RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 54I 



fact, the small size was the chief difference. Dr. Bean mentioned one additional character; 

 that is, the difference in the gill rakers, which in the blueback were always straight 

 and in the Sunapee fish usually more or less curled and distorted. But this character 

 does not obtain in the small Sunapee fish, and in the large blueback they are frequently 

 as distorted as in the Sunapee fish. Indeed, it is a difficult matter to distinguish a large 

 blueback from a white trout after it has been preserved in alcohol for some time, or 

 even when fresh. The writer, some years ago, suggested that the differences were 

 ontogenetic. Such differences as exist as shown by the specimens examined are shown 

 in the description of the blueback. 



The white trout has been found also in Dan Hole Pond, N. H., Floods Pond, Me., 

 and Averill Pond, Vt. Its discovery in these ponds precludes the necessity of going to 

 Europe to account for its presence in Sunapee Lake. It seems unaccountable to many 

 that the fish could have existed always in Sunapee, fished so much as it was, and not be 

 detected before. As a matter of fact, this is not an unknown phenomenon. While 

 the ponds subsequently found to contain white trout were perhaps not fished quite as 

 generally as Sunapee, yet they were probably fished as much by the inhabitants about 

 its shores, who, doubtless, did not distinguish the fish from the common trout, at least 

 only to the extent of considering it a peculiar form of the latter. 



The white trout is a rich and savory fish for the table, being fat in season, to whjch 

 its flavor is apparently due. It is caught mainly by plug fishing with live bait and cut 

 bait and very occasionally with worms. Not infrequently it is taken by trolling, but 

 with a deep line as a rule. The best bait seems to be the smelt, which was introduced 

 into Sunapee Lake and has always existed in Floods Pond. It is sought by still or 

 plug fishing in about 80 or 90 feet of water in Sunapee Lake and about 30 to 40 feet 

 in Floods Pond (in June). The fact that it is a deep-water species would in part accovmt 

 for its being seldom observed by the old inhabitants. 



It is said to attain a weight of 10 pounds in Sunapee Lake, but a fish of 5 or 6 

 pounds in recent years is a monster. 



In 1903" or 1904 white trout were planted in Mooselucmaguntic Lake, according 

 to the report of the United States Bureau of Fisheries for that year. It is not known 

 with what results; and probably should one or more be caught it would be considered 

 another big blueback, to go on record as that species caught on a hook, which is a rare 

 occurrence. It is unfortunate that the fish was planted in these waters, for it will con- 

 fuse the history of the blueback, which, if not quite extinct, might increase in numbers 

 again, and new reports of bluebacks will not be positive. 



BROOK TROUT (Salvelinus fontinalis). 



This char is everywhere in Maine the trout or brook trout par excellence. It is 

 naturally peculiar to eastern North America. In Canada it occurs in many streams 

 and tributary waters of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence as far north at least as Hamilton Inlet on the Labrador coast. Its northern 

 limit is not definitely known, but it is restricted on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and 

 it extends southward in the Alleghenies to headwaters of streams in the mountains 

 of Georgia and Alabama. 



o There is an element of doubt attached to this record. The late State Conrmissioner Brackett wrote in reply to an inquiry 

 regarding it, made about the time the record was first published, that he had no knowledge of any such plant. It is possible 

 that it was an error in copying locahties when the report was prepared. 



69571°— 18 35 



