THE SALMON FAMILY. 259 



BACK'S GRAYLING. THE STANDARD-BEARER. 



Thymallus signifer : RICHARDSON. 



Dr. Richardson, in his " Fauna Boreali-Americana," gives 

 not only a glowing description of the exquisite beauty of this 

 fish, but speaks with all the ardor of a true angler of its game 

 qualities. He describes it thus : " Back dark ; sides of a 

 hue intermediate between lavender-purple and bluish-gray ; 

 belly black-gray, with several irregular whitish blotches. 

 There are several quadrangular spots of bluish-gray on the 

 anterior part of the body. . . . The head is hair-brown above ; 

 the cheeks and gill -covers the same, combined with purplish 

 tints, and there is a blue mark on each side of the lower jaw. 

 The dorsal fin has a blackish-gray color, with some lighter 

 blotches, and is crossed by rows of beautiful Berlin-blue 

 spots ; it is edged with light lake-red. The ventrals are 

 streaked with whitish and reddish lines in the direction of 

 their rays. The body is compressed, with an elliptical pro- 

 file The greatest depth of the body is scarcely one- 

 fifth of the total length, caudal included. The head is small, 

 being one-sixth of the total length." 



Dr. Richardson further says : " The Esquimaux title (Hew- 

 look-Powak), denoting 'winglike fin,' alludes -to its magnifi- 

 cent dorsal ; it was in reference to the same feature that I 

 bestowed upon it the specific appellation of Signifer, ' The 

 Standard-bearer,' intending also to advert to the rank of my 

 companion, Captain Back, then a midshipman, who took the 

 first specimen we saw with an artificial fly." 



It appears from the same account that it is found only in 

 cold, clear waters, and delights in the most rapid part of 

 mountain streams. In this it differs from the European 



