96 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



similar to the brook-troiit, closely resembling it in size, form, color, and 

 habits. It is found ahvavs to the westward of the Rocky Mountains, 

 in the streams of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British 

 Columbia. Alaska, and Kamtchatka, as far as the Kurile Islands. It 

 abounds in the sea in the northward, ami specimens of 10 to 12 pounds 

 Aveight are not uncommon in Puget Sound and especially in Alaska. 

 The Dolly Varden trout is. in general, slenderer and less compressed 

 than the Eastern brook-trout. The red spots are found on the back of 

 the fish as well as on the sides, and the back and upper fins are with- 

 out the blackish marblings and blotches seen in Salvelinus fontinalis. 

 In value as food, in beauty, and in gaminess, Salvelinus malma is very 

 similar to its Eastern cousin. 



In Alaska the Dolly Varden, locally known as salmon trout, is very 

 destructive to the eggs of the salmon, and countless numbers are taken 

 in the salmon nets of Alaska and thrown away as useless by the can- 

 ners. In every coastwise stream of Alaska the water fairly ''boils " 

 with these trout. They are, however, not found in the Yukon. In 

 northern Japan occurs Salvelimts pliirius, the Iwana, a species very 

 similar to the Dolly Varden, but not so large or so brightly colored. In 

 the Kurile region and Kamtchatka is another large charr, Salvelinus 

 kundscha, with the spots large and cream-color instead of crimson. 



Cristivomer, THE Great Lake Trout. — Allied to the true charrs, but 

 now placed by us in a different genus, Cristivomer, is the Great Lake 

 trout, otherwise known as Mackinaw trout, longe, or togue {Cristivomer 

 namaycush). Technically this fish differs from the true charr.^- in hav- 

 ing on its vomer a raised crest behind the chevron and free from the 

 shaft. This crest is armed with strong teeth. There are also large 

 hooked teeth on the hyoid bone, and the teeth generally are proportion- 

 ately stronger than in most of the other species. The Great Lake trout 

 is grayish in color, light or dark according to its surroundings; and the 

 body is covered witli round })aler spots, which are gray instead of red. 

 The dorsal and caudal tins are marked with darker reticulations, some- 

 what as in the brook-trout. This noble species is found in all the larger 

 lakes from New England and New York to Wisconsin, Montana, the 

 Mackenzie River, and in all the lakes tributary to the Yukon in Alaska. 

 We have taken examples from Lake Bennett, Lake Tagish, Summit 

 Lake (White Pass), and have seen specimens from Lake La Hache in 

 British Columbia. It reaches a much larger size than any Salvelinus, 

 specimens of from 15 to 20 pounds weight being not uncommon, 

 while it occasionally attains a weight of 50 to 80 pounds. As a food- 

 fish it ranks high, although it may be regarded as somewhat inferior to 

 the brook-trout or the whitefish. Compared with other salmonoids, the 

 Great Lake trout is a sluggish, heavy, and ravenous fish. It has been 

 known to eat raw potato, liver, and corn-cobs, — refuse thrown from 



