THE LAKE TROUT. 



BY LUTHER PARDEE. 



THE Lake Trout, or Salvelinus namaycush as he is more 

 accurately described in the language of the scientist, is, 

 according to Professor Goode, of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tute, "a non-migratory species, inhabiting the chain of Great 

 Lakes, from Superior to Ontario, as well as Lake Champlain, 

 and many other smaller lakes of the United States and Brit- 

 ish America. * * * The usual type to be found in the Great 

 Lakes is brown or gray, dappled with lighter shades of the 

 same general tints. * * * Every lake of Northern New 

 York and New England has its own variety, which the local 

 angler stoutly maintains to be a different species from that 

 found in the next township. Some are as black as atautog, 

 some brown with crimson spots, some gray, with delicate 

 reticulations like those of a Pickerel. The usual type is brown 

 or gray, dappled with lighter shades of the same general tints. 

 Naturalists have been sadly mistaken by their protean modi- 

 fications. The 'JVamaycusk,' of the North, the 'togue' or 

 'tuladi' of Maine and New Brunswick, * * * the Trout of 

 Winnipiseogee and that of the Adirondack lakes, have each 

 been honored with a distinct binominal. The angling authori- 

 ties still refuse to admit that the Lake Trout of the east is 

 identical with the Mackinaw Trout or Namaycush, supporting 

 their views by accounts of their different habits. A careful 

 study of the dead fish is sufficient, however, to convince a 

 trained observer that there are no structural characters by 

 which these different form: may be separated into species. 



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