96 AX ANGLER'S REMINISCENCES. 



subject. You will note a reference made to a certain article which has appeared 

 in the columns of The Angler, relating to this third species of pike, but which had 

 escaped my notice. I quote what follows : 



"MR. CHARLES HALLOCK : 



"My DE\R SIF I am sorry that I cannot refer you to the number of the 

 American Angler containing notices of the 'Chautauqua Lake Pike,' also known 

 as the 'Muskingum Pike,' and having its habitat in the tributaries of the Ohio. 

 This is a pike that has not been fully recognized and described by sporting au- 

 thorities, and I suppose for the reason that it has been generally called muscalonge, 

 and confounded with that fish. I think that it should be named esox immaculatus, 

 as the striking peculiarity of its appearance is the absence of markings or spots. 

 This marks the difference between it and esox nobilior and esox lucius, as well 

 as the reticulatus and fasciatus in a way that cannot be misunderstood. It is 

 possible that its habitat is confined to the Mississippi and tributaries, but Roose- 

 velt's account of a similar pike being found in waters of Cape Cod throws some 

 doubt on this proposition. The texture of the flesh and its flavor gives it the 

 highest rank among fresh water fishes. This perhaps cannot be said of any other 

 of the esox family, not even the nobilior. I once saw a 28-pound specimen in a 

 Chicago fish market, and where, as I expected, it was called a muscalonge. I have 

 seen several notices in the Pioneer Press of anglers bringing in muscalonge from 

 Clear Lake, near Anoka, but have not had an opportunity of verifying their fish. 

 A marked peculiarity of what I call esox immaculatus is the very small size of 

 the scales. I. GARRARD. 



XOTE. Tlie foregoing was written in 1883. 



CUT-THROAT TROUT. 



I went up the Rosebud Creek from the Crow Agency at Stillwater. Montana, 

 in company with Agent McKeller and Clerk Charles H. Bostwic'k, on a trip to a 

 delightful mountain lake which lies at the entrance of the Rosebud Canon. The 

 lake was a temporary reservoir or interruption of the foaming torrent, which 

 rushes from a snow-capped mountain which alone shuts us out from the Yellow- 

 stone Park. The lake on one side was very deep, where the cliff went down plumb 

 into the water. On the other side the bottom was shallow and sloping to a 

 paddock of lily pads, which seemed to define the margin of deep water. It was 

 an unvisited lake, and there was no boat. At the head of the lake the Rosebud 

 tumbled in with a mighty rush of deep green waters over the boulders, and just 

 where it debouched the liveliest trout fishing could be had. The fish averaged 

 uniformly two pounds in weight, and could be caught as readily from one shore as 

 the other, either in deep or shoal water. There were very few of a size below 

 or above two pounds. I have never attempted to write up that trip because my 

 pen could not do justice either to the sport or the marvelous scenery which we 

 found there in the heart of the Rockies. I am moved to refer to it now only 

 because we caught fish there which I have never seen on the same meridian or 

 anywhere else. I have certainly watched angling reports ever since, in vain, to 

 discover some description which applied. The trout resembled the iridea of Colo- 

 rado in respect to the metallic black markings scattered like lustrous grains of 

 course black powder over its shoulders and body; but it lacked the rainbow lateral 

 stripe. Its distinctive feature, however, was a slash of intense carmine across 

 each gill-cover, as large as my little finger. It was most striking. For lack of a 

 better description we called them "cut-throat" trout. Have any of your corre- 

 spondents taken any like them anywhere along the range? 



NOTE. Written in 1884. 



