genus Salvelinus, but the rainbow and the cutthroat 

 are true trout belonging to the genus Sal mo. The rain- 

 bow and the cutthroat present a varity of forms in dif- 

 ferent localities and these have been given separate 

 specific names by the naturalist. With many of these 

 species (?) the only difference seems to be too slight to 

 entitle them to specific or even sub-specific separation; 

 the variation being no more than that found in the 

 color and markings of the same fishes in the same 

 stream, caused by the depth of the water, the food, or 

 other local conditions. 



The rainbow trout is now a resident, either through 

 natural or artificial distribution, of nearly all the 

 streams of the Coast from Washington to Lower Cali- 

 fornia. They vary in size, color and number of scales 

 in different localities and have been given distinct spe- 

 cific names in the various sections, those of the Coast 

 streams of California being used as the typical form. 

 These several varieties, even in their natural condi- 

 tion, showed very little, if any positive line of demarka- 

 tion, but since the establishment of the many hatch- 

 eries on the Coast and the wide distribution of the fry 

 hatched from the spawn of the rainbow of the Sacra- 

 mento and its tributaries, of the steelhead of the Eel 

 river, and of the typical form of the Coast streams, 

 there seems but one course now left, and that is to 

 group them all as one species under the original name 

 of rainbow. 



The rainbow is a very handsome trout, varying in 

 size from adults of but a few inches in the smaller 

 Coast streams, to 25 and 30 inches long in the larger 

 rivers and lakes. Its dark spotted back and silvery 

 sides with the rich metallic colors of the rainbow streak 

 gives it a coloration that is at once brilliant and pleas- 

 ing. As a game fish it has no superior, if indeed an 

 equal. It takes the fly with a rush, often leaping out 

 of the water to seize it as it is descending. Then it 

 fights with a determination, often breaking three or 

 four feet into the air, shaking its head to free the hook 

 like a terrier shakes a rat. It seldom sounds and never 

 sulks. The rainbow trout goes to the sea at varying 

 ages, the same as all other trout that can get there 

 without passing through long stretches of warm and 

 sluggish water. In the salt water it attains a greater 

 size, changes its color in accordance with the length 

 of time it has been there, but on returning again to 

 the stream it soon assumes its original plan of color- 

 ing. 



Head, about one-fourth of the whole length from the 

 137 



