370 



THE GRAYLING. 



doubt be ascertained to exist in Northern Wisconsin and the 

 range through to the Pacific. 



The first engraving of this fish ever made was published 

 in that excellent sporting journal, Forest and Stream, of July 

 9, 18/4, from a fish donated by Mr. Mather. On comparison 

 with engravings from English works, of which I have many, 

 it is, no doubt, identical with the fish of the same name of 

 European waters. The engraving in Yarrell's " British Fishes " 

 gives that wavy appearance of the dorsal fin, and the form is 

 similar, with the exception of the American fish being slim- 

 mer toward the tail and a less disposition to fork of the cau- 

 dal fin. In some of the older and coarser engravings the 

 black spots commencing near the gill-covers, and extending 

 as far back as the dorsal fin, are not visible, probably the 

 fault of the engraver. The same defect exists in an engrav- 

 ing in a work on fishing lately issued in this country. 



The sportsman will never get a better, more accurate, nor 

 livelier description than the following by Mr. Mather, taken 

 from the columns of Forest and Stream, describing him in 

 his own liquid element : 



"The grayling has all the fins of a trout; his pectorals 

 are olive-brown, with a bluish cast at the end (I am describ- 

 ing him in the water as I saw him in my ponds an hour ago) ; 

 the ventrals are large and beautifully striped with alternate 

 streaks of brown and pink, the anal is plain brown, the cau- 

 dal is very forked and plain, while the crowning glory is its 

 immense dorsal ; this fin rises forward of the middle of its 

 back, and in a fish a foot long it will be nearly three inches 

 in length by two high, having a graceful curved outline, and 

 from eighteen to twenty rays dotted with large red or bluish- 

 purple spots, which in life are brilliant, and are surrounded 

 with a splendid emerald green, which fades after death ; it 



