136 Thirfx-iiinlli Annual Meeting 



after having declared that the rainbow and steelhead trout were identical, 

 found what is now recognized as a steelhead and he set it up as a distinct 

 species. Dr. Evermann I think even now is inclined to believe that this 

 particular species must lie set off from the common rainbow as well as 

 from the steelhead. 



I am too much engaged in trying to produce and distribute fish to have 

 time to follow the details of the technical study of fishes, but we get 

 eggs from a race of rainbows that cannot be distinguished by external 

 marks from the original rainbow brought from the McCloud River in 

 California. We take eggs as early as December and at some of our 

 stations as late as April, or pretty close to the first of May. 



Now, are there several races of the irideus? I suppose so — some early 

 spawners and others spawning later. We certainly have them, and T 

 think you will find by looking over the records of the early work of tlie 

 New York Commission that the difference was noted as early as 1868 

 or 1869, long before eastern fish culturists had meddled with the rela- 

 tionships of the western fauna. It is an interesting point. I think T can 

 tell the difference between a young rainbow and a young steelhead every 

 time. I may be wrong, hut I think the steelhead is always slimmer, that 

 he has more white margin on his anal fin. and perhaps a white caudal tip 

 which I do not find on the rainbow. 



I am very glad that Dr. Gilbert is going into this subject with the wild 

 fish, for the question will never be settled until a conclusion is reached 

 on virgin ground. As it stands now we certainly have two races of rain- 

 bow trout, and neither one of tliem is tlie same as the steelhead, at least 

 not what I call the steelhead. 



Mr. John W. Titcomb: Mr. Bower's paper has opened my eyes some- 

 what about the rainbows in Michigan. When I was engaged in fish 

 culture in Vermont I supposed from what T had read that the introduc- 

 tion of the steelhead and rainbow into the waters which by deforestation 

 had become warmer in the summer, would be a good plan. But there 

 we encountered the obstacle which usually comes with the warmer water 

 of summer, namely, the extremely cold water of winter. I discovered 

 the rainbow was sensitive to anchor ice, which not only would cause 

 large mortality in hatching but also among the adult fish when little 

 needles of ice were flowing through the water. The rainbows which have 

 been introduced in New England and New York in large numbers for a 

 good many years do not seem to have produced very favorable results. 

 There are today but few streams which have been successfully stocked, 

 and in few of those which have been stocked do the adult fish hold their 

 own by natural reproduction. 



Now, as to the identity of the steelhead and rainbow, I think you all 

 understand that the rainbow of New Zealand is the steelhead of Cali- 

 fornia. It has been thoroughly identified from the source of supply, and 

 is what might be called a sea-run rainbow. I could not see the difference 

 between the steelhead hatched in Vermont and the rainbow hatched in 

 Vermont. If they got mixed I was unable to sort them, although T 

 always imagined the steelhead was a little luore gamy than tlie rainbow. 



