140 Thirty-ninth Annual Meeting 



rainbow trout, and they cannot get away except to run up tlie tributary 

 streams for spawning, whicli they do. We are told also that rainbows 

 stay in some streams from which they could escape, but instead they 

 remain and multiply and furnisli good fishing. For example, rain1)ow 

 trout were introduced in Great River, Long Island, by the Southside 

 Sportsmen's Club about as early as they were anywhere in the State of 

 New York. The club tired of them and concluded to let them go to sea. 

 They went, but kept coming back to the river during spawning season, 

 even trying to spawn in the waters of the club, and now the members 

 would not part with the rainbows for anything, for they have as fine 

 rainbow trout fishing as could be desired. 



Mr. Titcowb: Why should you choose rainbows in a certain lake in 

 preference to the native trout? Is there something about the lake which 

 makes it better fitted for the rainbow than for the native trout ? 



President: Keuka Lake is a great body of water for lake trout. It is 

 not suitable for brook trout so far as I know. 



Mr. Titcomb : You would not introduce rainbows in a lake where 

 brook trout thrive? 



President: I don't know. It has been done very successfully in some 

 waters, in Adirondack lakes, for instance. Mr. Woodruff also has them 

 in his private lake and he is very fond of them. He continues to intro- 

 duce them along with the brook trout, raising them both in his hatchery. 



Dr. Evermann: It seems to me that there is some danger in reaching 

 or drawing any positive conclusions from an observation on domestic 

 rainbows and steelheads. I presume it is true that the domesticated rain- 

 bows in the various fish hatcheries of the country, or that have lieen 

 planted in various streams in the east, have come from several sources ; 

 some are the descendants of fish that first came from the San Francisco 

 region, the home of the original rainbow, while others are from up the 

 Sacramento. The latter may have been either the Shasta or the Stonei 

 species or sub-species. So it is quite probable that the domesticated 

 rainbows of the country have come from at least three diflferent sources, 

 and are the descendants of at least three different species or sub-species. 

 Now, the same is probably true of the steelheads. Steelhead eggs have 

 licen brought from the Columbia River and from Baker Lake in Wash- 

 ington, and perhaps other places. Whether or not it is the same steel- 

 head throughout all of the west coast is still a question. 



I quite agree with Dr. Bean that if you should look at the rainbows of 

 Alaska and the steelheads of Alaska and had your eyes half open, you 

 would be loath to admit that they were one and the same species ; so 

 that it goes back to the statement made a few moments ago regarding the 

 line along which Dr. Gilbert is working. He does not propose to base 

 liis conclusion, or his only conclusion, upon an examination and com- 

 parison of the rainbows and steelheads of California in tlie Santa Cruz 

 region, but will consider those of the Sacramento and farther up the 

 coast. I think he is in the Puget Sound region now, and will eventually 

 go to x-Xlaska, which is one of the best fields for his work l)ecause there 

 the strains are still pure. Fish culture has not come in and upset things 



