HABITS OF THE OUANAN-ICHE 83 



foliage of the bursting buds, from the darkest views 

 of the deepest holes that it frequents — the olive and 

 bronze of the floating water weeds and the gray of 

 the surrounding rocks, to the silver sheen of the moon- 

 beams, the white-topped rapids, and foam-flecked, eddy- 

 ing pools. 



Mr. Charles Hallock's descriptioii of a five -pound 

 ouananiche — a July fish, which appeared in the 

 American Angler of July, 1889 — is as follows : " His 

 belly was silvery white, sides gray, and back black 

 as ink. He had round black spots on his gills, XX 

 marks on his sides and shoulders, and a combination 

 of both on his body. Head, 1 to 6 in proportion 

 to length of body ; dorsal fin, 13 ; ventral, 9 ; anal, 

 9 ; pectoral, 15 ; caudal, 21." 



The unreliability of considering alone the number 

 of fin-rays in the determination of species is well il- 

 lustrated in the case of the ouananiche. In his Fish- 

 ing Tourist, published in 1873, Mr. Hallock, at page 

 179, gives the number of rays in the first dorsal fin 

 of both ouananiche and landlocked salmon as 17. 

 This is probably, however, a mistake, the usual num- 

 ber being 13, as given by him in 1889, though Mr. 

 Creighton gives 12 to the Lake St. John fish and 11 

 to its congener of Labrador. The author has counted 

 12 rays in the dorsal of a skin brought to him by 

 Mr. A. P. Low from the Hamilton Eiver, in the in- 

 terior of Labrador, and 13-14 in the Lake St. John 

 fish examined by him ; the other fins usually giving 

 him : pectoral, 13-14 ; ventral, 9 ; anal, 10 ; caudal, 24. 

 Mr. Creighton found : pectoral, 14 ; ventral, 9 j anal, 

 9-10 ; caudal not given. 



