148 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



rivers, in the State of Maine, whose fins are bordered on one 

 side with a ray of pure Avhite ; but I know of none which 

 are not definable as Salmo fontinalis, differing only in quali- 

 ty and unimportant superficial marks, generally caused by 

 the distinctive properties of the waters which each family in- 

 habits. Thus the black-mouthed trout of the swampy forest 

 would soon become assimilated to the trout of the saline es- 

 tuaries were they transported thither. Upon this subject 

 permit me to quote from Thomas Tod Stoddart, a very high 

 authority : 



"Of the food and habits of trout I have said comparative- 

 ly little; nor have I called direct attention to what may be 

 termed the cross-breeds, in contradistinction to the true or 

 original breed peculiar to each stream or lake. * * * * 

 I may notice that the cross-breeds to which I refer are simply 

 those which have their origin in the different varieties of the 

 common trout brought into contact with each other at the 

 breeding season, and do not implicate the questionable prod 

 uce, or mule breed, arising from any haphazard connection be- 

 tween the fario and bull trout, or whitling, a connection al- 

 together discountenanced by nature, and not likely to take 

 place. I may also remark that, although cross varieties may 

 for a season, or term of seasons, rival in number the true 

 breed belonging to this or that stream, and threaten to ex- 

 tinguish it altogether, yet there is no fear or likelihood of 

 such a result, the peculiar nature and qualities of the water, 

 aided by the remaining original stock, always. tending to re- 

 instate the breed." This is merely reasserting that the qual- 

 ities of the water ai\(\feed will govern and regulate the color 

 and quality of all trout of the same breed, whether fontinalis 

 or fario. 



The speckled beauty known as- the brook trout has been 

 an exhaustless theme for pastoral poets of all ages. It has 

 afforded recreation for thousands of years to most of the lov- 

 ers of nature throughout the temperate zone of the northern 

 hemispheres. The old and young, the learned and ignorant, 



