SALMONID^E. 27 



inhabiting a muddy pond where pickerel, bull-heads and 

 slimy eels do congregate, and whose food are the slugs and 

 decaying animal and vegetable deposits on the bottom. Even 

 in waters which flow through cedar and tamarack swamps 

 or boggy meadows, the flavor of the trout is much impaired. 

 No matter in whatsoever locality he may abide, unless it has the 

 gravelly bottom and the clear cold water of the secret spring" 

 or dashing stream, the trout will become degenerate, and bear 

 the traits and marks of the evil company he keeps and the 

 unhappy place he calls his home. It is these varying marks 

 of body and tints of flesh, produced by extraneous causes, 

 that so greatly confuse the attempts to determine and classify 

 the apparent varieties of the Salmo family. 



V. 



That very cautious and well-informed student, William 

 H. Herbert (Frank Forrester), speaking of the results of 

 careful scientific investigation, covering a period of many 

 years, remarks that " many varieties of Salmonidae which were 

 formerly supposed to be truly distinct, have been proved to 

 be identical, and many new species discovered. * * * 

 Even in so circumscribed a territory as Great Britain, every 

 water of which has been explored, and, it may be presumed, 

 almost every fish submitted to the examination of scientific 

 men, great doubts yet exist concerning many forms, whether 

 they are absolutely distinct, or merely casual varieties, inca- 

 pable of reproduction." 



Since these words were written, twenty-two years ago, very 

 little additional light has been shed on the subject, and little 

 information gathered, excepting as regards the newly explored 

 territory of our new Northwest and the Pacific coast. In this 

 latter region the number of supposed distinct varieties is as- 

 tonishing. Vast numbers -of fish differing in anatomical pe- 

 culiarities, species, and color, and changing much with age, 



