492 NATUEAL HISTOEY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



of eggs from the fisheries on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario to be hatched at Caledonia, ^ew 

 York, for distribution to the lakes in the interior of Kew York. The experiment has lately been 

 made of planting the young fish in running water, as the Susquehanna, etc.; but it yet remains 

 to be seen how they will thrive. The Lake Trout is eminently worthy the attention of States 

 along the Great Lakes, since, with the white-fish, it constitutes by far the most important element 

 in the great fisheries." ^ 



In the fall of 1857 and 1858 a large number of eggs of Salmon Trout were obtained for Salton- 

 stall Lake, in Connecticut, from Lake Ontario. A considerable number of this species, obtained iii 

 Lake Ontario, was introduced into Newfound Lake, New Hampshire, in 1871, by the State com- 

 missioner. The enterprise is referred to more fully in the report of the United States Fish Com- 

 mission.^ 



A minor experiment in hatching Salmon Trout, or Mackinaw Trout (Salmo namaycush), was 

 made by Mr. Samuel Wilmot, of Newcastle, Canada, in 1868. He also obtained a hybrid between 

 a male Salmo solar and a female S. namaycush. The next published records we have of experi- 

 ments are by Seth Green and by N. W. Clark in 1870. Mr. Clark's was with but a few eggs. In 

 an address before the legislature of Michigan he refers to the fact of having young Salmon Trout 

 on exhibition. The quantity of eggs taken by Seth Green that year and hatched was very large, 

 and the fish proving to be a great favorite among the people of the State he has continued to breed 

 it on a large scale, and it has been widely distributed throughout the State. The greatest draw- 

 back in the culture of this species is the difiQculty and danger attending the procuring of the eggs. 

 The spawning places of the fish in the region of the hatching houses are in the open lake, and 

 the time when the ova are ripe is in October, when there are frequent storms, so that going out in 

 an open boat to the nets is a task of hardship and danger, and has resulted, in a late instance, in 

 the loss of six men, one of them Marcellus Holton, an accomplished fish-culturist and the inventor 

 of the Holton hatching-box. There are, however, points on the lakes accessible by steamer, though 

 not contiguous to the breeding establishments, where the salmon-trout spawning grounds are near 

 the shore, and even entirely land-locked from wind and sea.* 



Neither the Mackinaw Trout nor the Siscowet are game fishes in high esteem, though the 

 latter is taken by trolling with a bright- colored fly, with a minnow bait, or a spooI^hook. It does 

 not rise like the Brook Trout, and its play is likely to be sluggish and sulky. It is also taken with 

 a bottom line on grounds which have been previously baited. The Indians of the Sault Ste. Marie 

 display great skill in spearing the Mackinaw Trout through the ice, luring them within reach by 

 means of decoy fishes of wood or lead. By far the largest quantities are taken in pounds and gill- 

 nets in the Great Lakes. 



In Lake Superior Lake Trout are caught principally in September, October, and November in 

 pounds and gill-nets. Formerly they were fished for with hooks only, but of late years this 

 practice has been abandoned by professional fishermen. In the Green Bay region large Trout are 

 caught principally with hooks, though in the western part of the bay and in Oconto Bay many are 

 taken in gill and pound nets in deep water. Those captured in the gill-nets are thought by the 

 fishermen to be meshed, for the most part, while these nets are being lifted ; the Trout dart after 

 the other fish which have been gilled and thus become entangled. In Lake Huron they are 

 caught entirely with gill-nets. They may be taken with hooks baited in the ordinary way, but 

 can hardly be said to afford sport to the angler, since they allow themselves to be pulled to the 

 surface as easily as codfish do. 



'Professor Baird: Report, United States Fish Commission, part ii, p. Ixxii. 

 'Report, IT. S. Fish Commission, part ii, p. 534. 



