HABITS OF THE OUANANICHE 25 



Those who have had opportunities for observation, 

 and the necessary knowledge for even the most ele- 

 mentary comparative study of the ouananiche, need 

 no other authority for the statement that it is a per- 

 fect salmon of the well-known Salmo salar variety. 

 But so much absurd imagination has been indulged 

 in respecting the fish by many who have never seen 

 it, and so much arrant nonsense written by others, 

 who having seen it have contented themselves with 

 wild speculation rather than careful observation, that 

 it was deemed advisable to have an unassailable pro- 

 nouncement from undoubted authority upon the cor- 

 rect classification of the fish. And so it came about 

 that in the autumn of 1893 I forwarded fresh speci- 

 mens of the Lake St. John ouananiche for identifica- 

 tion to Professor Samuel Garman, of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass., who gives 

 the result of his examination of them in the follow- 

 ing interesting letter : 



"MY DEAR SIR, After a considerable but unavoidable delay, 

 which it is hoped you will kindly pardon, your fishes are taken in 

 hand. They arrived in good condition, some of the ice remaining. 

 As you suggested, a couple of tests were prepared in the kitchen. 

 Whether it was boiled and eaten with sauce or broiled, all present 

 at the table concurred in the opinion that the Lake St. John ouana- 

 niche was delicious. The flesh was not so fat or so red as that of 

 the Salmo salar we are used to having from the sea. Less of the 

 oiliness was, to my own taste, rather in its favor. The deeper pink 

 of the meat and the difference in flavor and in fatness of the marine 

 specimens is due to the difference in the food supplies. 



" Now in regard to specific identity : I see nothing by which to 

 distinguish the fish of Lake St. John from Salmo salar as represented 

 by specimens from New Brunswick and Maine, or other New Eng- 

 land States. It may prevent misunderstanding if it is explained 



