JOEDAN ON THE DOLLY VARDEN. 505 



ocean. In the lakes it averages smaller, and in the mountain streams it breeds at a length of six 

 or eight inches. In all these peculiarities it agrees with its near relative, the common Brook 

 Trout of the Atlantic coast. It ranges from the upper waters of the Sacramento to Kamtchatka. 

 on the west side of the Eocky Mountain chain, and for the most part in and west of the Cascade 

 range. From Puget Sound northward it is j^^enerally abundant. It feeds voraciously in the salt 

 water on smelt of various sorts, yoiing Trout, sand lances, shrimps, anchovies, herrings, and even 

 sticklebacks. In fresh waters it probably eats whatever living thing it can get. Nothing is cer- 

 tainly known of their breeding habits. They probably spawn late in the fall in the rivers, and 

 therefore those which are in the sea must be to some extent migratory. They are taken in Frazer 

 Eiver at the time of the eulachon run, but they probably then ascend the river to feed upon the 

 eulachon, and not for spawning purposes. As a food-fish this beautiful species ranks high.' 



167. THE GRAYLING— THYMALLUS TRICOLOR. 



The following essay upon the Grayling is quoted, in a modified form, from Goode's Game 

 Fishes of the United States. 



Discovery. — The discovery of Grayling in Michigan and Montana was a suri)rise to Anjer- 

 ican naturalists, though the areas to which this distribution is restricted are so small that one 

 can hardly wonder at the delay in finding them out. The credit of discovering them is di- 

 vided between Surgeon J. F. Head, United States Army, who lound in 1860, in the head- 

 waters of the Missouri, specimens of the form described by Milner in 1874, under the name 

 Thymallus montanus, and Prof. Manly Miles, of Lansing, Michigan, whose specimens from the 

 Michigan Peninsula were sent, in 18C4, to Professor Cope, and described by him as Thymallus 

 tricolor. A third species occurs in Alaska, and in the rivers empti^ing into the Arctic Ocean. This 

 was first found by Capt. John Franklin's expedition toward the North Pole, in 1819, and called 

 Thymallus signifer, by Sir John Eichardson, who thus describes its discovery: "This very beautiful 

 fish abounds in the rocky streams that flow through the primitive country lying north of the sixty- 

 second parallel of latitude between Mackenzie's Eiver and the Welcome. Its highly appropriate 

 Esquimaux name ('Hewlook-Powak,') denoting ' wing-lik(i,' alludes to its magnificent dorsal, and 

 it was in reference to the same feature that I bestowed upon it the specific appellation of Signifer, 

 or the 'standard-bearer,' intending also to advert to the lank of my companion. Captain Back, 

 then a midshipman, who took the first specimen that we saw with the artificial fly. It is found 

 only in clear waters, and seems to delight in the most rapid parts of the mountain streams." As is 

 implied in these remarks, this species is remarkable for its immense dorsal fin, which is nearly 

 twice as high^ as the body of the fish. 



It is, however, the Michigan Grayling which is at present most interesting to the angler, 

 the others being so remote as to be thoroughly inaccessible. Piofessor Cope's description was 

 printed in 1865, but being expressed in technical terms, and published in the proceedings of a 

 scientific society not generally read by sportsmen, it attracted little attention. Popular interest 

 was first exdted in 1873, by the discussions in "Forest and Stream," and by a letter from Profeshor 

 Agassiz, published extensively in the daily papers, acknowledging the leceipt of two specimens 

 sent to him from New York through the agency of Mr Hallock, who had leceived them fioui 

 Michigan. The subject was then taken up by the newspapers, and the Grayling was soon well 

 known. A name closely associated with the study of the Grayling is the honored one of the late 

 J ames W. Milner. In 1871, Mr. Milner, in company with Mr. D. H. Kitzhugh, of Bay City, Michigan, 

 visited the Jordan Eiver for the purpose of procuring specimens of this fish; but, although many 



' For Pallas^s account, see Gttnther vi, 144. 



