REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 63 



Caudal olive, tinged with orange on its lower edge, and profusely 

 spotted with black. Inside of mouth pink; of gill cavity light orange. 



Of the three typical specimens, two have been sent to the United 

 States National Museum, and one remains in the museum of the Leland 

 Stanford, .Junior, University. 



This trout is evidently an off-shoot or descendant of the widely-dis- 

 tributed Cut-throat trout, or Salmo viyhiss, which is found in all the 

 rivers suitable for trout between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky 

 Mountains. It, however, differs from any knowai specimens of any of 

 the many varieties of Salmo inykiss in its pattern of coloration and the 

 absence of the deep red patch between the branches of the lower jaw, 

 from which Salmo mykiss receives its common name — Cut-throat trout — 

 and in the small size of its scales, which are more numerous than in 

 any of the forms of Salmo mykiss. Matters of less importance, Avhich 

 are, however, comparatively distinct, are the presence of white and black 

 edges to the fins, and in the absence of teeth on the hyoid bone. The 

 name Agua honita, suggested for the species, is that of the falls in Vol- 

 cano Creek. 



The earliest record of this trout, is that of Jordan and Henshaw in 

 Appendix NN of the annual report of the Chief of Engineers for 1878, 

 p. 195. 



The specimen collected by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, in 1875, from the 

 South Fork of the Kern River, and No. 17,107 in the National Museum 

 collection, is here referred to, Sahno pleuriticus, Cope. With this refer- 

 ence is the remark, that "the extension of its range west of the Sierra 

 Nevada is rather unexpected. The prevalent theory that most of the 

 species of trout have a narrow local range is hardly supported by a 

 study of our western forms." This trout, Mr. Henshaw^ says, was 

 " abundant in the South Fork of the Kern River, beyond which state- 

 ment nothing can be said of its distribution on the western coast, or of 

 its abundance as compared with S. irideus, the distinctness of the forms 

 not having been recognized at the time of collection." 



On page 195 of the same paper is a reference by Mr. Henshaw to the 

 "■ Golden trout," which apparently belongs to the species here described, 

 although Mr. Henshaw identifies his specimens taken from near Mount 

 Whitney with the Salmo irideus. Mr. Henshaw^ says: 



This is the common Brook trout of the small mountain streams of the Pacific Slope, 

 and up to an altitiide of 9,000 feet it is the rare exception to find a suitable stream that 

 is not well stocked with it. Upon many of them, as the tributaries of the South Fork of 

 the Kern River, these trout are found in very great abundance, each pool and rapid num- 

 bering its finny denizens by the score. They may be taken in any sort of weather, at 

 any hour of tlie day, by almost any kind of bait. During the heat of the day they fre- 

 quent almost entirely the deeper pools, lying under overshadowing rocks or in the shade 

 of some convenient 'log; in early morning or late afternoon they come out and run 

 more into the shallows and rapids, under which circumstances they bite best and furnish 

 the finest sport. Like the average Brook troiit, the species rarely attains any considerable 

 size, ranging from 4 to 8 or more inches in length. Their colors are usually very bright, 

 and for beauty this species takes rank among the foremost of its kind, and has been well 

 called the "Golden trout." In this respect, however, it is subject to the usual variations 

 obtaining in the family, the change of color not only accompanying a difference in 

 locality, Tjut being plainly discernible in individuals taken indifferent parts of the same 

 stream not far distant. In fact, as a specific character, color in this family seems to be 

 at its lowest vakie. The character of the bottom and water itself has miich to do with 

 this, and I remember to have fished in a small rivulet on one of the sub-alpine meadows 

 not far from Mount Whitney, whose sluggish waters flowed over a bottf)m of dark mud, 

 in whicli the color of the troiit simulated very closely its hue; they had lost nearly all 

 the flashing iridescent tints characterizing the same species caught but a few hours 

 iDefore in another stream, and had become dull and somber-hued. Accompanying this 

 change of color was a correspondingly noticeable difference in habits and motions, and 



