DolliTPri. VAHIKTIKS. 45 



territory as (Iirat Hritaiu, every water mI whicli has been 

 I'xploretl, aud. it may hi' proMuned, ahnost every lish siiljinitted 

 to the cxainiiiation of scientitic men, «;rcat (hmhts yet exist con- 

 cerning; many forms, especially of this family of Salmonitltp, 

 whether they ar»- al)>(ihitely distiiut, or merely casual varieties^ 

 incapable of reproduction. 



In this country, with its boundless lakes and j,'i;_'antic rivers 

 — all those to the northward and enstward, and all those fcediu;; 

 the tril)utaries, or lyin^ in the vast basin, of the St. Lawrence, 

 as well as all those on the western or racitic coast, llowinj:; 

 down thn)M<;li the Sacramento and Columbia, or wasting' in the 

 arid sands or wet morasses of the (Jreat Central Hasin, all 

 teeming with varieties, perhaps distinct species of the Salmon — 

 what a vast, what an unexplored tield for the sportsman, the 

 naturalist ; and how doid)ly eharminj; for him who unites in 

 one individual both capacities! Hut two distinct varieties of the 

 .Vmcrican Lake Trout, or at the most three, arc as yet made, 

 out — for I think it doul)tfnl whether there be any positive 

 •grounds on which t«) establish a distinction between the Salmo 

 Confims of Dekay, known in the Kastern States and New 

 York as the common Lake Trout, and the Sa/ino Amef/n/stus of 

 Mitehil, known as the Mackinaw Salmon. The fialmo Sitka- 

 tritz of Afjassiz, discovered in the course of the past summer in 

 Lakes Superior and Huron, is clearly a marked and permanent 

 species. That there is yet one other distinct species, the Seha^^o 

 I^kc Trout, 1 fully believe, hut only having heard of it by oral 

 description, I dare not take up<jn myself, without examination 

 and comparison, to decide the question. 



Apnin : another huge fish is con.stantly mentioned jus taken at 



