INFLUENCE OF LIGHT, FOOD, ETC. 118 



change produced by passing from the dark and peat-soiled 

 waters of the one lake^ to the limpid element of the other, in 

 the fish, is so rapid, that they assimilate themselves almost 

 instantaneously, in outward appearance, to the fish into whose 

 society they have emigrated. 



The lakelet, known as Stump-pond, on the northern side of 

 Long Island, which, as its name indicates, is filled with the butts 

 of dead trees, and saturated with vegetable matter, has been for 

 many years famous, or I should rather say infamous, for the 

 ugliness, want of brilliancy, and indifferent quality in a culinary 

 point of view, of its Trout, as compared with those of the bright 

 and transparent mill-ponds and rivulets of the south side. No 

 one, however, has ever thought of erecting them into a species, 

 or of designating them as Salmo Stumppondicus, seeing clearly 

 the cause and effect ; and lo ! now of late years, as the cause is 

 passing away with the process of time, the eff"ect is also disap- 

 pearing ; as the vegetable matter is decaying, being absorbed, 

 and swept away, and as the purifying influences of the springs 

 are gaining upon the corrupt and stagnant qualities of the pond, 

 the fishes are likewise becoming brighter and better. In the 

 course of a few more years, it is probable that they will be 

 scarcely distinguishable from the finely-formed and finely- 

 coloured fish of Snedecor's or Carman^s streams, at Islip and 

 Fireplace. 



Doubtless other causes besides the influence of light have 

 their effect both upon the appearance and the flavour of the 

 Trout ; we have seen that their colour is affected by the shell- 

 fish, or even the larvse of flies, on which they feed ; we have also 

 seen that they increase in weight, size, and fatness, according 



I 



