292 Reminiscences of 



/"^ALIFORNIA is conspicuous for its variety of 

 ^ ' fishes, in its streams which abound with dis- 

 tinctive kinds of trout, and in the Pacific waters which 

 lie along the coast, where an endless variety of game 

 fishes are to be found. 



It is somewhat annoying for the many lovers of 

 the eastern trout to be informed that our eastern 

 trout, technically speaking, are not trout at all, but 

 charrs, and that the true trout must be sought for 

 on the Pacific Coast, simply because it sheds its teeth 

 from the vomer, which is the middle part of the roof 

 of its mouth, as does the salmon, while the true trout 

 in the form of its vomer differs from the charr, and 

 preserves its teeth through life. For this slight 

 difference the ichthyologists have seen fit to desig- 

 nate our eastern trout as charr. It is natural that 

 when the first settlers in America, familiar with 

 the English trout (Salmo Fario), finding the carmine- 

 spotted and brilliant-hued fishes with high game 

 qualities, called them trout, though far more beautiful 

 than the English, or those of German or Northern 

 European regions, which are true trout in the scientific 

 sense. 



Our eastern and central trout are correctly the Sal- 

 velinus Fontinalis. It is considered by the most emi- 

 nent authorities that the various trouts of the northern 

 Pacific streams, the rainbow, cut-throat, steel-head 

 and golden, all true trout, have descended from the so- 

 called steel-heads, as well as the various lake trouts, 

 the latter being similar to those of our eastern and 

 central lakes, of dull color and brown spots. 



The steel-heads (Salmo Gairdineri), found in the 

 various streams of the northern Pacific, take 



