the larger fish in the river were coarse-scaled and the smaller fish 

 in the brooks which flow into the river were fine-scaled. This holds 

 true universally. It is the general opinion on the river (which opinion 

 the writer shares) that the trout in the river are the same variety as 

 the trout in the brooks, but that the younger and smaller trout afi'ect 

 the brooks, and the larger and older ones prefer the river. According 

 to the generally received nomenclature in the Eastern States, I sup- 

 pose the brook trout would be called the fine-scaled or mountain trout 

 [Salmo clarA'ii'l) and the coarse-scaled or river fish would be called 

 the McGloud River trout, rainbow trout, or Salmo iridens. I confess 

 the subject is very much of a puzzle to me still, particularly because 

 persons who have hatched the California trout eggs and have raised the 

 fish from them, are very i^ositive that what are called the California 

 mountain trout and what are called the California jMcCloud river trout 

 are two distinct varieties ; while, according to tlie theory just presented, 

 they ought to be both the same variety. Mr. Roosevelt speaks very 

 decidedly about it, and says that " the distinctions between the McCloud 

 River and the mountain trout are quite apparent to tlie eye;" that " there 

 is some difference in their habits"; that the mountain trout does not 

 grow to more than half the size of the McCloud River trout, and that 

 when cooked there is a marked sui3eriority in favor of the mountain 

 variety. This, I believe, is also Seth Green's opinion. Xow, if this is 

 all true, and I do not here dispute it, how does it happen that we have 

 only one kind of trout in the ponds of the United States Fish Commis- 



