American Fisheries Society. 149 
the species. And as he thought the extreme beauty and game- 
ness, and interesting features of this trout, merited that it 
should receive some protection, he urged that this protection be 
given. In response to these representations the President of the 
United States asked the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries to 
have some inquiries made regarding the golden trout and the 
possibilities of its extermination ; and it was in carrying out the 
commissioner's wishes that I had opportunity to go into this 
region a year ago. 
The Kern River region is exceedingly interesting in its hy- 
drography. There is one large river, the Kings, flowing west ; 
another, the Kern, flowing due south for many miles of its 
course; and bisecting the angle between them, is the Kaweah 
River, flowing to the southwest. We went up the south fork 
of the Keweah River, examining it in different places, finding 
trout, and finally coming to the headwaters of the tributaries of 
the Little Kkern, where we found trout not previously collected 
by anyone. Then we went over the Western Divide of the 
Sierras to Kern Lake, and there obtained specimens of the Kern 
River trout, a species of rainbow that had been known since 
1893, and a very beautiful species it is. From there we went up 
Kern River, crossed it and followed up Volcano Creek, formerly 
called Whitney Creek, on the supposition that it had its head- 
waters on the slope of Mount Whitney, but that was a mistake. 
The name Whitney Creek was then transferred to another 
creek, which rises on the west slope of Mount Whitney, and 
the other creek was given the name “Volcano Creek,” which 
had been applied to it to some extent before, owing to the 
presence of some five or six small volcanic cones along its 
course. From Volcano Creek we went north and followed up 
Whitney Creek to its head and examined other streams and 
lakes further north. 
Kern River flows through an exceedingly deep canyon, hav- 
ing from 2,000 to 4,000 feet of wall on each side. It also flows 
exactly south for a number of miles of its course. The streams 
which come into Kern River from the east and west, come down 
from the high mountain plateau on each side and drop into 
Kern River over considerable falls. In nearly all instances the 
falls are so great as absolutely to prevent the ascent of fishes. 
