120 FISH AND GAME PRESERVATION IN AMERICA 



of a pond (probably we should call it a lake) in the 

 Adirondack. In this water 5000 brook fry trout were 

 planted some years ago by the State. It did not occur 

 to any free fishers to cast angle in this water till one 

 Mr. Witherbee, lucky dog ! went there one morning 

 and secured five beautiful frontinalis, weighing in the 

 aggregate 20^ pounds, an average of over four pounds 

 of which the lusty, shapely forms are displayed in a 

 photograph illustrating Mr. Cheney's paper. Of course, 

 Mr. Witherbee did not keep his success secret; what 

 angler ever does so ? Half more than half the joy of 

 fishing comes in the mollia fandi tempora after a good 

 day. 



' The pond ' (says Mr. Cheney), ' of course, was public water, 

 and at once it was fished without ceasing. One trout of 

 over eleven pounds was taken from it taken, too, without 

 regard to the ethics of fair angling ; and it is more than 

 suspected that even a larger trout was taken from the inlet 

 stream at the spawning season, a trout of thirteen pounds 

 three ounces.' 



Touching these same Salmo fontinalis, or American 

 brook trout, great has been the disappointment experi- 

 enced in this country in attempts to naturalise them, 

 and it is only lately that the adverse condition an 

 insuperable one, it is to be feared has been explained 

 by Mr. Cheney. The fontinalis is not a true trout at 

 all, but a char; and, like our native char, can only 

 thrive in cold water. The mean temperature of most 

 British waters is too high for them, and the result is 

 that of many millions that have been reared and turned 



