THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN TROUT. 



BY G. O. SHIELDS [Coquino). 



It is popularly supposed that there are many species of 

 Trout in our western mountain streams and lakes, but, in 

 fact, all the Trout found in waters west of the Missouri River 

 may be referred to three species. These are (a) the Rocky 

 Mountain Trout, Salmo purpuratus, also variously known 

 as the Salmon Trout, the Yellowstone Trout, the Lake 

 Trout; (b) the California Brook Trout, Salmo iridens, other- 

 wise known as the Rainbow Trout, the Sierra Nevada Trout, 

 the Lake Tahoe Trout, etc., and (c) the Rio Grande Trout, 

 Salmo spilurus. 



It is not strange that even close observers, who are not 

 experts in ichthyology, should be misled in judging of these 

 fishes, for individuals of any given species vary so under vary- 

 ing conditions as at times to require the most careful scru- 

 tiny of the expert to place them in their proper class. For in- 

 stance, a fish-dealer in Tacoma an intelligent, well-informed 

 man by the way told me that there were five distinct species 

 of Trout in the waters thereabouts, and proceeded to select one 

 of each from his stock and explain its peculiarities. He called 

 them the Salmon Trout, the Sea Trout, both of which he 

 said were caught in Puget Sound; the Puyallup Trout, taken 

 only from the lower Puyallup River; the Bull Trout, found 

 in all the streams flowing into the sound, and the Glacier 

 Trout, that he said was found only in the head-waters of 

 streams flowing out of the Mount Tacoma glaciers. 



When one of each was ranged on the board, the variety of 



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