EAINBOW TEOUT AND ITS COUSIlJfS 



New trout are constantly being discovered or produced. I 

 am almost convinced that I foimd a new silver trout ia Klamath 

 Lake, as Professor Snyder did in Tahoe. Just how a new species 

 is discovered may be of interest to the angler reader. I wrote 

 to Dr. Snyder, of Stanford University, regarding my alleged silver 

 trout, and in his reply occurs the following : 



' It is barely possible that the fish which you caught is a relative of 

 the silver trout which I have just named, and my reasons for suspecting 

 that, are not altogether without foundation. I do not know any good 

 reason for supposing that it is not a steelhead except that I can see no 

 trace of spots on the fins or body. Nor does it look Hke my new species, 

 as that has small pointed fins that are comparatively weak, not looking 

 hke the fins of a fish that is accustomed to stem the current of a river. 

 However, when the description of that fish reaches you, you wiU no doubt 

 be able to decide as to whether it comes anywhere near fitting the trout 

 which you caught. I should Hke nothing better than to spend some time 

 on Klamath Lake and the rivers near by studying the fishes. I made a 

 trip to the lakes of Oregon that He east of the Klamath basin once and 

 foimd them of great interest. Perhaps you have read my report on their 

 fishes. 



' I have read a great many of your fish stories and so I shall have to 

 teU you how I came across the new trout which I have mentioned. The 

 Msheries Bureau commissioned me to make as thorough a study of the 

 fishes of the streams and lakes connected with the ancient Lake Lahontbn 

 as possible. I was somewhat famiHar with the species of the region in so 

 far as one might so become with the aid of books and a few specimens, 

 and so set out with a good assistant to catch what we might from the 

 streams and lakes. On such quests I have found it a good plan to listen 

 to aU the stories and general information about fishes that I can draw 

 from the anglers and fishermen that I meet. They aU have their ideas 

 about the number and kind of species in the waters that they fish, and I 

 find it especially profitable to make mental comparisons of what they say 

 and what the books have led me to look for. Now up there I constantly 

 ran across references to a beautiful silver trout, and the various descrip- 

 tions that I got, aU boiled down and carefuUy filtered, made a decoction, 

 the properties of which lead me to feel ce!rtain that a species of trout of 

 which we knew very Httle might be found in the region. So we made a 

 camp on Lake Tahoe and remained three weeks fishing and watching the 

 catches of better fishermen than oiurselves but with no better results 

 than a stiU firmer conviction that something would yet tura up. I had 



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