502 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



DISTRIBUTION. This fish, whether it be regarded as a single species or several related species, 

 is distributed over all of Northwestern Europe, aud possibly also over a portion of Asia, although, 

 since the Asiatic representatives of the genus have not been sufficiently studied, it is impossible 

 yet to make this generalization. They are, emphatically, cold-water fishes, thriving at a temper- 

 ature little above the freezing point, and in their period of greatest vigor and perfection at the 

 approach of winter, as is indicated by the fact that at this time their spawning takes place. 

 No fish of any kind has ever been found nearer to the North Pole than the Char, a species, Salve- 

 linu* (/returns, having been discovered by the last English polar expedition in 12 north of the 

 Arctic Circle. In the south of Europe its range is limited by the Alps, and in this region its study 

 has brought to light a very curious fact which confirms still more strongly the idea just spoken of, 

 that the fish thrive the best in a very cold climate. In the extreme north and in the extreme south 

 this fish reaches its greatest perfection. The northern species, found everywhere in the lakes of 

 the Scandinavian Peninsula and Scotland, is a fish sometimes, it is said, attaining a length of four 

 feet. In England and France and in the lower lakes of Switzerland it is comparatively insignifi- 

 cant, while in the deep, cold Alpine lakes it often grows to two feet or more in length, and 

 weigh ten or twelve, and even, in exceptional cases, twenty-four pounds. The highest development, 

 however, seems to be attained in the largest lakes like that of Geneva while in the shallower 

 lakes, higher up among the mountains, they are smaller. A similar phenomenon is exhibited by 

 certain sub-arctic plants, which thrive in the extreme north and upon the summits of the Alps, 

 becoming dwarfed or almost extinct in the lowlands between. 



It is interesting, too, to compare the effect of temperature, and secondarily of elevation, upon 

 the Saibling and upon our own Red-spotted Trout. This species has its home between latitude 32J 

 and 55. in the lakes and streams of the Atlantic watershed, in the mountain sources of a few 

 rivers flowing into the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, and in some of the southern affluents of 

 Hudson's Bay. In the north, for instance in the valley of the Saint Lawrence, it is common in the 

 lowland streams and estuaries, and even in the adjoining parts of the ocean, and here it attains 

 its greatest development. As we proceed farther south, in accordance with the limitations of 

 temperature, its range becomes more restricted, aud in Southern New England it is only at certain 

 seasons of the year at the approach of winter that they find their way into the lowland streams 

 which are in summer too warm to be endurable, aud at other times they are found near their 

 sources among the hills. On Long Island, however, they are still found in the meadows, and to some 

 extent in the estuaries. Passing to the southward of New York, the natural southern limit of the 

 Salmon, the range of the Trout becomes more and more restricted to the highlands: and although 

 they are found as far south as latitude 32, in the western districts of the Carolinas and the extreme 

 northern part of Georgia, they there occur only at great elevations among the mountains of the 

 Alleghany chain. South of New York they are effectually land locked by the prevailing high 

 temperature of the lowland streams, and are never able to gain access to salt or brackish water. 

 Their supply of food is, consequently, limited, and they are coufined to brooklets among the mount- 

 ains. Although the temperature of this region is usually very favorable, other requisites for high 

 development are lacking, and the species is represented throughout the southern part of its range 

 by diminutive individuals. A similar phenomenon is met with in those instances where the Euro- 

 pean Char exists in the high and comparatively shallow mountain lakes of the Swiss and Austrian 

 Alps. 



In the southern part of its habitat the American Brook Trout finds its environment unfavor- 

 able to ite perfect development ; on the other baud, the European Char meets, in the Alpine 



