22 TROUT LORE 



upon the back; the salmon trouts are spotted, not 

 vermiculated. The only red-spotted trout in 

 eastern waters with which the angler might con- 

 fuse the char is the so-called German brown, of 

 which the two former statements regarding sal- 

 mon trouts hold true ; also the red spots upon the 

 "Dutchman" are large and nearly always above 

 the median line, splashed on without order, while 

 the spots upon fontinalis are nearly always below 

 the median line, regularly placed, and about the 

 size of a pin-head. Lastly, if still in doubt re- 

 garding a given specimen, just insert your finger 

 in the fish's mouth and your doubts will vanish. 

 In all salmon trouts a double row of teeth run 

 down the central bone or vomer, as the fish-wise 

 call it, while the char boasts of no teeth on the 

 front part of the vomer. The latter fact alone 

 is enough to bear in mind, for it is upon such 

 anatomical differences that the ichthyologists de- 

 pend for identification. 



Every angler has noticed how the color of 

 chars varies from dark to light, even among fish 

 from the same creek, though often there is a like- 

 ness between the fish from any given stream. I 

 know streams from which one seldom secures 

 those dark fish, while from others none but dark 

 fish are taken. I have noticed that slow-moving, 



