49 
important differences in form, size and color, according to 
age, sex, season and habitat. All authorities allude to 
the solid sea-green or dark blue of the back, the yellowish 
sides and the red or orange belly. Benecke and Dalmer 
refer picturesquely to the half-moon tail. As to spots, 
there is endless variety. Some forms have none; some, 
large spots; others, small—yellow, orange and red—and 
singularly, in certain species, each spot is surrounded by 
a white ring or halo. The fins take their color from the 
back and sides, and have the broad white band. The for- 
eign saibling is gregarious, like the Sunapee form; lives 
similarly on crustaceans, worms and fish food, and seeks 
the deepest and coldest waters. The greater the altitude, 
the more intense the coloration and the smaller the fish. 
In Lake Zug the saibling run eight or nine to the pound ; 
in Lake Geneva they are said to attain a weight of over 
20 pounds. The flesh is white or red, which, however, 
makes no difference in the flavor. The foreign saibling is 
taken in nets, or with hook and line; it is eaten fresh or 
smoked. 
Col. Hodge has attempted to prove a dissimilarity be- 
tween the German saibling and the Sunapee charr by cross- 
ing each with our common brook trout, and noticing dif- 
ferences in the markings of the resulting fry. He writes 
me that the eggs of the cross between the German saibling 
and our brook trout are larger than those of the cross be- 
tween the Sunapee awreolus and the brook trout, and that 
there are conspicuous differences in the fry of the two 
hybrids, both of which are fertile. Crossing our brook 
trout with other forms of the foreign saibling would cer- 
tainly give different results again ; so the experiments of 
Col. Hodge cannot be regarded as conclusive beyond estab- 
lishing the fact that the awreolus of Sunapee ts inno way 
connected with the particular form of German saibling 
sent to New Hampshire in 1881; but this is a most im- 
portant fact in the induction of its aboriginality to New 
