OKVERA >'F r,\MF. FI>H. 17 



It will be well to observe here, that I consider all those fish 

 which run up rivers and streams into the fresh water, for the 

 j)urjK)se of spawning, which pass a considerable portion of tlic 

 year, and arc principally, if not wholly, taken in such water, 

 as fresh-water fishes; although a resort to tlic salt water is 

 neccssarj' to the reinvngoration of their constitutions ; and it is 

 probable, to the excellence of their flesh, and the courage and 

 l)oldness of their tempers. 



To this class belong several of the finest and most important 

 of all our fish, both as regards the table and the sport ; for to 

 this are directly referable the Salmon, that king of the piscine 

 world, the Sea Trout, the Striped Bass, the Shad, and the 

 Smelt ; l>oth of which, for reasons which I shall give when I 

 am to treat of them under their own proper heads, I admit as 

 (Jame Fishes. 



Our fresh-water fishes, then, all belonging to the two classes 

 above named, Malacopterygii, soft-finned, and Acanthopterygii , 

 or spiny- finned, are divided into the following families : — 



Of the first, Abdominal Malacopteryoii, we have 



I. — The family of Salmoxid.e, of which the tnie sea Salmon is 

 the tyj>e, and of which there are many varieties and sub-genera, 

 both migrator}- and non-migratory ; the principal arc — 



Grnus Salino. 



The True Salmon (>'a/»/io Satar). 



The Orcatcst I>ake Trout. — Mackinaw Salmon {Salino 



Amethynluji I . 

 The Northern Lake Trout. — Siskawitz Salmu 



c 



