3o6 GAME FISH OF NORTH AIJERICA. 



Now, as greater variations are found in lake trout which are de- 

 clared to be identical species, we are equally at liberty to call the 

 Salmo sebago a lake trout, or '• sebago trout," as some name it 

 We leave it to those who pay their money, to take their choice, 

 and herewith dismiss the subject. Either conclusion is favored by 

 the facts of its biographical history. Within two years we have 

 taken this fish in Canada where there were no obstructions to 

 its passage to the sea ; and twenty-five years ago we took the 

 same fish in Maine, where obstructions did not then exist, but now 

 do. The argument as to its involuntary- restriction to fresh water 

 therefore has no weight. It would not go to the sea if it could ; 

 it will not when it can. 



While its localities are strangely circumscribed, its geogfraphi- 

 cal area or habitat is certainly not very limited. It is found in 

 Loch Lomond, New Brunswick ; in the Grand Lakes of the St. 

 Croix River, in Union River, and in Sebago Lake, in the southern 

 part of Maine ; in the Sebec Lake and Reed's Pond, near Ellsworth, 

 in Central Maine ; in the Stony Lake Chain, Peterborough County, 

 Ontario, Canada, some eighty miles north of Lake Ontario ; and in 

 Lake St. John, headwaters of the Saguenay, Province of Quebec, 

 where it is locally known as the Wininnish or Ouininnish. It will 

 thus be seen that its range extends over a territory of some three 

 hundred miles square, in which the conditions of its existence vary 

 very much. Hence, to accept the most recent nomenclature of 

 "Salmo salar, var. sebago " as demanded by the savans, would 

 seem whoUy inappropriate, since the fish, so far firom being 

 local to Sebago Lake, in Meune, are widely distributed. In some 

 localities they have direct access to salt water ; in 'others their 

 passage is interrupted. 



As to size, the landlocked salmon vary. In most of the Maine 

 lakes they run from two to four or five pounds, sometimes, how- 

 ever, being taken weighing from ten to fifteen pounds. The 

 Sebago fish, however, is much larger, the mature fish averaging 

 perliaps six to eight pounds. In the upper Saguenay they run 

 about four pounds average, and seldom exceed seven pounds, 

 while in the Stony Lake region, in Ontario, we have seen specimens 

 as heavy as twenty pounds, a photograph of which is in our pos- 

 session. They are invariably taken in the swift current below the 



