GENUS SALl/ELINUS RICHARDSON 



The Charrs 



Body moderately elongate; teeth of jaws, palatines, and tongue 

 essentially as in Salmo, the hyoid patch present or not; vomer 

 .boat-shaped, the shaft much depressed, without raised crest, with 

 teeth on the head of the bone but none on the shaft; scales very 

 small, 200 to 250 in a lengthwise series; fins moderate, the caudal 

 forked in the young, truncate in some species in the adult; sexual 

 peculiarities not strongly marked, the males with the premaxillaries 

 enlarged and a fleshy projection at the tip of the lower jaw. 



The scales of the charrs are, in general, smaller than in any 

 other Salmonidce, and they are imbedded in the skin to such a 

 degree as to escape the notice of casual observers and even of many 

 anglers. 



"One trout scale in the scales I lay 



(If trout had scales), and 'twill outweigh 

 The wrong side of the balances." Lowell. 



Colour, usually dark, with round crimson spots/ the lower fins 

 sometimes with marginal bands of black, reddish, and pale. 



Species numerous in the clear cold streams and lakes of the 

 northern parts of both continents, sometimes descending to the 

 sea where they lose their variegated colours and become nearly 

 plain and silvery. 



The members of this genus are by far the most active and 

 handsome of the trout, living* only in the clearest, coldest and 

 most secluded waters. "No higher praise can be given to a 

 Salmonoid than to say it is a charr." 



As now understood by most ichthyologists this genus is re- 

 presented in America by 4 species and some 6 or 7 subspecies. 

 Perhaps it is just as well to recognize most, if not all, of these 

 subspecies as full species. This is certainly best in all cases 

 where intergrading has not been proved. 



a. Back unspotted, strongly marbled with dark olive or black. 



b. Colour, dark olive; side with numerous red spots; 



fontinalis, 207 



206 



