18 FISHES OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 



In the McCloud River its spawning season is from February to 

 May, but in the park it appears to spawn somewhat earlier. Many 

 persons who have had experience in angling for rainbow trout say 

 it is one of the best, and some pronounce it the very best, of the trouts. 

 It often dashes from the water to meet the descending fly, and leaps 

 repeatedly and madly when hooked. It has been said that it takes 

 the fly so readily that there is no reason for resorting to other lures. 

 However, its activity and habits, as in the case of most fishes, are 

 modified more or less by its surrounding conditions. The same is 

 true of its food qualities, which are ordinarily very good. 



Mary Trowbridge Townsend (1. c.) had the following to say rela- 

 tive to her experience with the rainbow trout in Firehole River: 



The California rainbow trout proved true to his reputation, as absolutely eccentric 

 and uncertain, sometimes greedily taking a fly and again refusing to be tempted 

 by the most brilliant array of a carefully stocked book. During several days fishing 

 we landed some small ones, none weighing over 2 pounds, although they are said 

 to have outstripped the other varieties in rapidity of growth, and tales were told of 

 4-pounders landed by more favored anglers. 



This fish has been reported from the Gibbon River both above 

 and below Virginia Cascades. Regarding this stream, the super- 

 intendents report for 1897 shows that the fish planted above the 

 cascades seemed to have come down over the falls, as but few were 

 found above, while below the stream was well stocked to its junction 

 with the Firehole. 



Grebe Lake, Blacktail Deer Creek, Madison, Firehole, and Little 

 Firehole Rivers all contain rainbow trout. Referring to the last- 

 named stream in 1897, the superintendent of the park wrote that 

 several good specimens had been taken near its mouth, for which 

 he could not account, as it seemed impossible for any fish to ascend 

 the lower falls of the Little Firehole. 



5. LOCH LEVEN TROUT (Salmo levenensis}. 



This trout originated in Loch Leven, the lake made famous by 

 Scott's poem, "The Lady of the Lake." Typically it was peculiar to 

 this loch, where it seldom if ever attained much over a pound in 

 weight. 



The claim has been made that it is merely an ontogenetic develop- 

 ment of the common brown trout and that when transferred to other 

 waters its progeny can not always be distinguished from the common 

 brown trout. On the other hand, information derived from persons 

 familiar with Loch Leven indicates that both this trout and the 

 brown trout exist in the same lake and that in that body of water 

 they can always be distinguished at whatever age or condition. 



It is not impossible that confusion has arisen by brown trout from 

 that lake having been propagated under the supposition that they 



