46 
water. There are great differences in intensity of general 
coloration, and the females are not usually as gaudily 
tinted as the males. The intermediate types and different 
depths of hue observable in an autumn school recall the 
public promenade in a West Indian city, where all shades 
of transition are found, from pure white to tawny black. 
Those who have seen the flashing hordes on the spawning 
beds, in all their glory of color and majesty of action, pro- 
nounce it a spectacle never to be forgotten. 
Sunapee saibling kept in confinement entirely lose the 
sexual instinct, and with it the wedding garment. So 
sensitive are the females that their removal from the 
spawning beds to the State Hatchery on the opposite shore 
of the lake, only one mile distant, seriously interferes 
with the maturing process, so that it is almost impossi- 
ble to secure eggs, the fish having frequently to be re- 
turned to the water several times during the operation. 
Hence, as far as possible, ripe specimens are selected on 
the natural spawning beds, and there stripped rapidly and 
returned to the lake. Instances are not exceptional in 
which females refuse to part with their eggs and carry 
them over to the nextseason. This tallies with Mr. Chol- 
mondeley-Pennell’s suggestion that some of the Winder- 
mere charr spawn in alternate years. 
Although a vigorous fighter, the white trout is very easi- 
ly injured, the prick of the hook often being followed 
by fatal consequences, especially in young specimens. 
Hundreds are thus unavoidably killed every summer. In 
this respect the Sunapee charr is very unlike the blue- 
back of Maine, of which Commissioner Stanley said : 
“They are a hardy fish, and nearly as tenacious of life as 
the eel or bullhead. I have frequently seen them alive in 
the morning after lying all night on the shore.” 
One other phase of auvreolus life is a marked tendency to 
deformity. Remarkable differences in shape, as well as 
coloration, are normal to the quadroons and octoroons of 
