140 SALMONIDiE. 



decidedly the best of the large lacustrine Trouts, none of which 

 in either hemisphere are either delicate or high-flavoured. I 

 doubt not, however, that when fresh out of the water, in the 

 cold deep lakes of Huron and Superior, crimped and broiled or 

 roasted, it is far better than could be supposed by one who has 

 eaten it only after being many hours out of its native element. 



In no respect, however, must we regard the opinions of 

 sportsmen, discoverers, and explorers of new regions, more cum 

 grano, than in their appreciation of the qualities of fish, flesh, 

 or fowl in an epicurean point of view. They are apt to be very 

 hungry, in the first place, when they eat, and who does not 

 know the efi'ect of the Spartan sauce or the palatableness of the 

 plainest viands ? their tastes are moreover simplified by the 

 absence of sauces and stimulants of any kind ; and, in a word, 

 things which to men accustomed to the cooking of cities are 

 tasteless and vapid, are by them naturally esteemed delicate 

 and savoury. 



The habits of the Mackinaw Salmon are similar to those 

 of most of the non-migratory Lake Trout ; they aff'ect and 

 prefer the deep waters at most seasons of the year, and lie at 

 a great depth beneath the surface. In the spring of the year, 

 however, they approach the shores, and are found in the 

 shallow waters, whither, it is supposed, they pursue the various 

 kinds of fish on which they prey, which resort thither in search 

 of larvse of various insects. They do not enter the rivers to 

 spawn, but approach the shores for that purpose in autumn, 

 depositing their ova on the gravelly shoals, and then retiring 

 again into the depths. In Lake Huron they begin to spawn 

 about the 10th of October, and return to the centre of the 



