REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 93 



huchen is a long and slender, somewhat pike-like fish, with depressed 

 snout and strong teeth. The color is silvery, sprinkled with small 

 black dots. It reaches a size little inferior to that of the salmon, and 

 it is said to be an excellent food-fish. In northern Japan is a similar 

 species, Hucho blackistoni, locally known as Ito, a large and handsome 

 trout with very slender body, reaching a length of 2^ feet. It is well 

 worthy of introduction into American and European waters. 



Salvelinus, the Charr. — The genus Salvelinvs comprises the finest 

 of the Salmonidee, from the point of view of the angler or the artist. In 

 England the species are known as charr or char, in contradistinction to 

 the black-spotted species of Salvia, which are called trout. The former 

 name has unfortunately been lost in America, where the name " trout" 

 is given indiscriminately to both groups, and, still, worse, to numerous 

 other fishes (Micropterus,, Hexagrammos, Cynoscion, Agonostomus) 

 wholly unlike the Salmonidx in all respects. It is sometimes said that 

 "the American brook-trout is no trout, nothing but a charr," almost as 

 though "charr" were a word of reproach. Nothing higher, however, 

 can be said of a salmonoid than that it is a "charr." The technical 

 character of the genus Salvelinus lies in the form of its vomer. This is 

 deeper than in Salmo; and when the flesh is removed the bone is found 

 to be somewhat boat-shaped above, and with the shaft depressed and 

 out of the line of the head of the vomer. Only the head or chevron is 

 armed with teeth, and the shaft is covered bv skin. 



In color all the charrs differ from the salmon and trout. The body 

 in all is covered with round spots which are paler than the ground 

 color, and crimson or gray. The lower fins are usually edged with 

 bright colors. The sexual differences are not great. The scales, in 

 general, are smaller than in other Salvionidx, and they are imbedded 

 in the skin to such a degree as to escape the notice of casual observers 

 and even of most anglers. 



" One trout scale in the scales I'd lay 

 (If trout had scales), and 'twill outweigh 

 The wrong side of the balances." — Lowell. 



The charrs inhabit, in general, only the clearest and coldest of 

 mountain streams and lakes, or bays of similar temperature. They are 

 not migratory, or only to a limited extent. In northern regions they 

 descend to the sea, where they grow much more rapidly and assume a 

 nearly uniform silvery-gray color. The different species are found in 

 all suitable waters throughout the northern parts of both continents, 

 except in the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin, where only the black- 

 spotted trout occur. The number of species of charr is very uncertain, 

 as, both in America and Europe, trivial variations and individual pecul- 

 iarities have been raised to the rank of species. More types, however, 

 seem to be represented in America than in Europe. 



