American Fislieries Society. ]45 



troi\t in the first rear ; in fact thev had fish nine inches lonsr, 

 when we had some at the same age which were only six inches 

 long-. 



Mr. Dean : That is so at the station, hiit you cannot take 

 eggs from those fish and raise any percentage. What I meant 

 was fish that had heen put out. We put fish in our springs and 

 they totally disappear. 



The President : What is the quality of the water ? 



^[r. Dean: There is some lime in it, but it is not extraor- 

 dinarily hard, although rather hard. 



Mr. Titcomb : The brook trout won't live in the same waters 

 that you find plenty of rainl)ow trout in. 



^Ir. Dean : Yes, that is the point. 



]\Ir. Titcomb: And those waters do not reach a high iom- 

 perature at any time ? 



]\Ir. Dean : The water temperature of almost all springs 

 in ^lissouri runs from .5(3 to 58 degrees Fahrenheit — one or two 

 run a little higher. 



Mr. Peabody : It is not a question of food ? 



Mr. Dean : Xo. 



Mr. Titcomb : You may ask why can't we raise rainbow 

 trout in Xew England. That is the fact with us. Wliere the 

 temperature of the water gets very low in the winter it seems 

 to debilitate the adult fish, and occasionally they will die just 

 at the season of the year when the ice is forming — it must be 

 colder then than after the ice has covered the spring. The water 

 is full of little sparkling crystals of ice; and while we are able 

 to carry a stock of brood fish we get a very small percentage of 

 eggs, and that is the case where we have obtained eggs from diff- 

 erent sources, so that we do not have weak fish from inbreeding: 

 and these rainbows have been introduced in Xew England and 

 in Xew Y'ork state, and in most cases have disappeared after a 

 short time. I have in mind one stream wlien' rainbow trout wx're 

 introduced hy accident. A gentleman had a private pond and 

 reared some rainbow trout and they got into this stream whicli 

 was a natural trout stream, but the Uwer end of it warmed up 

 too much in the summer for speckled trout. These rainbows 

 hehl tlu'ir own in that stream for a number of years. l)ut all the 

 best fishing was at the lower end in warm water, hut tlu'y did 



