238 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



armature of their mouth very clearly pointing out the nature of their food. All that we know 

 positively on the subject, is that in our brook trout, those which inhabit ponds are dark colored 

 externally ; those in clear streams running over sandy bottoms, are bright ; and those which 

 are found in salt or brackish streams, are not only very bright externally, but their flesh has 

 more of the salmon color. In the present species, which is only found in fresh-water streams, 

 not only the colors externally are extremely vivid, but the flesh is of a bright red approaching 

 carmine. 



They are above the average size of the preceding. Out of many taken at difl'erent times, I 

 should be disposed to say that the average weight was about a pound and a half. I do not 

 remember to have seen one weighing four pounds, although I have heard of their weighing more. 



THE LAKE TROUT. 



Salmo confinis. 

 PLATE XXXVni. FIG. 123. 

 The Lake Trout. Doughty, Cabinet of Natural History, Vol. 1, p. 1-15, pi. 13, fig. 1. 



Characteristics. Blackish, with numerous grey spots. Body robust ; comparatively short in 

 proportion to its depth. Caudal fin with a sinuous margin. Length two 

 to four feet. 



Description. Body stout, thicker and shorter than the common salmon. Length of the 

 head to the total length, as one to four and a half nearly. Dorsal outline curved. Scales 

 small, orbicular and minutely striate. The lateral line distinctly marked by a scries of tubu- 

 lar plates, arising at the upper angle of the opercular opening, shghtly concave until it passes 

 over the base of the pectoral fin, when it proceeds straight to the tail. Head flattened between 

 the eyes. Snout produced, and, in aged individuals, with a tubercular enlargement on its 

 extremity. Eyes large ; the antero-posterior diameter of the orbits 1 " 5, and their distance 

 apart 2*5. Nostrils contiguous, patent; the anterior vertically oval, the posterior smaller 

 and rounded. Under jaw shortest, and received into a cavity in the upper. The transverse 

 membrane over the roof of the mouth exceedingly tough and thick ; the numerous curved 

 teeth in the jaws partly concealed by a loose fleshy membrane. Tongue long, narrow and 

 thick, with series of large teeth along the central furrow. Many series of acute teeth on the 

 vomer and palatines. 



The first dorsal fin with its upper margin rounded, subtriangular, arising somewhat nearer 

 the snout than to the extremity of the caudal rays, higher than long ; measuring 4 • 5 in height, 

 and 4-0 along the base. It is composed of fourteen rays ; the first two short, and imbedded 

 in the flesh ; the fourth and fifth rays longest. The adipose fin T long, rounded at the end, 

 scarcely narrowed at the base, an inch long, and placed over the end of the anal fin. Pectoral 

 fins broad and pointed, five inches long, and arising shghtly behind a line drawn from the 

 upper posterior angle of the opercle ; it is composed of fourteen rays. The ventral fins placed 

 nearly under the centre of the dorsal fin, composed of nine rays, and furnished with a thick 



