Fishes of Massachusetts. 431 
common to find them in the wells of the vicinity 
of Sandwich, living for years, and attaining a large 
size. These Sandwich fish are really delicious, as 
my good friend has given me an opportunity of test- 
ing at my table; still, upon à careful examination, 
they answer most perfectly to Mitchell's description 
of the “ fontinalis,” and do not at all correspond 
with the descriptions of the “ salmo trutta,” salmon 
trout. The largest of my three specimens is fifteen 
inches in length, nearly as large again as this spe- 
cies is usually met with in our market from the 
neighboring brooks; and they not only differ some- 
what in appearance from the smaller specimens, 
but also from each other. Thus, in one of the spe- 
cimens before me, the abdomen, between the ori- 
gin of the pectorals and the ventrals, is a pure 
white; in a second, it is a yellowish white; and 
in the largest, the whole extent of the lower portion. 
of the sides, is a beautiful orange color, and the abdo- 
men a dark fuliginous. 
OswERUs.  Artedi. 
Generic characters. Body elongated, covered with 
small scales; two dorsal fins, the first with rays, 
vertical line under the commencement of the first dor- 
the second fleshy, without rays; ventral fins in a 
sal fin ; teeth on the jaws and tongue very long, two 
distinct rows on each palatine bone, none on the 
vomer, except at the most anterior part ; branchioste- 
gous rays 8. 
