714 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 570. 



size and form, was composed of pieces of 

 limestone, all of which had been carried there. 

 The vegetable mold, the accumulation of a 

 long period of time, had so filled the inter- 

 vening spaces that the true character of the 

 mound was only revealed when an excavation 

 was made. This mound was between three 

 and four feet in height and about forty feet 

 in diameter. Here we have unquestionable 

 evidence of the work of man. Several other 

 mounds, less than one hundred yards distant, 

 were composed solely of earth and mold sim- 

 ilar to the surrounding area. 



Probably if these small mounds were not so 

 numerous the question of their origin would 

 never have been raised and they would have 

 been considered, together with the larger 

 mounds, as having been made by man, but the 

 question of number should not influence the 

 decision. It is doubtful if the combined bulk 

 of all these small mounds in the Mississippi 

 Valley is more than equal to that of the one 

 great mound of the Cahokia group. 



Without conclusive proof to the contrary, 

 I feel that the most plausible theory of the 

 origin of these small mounds, in Missouri and 

 in other localities where they occur under sim- 

 ilar conditions, is that they were made by 

 man, probably to serve as elevated sites for 

 habitations. D, I. Bushnell, Jr. 



Peabody Museum, 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES. 

 THE LOCH LEVEN TROUT IN CALIFORNIA. 



In the year 1896 the State Fish Commission 

 of California sent to Captain H. C. Benson, 

 acting superintendent of the Yosemite Na- 

 tional Park, five hundred young trout of the 

 species known as Loch Leven trout, Salmo 

 levinensis, to be planted in waters of the park. 

 These were placed in a branch of Alder Creek, 

 near Wawona, where they have been allowed 

 to remain undisturbed until the present year. 



This Loch Leven trout has been usually 

 considered as a valid species, distinct from the 

 other trout of Great Britain, distinguished 

 from the common brook trout, Salmo fario, 

 by the large size, more silvery color, sparsity 



of spots, the red spots and ocelli characteristic 

 of the brook trout, or brown trout, the trout 

 of Izaak Walton, being usually wanting. The 

 orange edge of the adipose fin, characteristic 

 of the brook trout, is wanting in the Loch 

 Leven trout. The mouth in the latter is said 

 to be smaller, and other differences have been 

 pointed out, but the validity of these struc- 

 tural distinctions has been stoutly denied by 

 Surgeon Prancis Day, who has made careful 

 studies of the trout of England. 



This fall. Captain Benson caught some fifty- 

 four fishes from the branch of Alder Creek, 

 derived from this plant of Loch Leven trout. 

 These varied from two to seven inches in 

 length, but to his surprise and dismay, he 

 found them corresponding exactly to the mark- 

 ings of the English brook trout, called Salmo 

 fario, as shown in the figure published by 

 Mr. W. C. Harris. Pour fishes, caught by 

 hand in the brook, he sent to me. They are 

 in fact, so far as one can see, exact represen- 

 tatives in form and color of the common brook 

 trout as seen in the streams of England. The 

 adipose fin is edged with orange. The sides 

 are covered with spots of brown mixed with 

 spots of scarlet, more or less ocellated. These 

 Loch Leven trout in the Yosemite are typical 

 Salmo fario, or brown trout of England. 

 Dr. Day speaks of the Loch Leven trout as 

 changing into ordinary brook trout, when 

 planted in streams of Gloucester or Guildford, 

 the colors of the Loch Leven trout being seen 

 on exceptionally well-fed individuals only. 

 In Australia, according to Day, fine examples 

 of the Great Lake trout, Salmo ferox, weigh- 

 ing twenty pounds have been reared from eggs 

 of Salmo fario, taken in Hampshire and Buck- 

 ingham. Day also notes that ' a Loch Leven 

 trout having been crossed at Howietoun by 

 a salmon-parr, the offspring possessed the 

 orange-tipped adipose dorsal fin which is seen 

 in the young of the sea trout and the brook 

 trout, and it may be asked from whence had 

 such been obtained unless the Loch Leven 

 possessed the blood of one of these races ? ' 

 The case is exactly parallel with that of the 

 common trout of Japan, Salmo masou Bre- 

 voort, which is mature at all sizes from three 



