SALMONID^E. 101 



seldom found except when, as a very rare exception, one is taken in 

 the drawing the sean in any large rivers. I have never heard a soli- 

 tary instance of a fish being taken either with the bait or the fly, or 

 even with the spinning tackle, in any large stream, unless quite at its 

 head waters, where it is not large. All the Trout which are taken, 

 are taken in what are here called creeks, and what would in Europe 

 be described as large brooks, or small rivers of the sixth or seventh 

 class. In these the run of fish greatly exceeds the dimensions of the 

 little inhabitants of the mountain brooks. This, in addition to other 

 facts, at the knowledge of which we have arrived through the experi- 

 ments recorded heretofore as made in England with regard to the 

 growth of fishes, lead us irresistibly to the conclusion that the use of 

 large expanses of suitable water is necessary to the Trout, in order to 

 their arriving at any great magnitude. 



It is, therefore, quite within the range of possibility, that in the 

 large pure inland lakes, supplied by the limpid springs of the moun- 

 tains, the Brook Trout of America may attain a growth analogous to 

 that of the well-fed and full-grown Trout of the Thames, the Stour, 

 and the Irish lakes ; a growth which the smallness of the streams 

 which they do frequent, and their inexplicable avoidance of the large 

 and navigable rivers, prevent them from acquiring elsewhere. 



I cannot say that I shall be at all surprised should it turn out, on 

 investigation, that the Brook Trout, Salmo FontinaliSj is indeed occa- 

 sionally taken up to the weight of twenty or twenty-five pounds, espe- 

 cially in the waters of Hamilton County, and is now confounded, on 

 account of its size, with the great Lake Trout not equal to it, 

 whether as a fish of game or a table fish of the same waters. 



The Brook Trout proper of America is one of the most beautiful 

 creatures in form, color, and motion, that can be imagined. 



He is slenderly and gracefully formed, though rather deeper in 

 proportion to his length than the Salmon, and far more so than the 

 Lake Trout. 



In a well-grown and well-fed fish, the length of the head to the 

 whole body is about as one to five ; and the length of the whole body 

 to the breadth, at the origin of the first dorsal fin, as four and a half 

 to one. A line drawn from the front teeth to the posterior curve of 

 the gill -cover, which is nearly semicircular, is nearly parallel to the 



