164 



LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



real characters of the genus, which seems to be distinct from Salvelinus, have not yet 

 been worked out. The Huchen is a long and slender, somewhat pike-like fish, with 

 depressed snout and strong teeth. The color is silvery, sprinkled with small black dots. 

 It reaches a size little inferior to that of the salmon, and it is said to be an excellent 

 food-fish. Little is known of its habits. It has, however, the reputation of being 

 unusually voracious for a salmon. 



The genus Salvelinus comprise the finest of the Salmonidffi, from the point of view 

 of the angler or the artist. In England, the species are known as charr, in contradis- 

 tinction to the black-spotted species of Salmo, which are called trout. The former 



I'IG. lUO. — Hueho hucho, Huchen or Eothfisch, and Salmo fario, European lake trout (upper figure). 



name has unfortunately been lost in America, where the name trout is given indiscrim- 

 inately to both, and, still worse, to numerous other fishes {Cynoscion, 3Iicropterus, 

 Jffexagrammus) wholly unlike the Salmonidse. It is sometimes said that the " Ameri- 

 can brook-trout is no trout, nothing but a charr," almost as though charr were a word 

 of reproach. Nothing higher, however, can be said of a salmonoid than that it is a 

 charr. 



The technical character of the genus Salvelinus lies in the form of its vomer. 

 This is deeper than in Salmo, and when the flesh is removed, the bone is found to be 

 somewhat boat-shaped above, and with the shaft depressed and out of the line of the 

 chevron. Only the chevron is armed with teeth, and the shaft is covered by skin. In 



