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KKPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



tried to classify these Western trout, ;i specimen of this malma was 

 senl in from the Upper Soda Springs, on th<' Sacramento River, near 

 the foot of Momil Shasta. The landlady at the Soda Springs said of it: 

 ""Why, thai is ;i regular Dolly Varden!" So Professor Baird said to 

 me: '' Why not call it Dolly Varden trout?" And Dolly Varden trout 

 it has remained to this day. 



As it appears in the rivers, the Dolly Varden is one of the most 

 beautiful of all trout. Dark steel-blue above, with round spots of 

 crimson on its sides and over its back, while its fins are trimmed in 

 front . as in chars generally, with crimson and white. The Dolly Varden 

 is found in the McCloud and other tributaries of the Upper Sacra- 

 mento. It is more plentiful in the Upper Columbia, always in cold, 

 clear waters. It is still more abundant in all the shorewise streams 

 of Alaska and across the Aleutian Islands to the coast of Kamchatka. 



DOLLY VARDEN* TROUT— Salvelinus malma Walbaum. 



and it is equally plentiful in northern Japan. From Puget Sound 

 northward it runs down to the sea, where it loses its spots and becomes 

 nearly plain silver-gray. In Alaska it is called Salmon trout; in 

 Washington, Bull trout, but the name Dolly Varden can be used 

 anywhere. 



Its size depends on its food. It may weigh, when mature, anywhere 

 from six ounces to twelve pounds. The little ones are brightest in 

 color. In the little brook which falls into Captain's Harbor at Una- 

 laska are multitudes of bright little Dolly Vardens, mature at six 

 inches. In the harbor below the falls are plenty of sea-run fishes of 

 the same sort weighing ten pounds. In Kadiak the Dolly Varden is 

 caught in the seine by the ton and thrown away by the salmon 

 fishermen. 



The Dolly Varden is much more voracious than the true trout. In 

 the Alaska streams they devour millions of salmon eggs, as well as 

 \oung salmon. It is the greatest enemy the salmon breeder finds. It 



