Lake Leven Trout 279 



Over the Lake Leven trout (Salmo levenensis), 

 there has been much discussion by English 

 anglers and ichthyologists, as to its being a 

 separate species from the brown trout, or a land- 

 locked sea-trout (Salmo truttd). No decision 

 has been reached and doubtless never will be; 

 fish inhabit an element in which we cannot exist, 

 hence our knowledge of their traits is mainly 

 derived by stream observation from the banks 

 of the waters, and in the tanks or pens of the 

 fish culturists ; a wild fish, however, roaming and 

 foraging in its native waters, is apt to possess 

 habits widely diverse from those of its imprisoned 

 congener. 



Loch Leven trout were introduced from Scot- 

 land in 1885, and have been widely distributed 

 in the United States, and are now propagated 

 by many state fish commissions with success, 

 the foreign fish spawning about the same time 

 as the red-spotted trout. It is about equal in 

 fighting qualities to our Eastern species, rising 

 well to the artificial fly, with a peculiar qualifi- 

 cation of this habit in its native habitat, where 

 it seems that two trout of distinct colorations 

 exist, one silver and the other yellow. These 

 fish are said to rise to the fly on alternate days, 



