VAEIATIONS OF THE LAKE TEOUT. 48'? 



deserves more attention than it has hitherto received. From what we know of the influence of 

 environment upon animals, it need not surprise us to discover that the fishes of each separate lake 

 possess distinctive characters, rising, perhaps, to sub-specific value. No definite proof can be 

 gathered, however, until large series of specimens from each body of water have been examined 

 and compared. 



Lake Teout in the great lakes. — The Lake Trout reaches its greatest perfection in the 

 northern parts of lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, where it is quite generally known as 

 the "Mackinaw Trout." In the lakes of Northern New York the same species occurs, being known 

 by the names "Lake Salmon," "Lake Trout," and "Salmon Trout." This form, which is consid- 

 erably smaller than that of the northern lakes, was described by DeKay under the name Salmo 

 confinis, and was observed by this author as far south as Silver Lake, in Northern Pennsylvania. 

 Still another form is recognized by sportsmen, which, although undoubtedly specifically identical 

 with that of the Great Lakes, has been described under various names, such as Salmo toma and 

 Salmo symmetrica. 



"This fish," writes Lanman,' "is found in all the great lakes of New Brunswick, and in very 

 many of those of Maine, but it is believed not to exist in the lakes of Nova Scotia. It is called by the 

 lumbermen the 'Togue'; the Indians designate it by a name equivalent to 'Fresh -water Cod.' It 

 is found in great numbers and of large size in the Eagle Lakes, at the head of Fish Eiver, in the 

 Saint Francis lakes, from which it follows the river of that name, and in the Matapediac Lake, 

 which discharges itself into the Eestigouche, and in the Miramichi Lake, at the head of that river. 

 In Lake Temiscouata this fish has been taken of the weight of twenty-one pounds. It is there 

 called the 'Tuladi.' It is often taken of the weight of twelve pounds and upwards in the Cheput- 

 necticook lakes, at the head of the eastern branch of the Saint Groix. It has been found of late 

 years that this species of fish exists in considerable numbers in Loch Lomond, twelve mUes from 

 the city of Saint John." 



Hamlin writes : * " This Trout inhabits many of the great lakes and deep mountain torrents of 

 Maine and New Brunswick, but it is believed not to exist in those of Eastern New Brunswick, 

 which singular hiatus in its distribution, perhaps, may be explained by the absence of deeji waters 

 in that country. It haunts the deepest waters, where the Cold or the repose to which it leads 

 favors that development and conservation of fat which is indeed a characteristic, and it steals forth 

 in quiet at the approach of twilight or at early morn to the shoals and the shores in quest of its 

 prey." 



The Winnipiseogee Trout,' somewhat abundant in Lake Winnipiseogee and supposed to occur 

 in Lake George, is also a form of this species, closely related to the Togue. 



The popular and scientific names which have been given to this species are due to the wonder- 

 ful tendency of variation in size, shape, and coloration which this species, like the Brook Trout, 

 exhibits. Every lake in which they occur has its own varieties, which local authorities believe to 

 be quite peculiar. Some are black, some brown, with crimson spots, some gray, with delicate 

 reticulations like those of a pickerel. The usual type to be found in the Great Lakes is brown or 

 gray dappled with lighter shades of the same general tint. Throughout Lakes Superior, Michigan, 

 and Huron the fishermen are generally of the opinion that there are at least two kinds of Lake 

 Trout. It seems probable, however, that they are led by superficial characters, finding it con- 



' Report United States Fish Commission, part 2, p. 2a0. 

 = Ibid., p. 356. 



^ Salmo symmetrica. Prescott: Silliman's Journal, 2d series, ii, p. 340. Report United States Fish Commis- 

 sion, Pt. 2, p. 257. 



