64 CHECK LIST OF THE 



The Lake Trout is one of the most rapacious of our fishes and will 

 devour almost anything, though its principal food consists of Herrings, 

 young Whitefish, and other soft-finned fishes. It frequents deep waters 

 and is usually taken near the bottom. The spawning season varies some- 

 what according to locality. In Lake Superior it commences early in Octo- 

 ber, while in other lakes it is deferred until November, and continues into 

 December. The spawning grounds are on the reefs of honeycomb rock 

 in from ten to one hundred feet of water. 



There is a great difference of opinion as to its value as a game fish. 

 Some anglers consider it affords a great deal of sport ; others have no 

 regard for it. I agree with the latter, having always found it a heavy, 

 lumpish fish, with no fight in it. Commercially, however, it is of great 

 importance, being always in demand and furnishes an excellent article of 

 food. 



The variety Siscowet (C. n. siscowet) differs from the common Lake 

 Trout in having a deeper body, which is covered with a thicker skin, 

 beneath which is a great development of fatty tissue: The scales are 

 somewhat larger and the colour usually paler. It is most frequently taken 

 in Lake Superior, though examples are sometimes found in Lakes Huron 

 and Erie. 



Genus SALVELINUS. (Charrs.) 



Body moderately elongate ; mouth large or small ; teeth of jaws, pala- 

 tines, and tongue essentially as in Salmo, the hyoid patch present or not ; 

 vomer boat-shaped, the shaft much depressed, without raised crest, with 

 teeth on the head of the bone and none on the shaft; scales very small, 

 two hundred to two hundred and fifty in a lengthwise series ; fins moderate, 

 the caudal forked in the young, truncate in some species in the adult ; 

 sexual peculiarities not strongly marked, the males with the premaxillaries 

 enlarged and a fleshy projection at the tip of the lower jaw. Colouration 

 dark, with round crimson spots, the lower fins sometimes with marginal 

 bands of black, reddish and pale. 



The species of this genus are by far the most active and handsome of 

 the Trout ; and live in the coldest, clearest and most secluded waters. 

 Some of them occasionally descend to the sea, where they lose their varie- 

 gated colours and become nearly plain and silvery. 



(73) Brook Trout. 



(Salvelinus fontinalis.) 



The Brook Trout varies very much in the shape of the body, which 

 is sometimes short and deep and sometimes long and thin. Head large, 

 snout somewhat obtuse ; mouth large ; eye large, somewhat above axis of 

 the body; caudal fin slightly lunate in the adult, forked in the young; 

 adipose fin small and stout. 



