94 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



The only really well-authenticated species of oharr in European 

 waters is the red charr. siilbling, or ombre cheyalier {SaU-elinus alpinva). 

 This species is found in cold, clear streams in Switzerland, Germany 

 and throughout Scandinavia and the British Islands. Compared with 

 the American charr or V)rook-trout, it is a slenderer fish, with smaller 

 mouth, longer fins, and smaller red spots, which are confined to the 

 sides of the body. It is a "gregarious and deep-swdmming fish, shy of 

 taking the bait and feeding largely at night-time. It appears to require 

 very pure and mostly deep water for its residence." It is less tenacious 

 of life than the trout. It reaches a weight of from one to five pounds, 

 probably rarely exceeding the latter in size. The various charr described 

 from Siberia are far too little known to be enumerated here. 



Of the American charr the one most resembling the European species 

 is the Rangeley lake-trout {Salvelinus oquassa). The exquisite little 

 fish is known in the United States only from the Rangeley chain of 

 lakes in w'estern Maine. This is very close to the Greenland charr, 

 Salvelinus stagnalis, a beautiful species of the far north. The Rangeley 

 trout is much slenderer than the common brook-trout, with much 

 smaller head and smaller mouth. In life it is dark blue above, and the 

 deep-red spots are confined to the sides of the body. The species rarely 

 exceeds the length of a foot in the Rangeley Lakes, but in some other 

 waters it reaches a much larger size. So far as is known it keeps itself 

 in the depths of the lake until its spawning season approaches, in 

 October, when it ascends the stream to spawai. 



Still other species of this type are the Sunapee trout, Salvelinus aure- 

 olus, a beautiful charr almost identical with the European species, 

 found in numerous ponds and lakes of eastern New Hampshire and 

 neighboring parts of Maine. Mr. Garman regards this trout as the off- 

 spring of an importation of the ombre chevalier and not as a native 

 species, and in this view he may be correct. Salvelinus alipes of the 

 far north may be the same species. Another remarkable form is the 

 Lac de Marbre trout of Canada, Salvelinus marstoni of Garman. 



In Arctic regions another species, called Salvelinus naresi, is very 

 close to Salvelinus oquassa and may be the same. 



Another beautiful little charr, allied to Salvelinus stagnalis, is the 

 Floeberg charr {Salvelinus arcturus). This species has been brought 

 from Victoria Lake and Floeberg Beach, in the extreme northern part 

 of Arctic America, the northernmost point whence any salmonoid has 

 been obtained. 



The American charr, or, as it is usually called, the brook-trout {Sal- 

 velinus fontinalis), although one of the most beautiful of fishes, is 

 perhaps the least graceful of all the genuine charrs. It is technically 

 distinguished by the somew^hat heavy head and large mouth, the maxil- 

 lary bone reaching more or less beyond the eye. There are no teeth 



