502 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
Francis Francis :— They are more like salmon than the common brown 
trout, and are brilliantly silver in colour, very short and thick in make, and 
weigh heavier for their length than almost any fish I know.” Otago trout, 
of the same species as those referred to by Francis, show great variations in 
colours, and that not confined to age or sex; yet these variations appear to 
be limited. At the same time, they evidently depend on the colour of the 
water and river bottom, mainly; but very little, if at all, on the nature of 
the food-supply. A general feature, and the most noteworthy, is that the 
females, of any age and from any stream, are silvery with black spots, red 
ones seldom present or numerous, while the males are darker, with a 
tendency to yellow on sides and belly, at times very golden, and they have 
always, or nearly always, red spots, sometimes large and numerous. The 
shape of the black spots, always round on the gill covers, shoulders, dorsal, 
and adipose fins, varies on the body from round to rectangular and x-shaped 
towards the tail. The theory that residence in salt water is shown by the 
black spots assuming the x shape, is not altogether borne out by facts. For 
example, trout of both sexes, in such water as the Shag river, Pomahaka, 
and Wakatipu Lake, where there is clear or white water and a light bottom, 
are silvery, and have black spots mostly x-shaped ; indeed I have often seen 
bright silvery females with fine heads and x spots that might easily be taken 
for sea-trout; while the Waiwera and Waipahi Rivers, which have dark 
bottoms, produce trout of the ‘golden variety, with most of the black spots 
rounded in form. The food in these four rivers is much the same. Brown 
trout taken in Otago Harbour show a tendency to acquire x-shaped spots, 
and take on a sea-trout appearance, but not always. On July 2nd, 1883, 
among the trout taken out of the Leith for stripping, we had a beautiful 
silvery female of about 16lbs., which I have no doubt had been resident in 
the harbour; yet the black spots on it, which were large and numerous, 
were of a rectangular shape. During the spawning season the males show 
much brighter colours, and extra red spots appear faintly which at other 
times might not be discernible; white the deciduous scales give place to 
thick fleshy ones. The females, also, at that season, and when young, show 
reddish spots, which might be very hard to distinguish during the summer, 
or when older. The red and some of the dark spots are sometimes beauti- - 
fully ocellated, or surrounded by a lighter ring of colour. The fins, too, 
vary apparently with age and water within certain limits. The adipose 
nearly always has a pink edge or margin; the pectoral fin is generally olive 
brown in adults and olive yellow in young specimens, while the ventral and 
anal fins are of the same hue but lighter, and sometimes almost white. In 
dark individuals the anal and ventral fins have er a white anterior 
margin, 
