102 AMERICAN FISHES. 



lateral line, and will divide the body into two nearly equal parts, the 

 convexity of the back and belly being also nearly equal. The centre 

 of the dorsal fin is as nearly as possible in the centre of the length of 

 the body ; and the second dorsal fin is equidistant from the posterior 

 extremity of the dorsal, and that of the caudal fin. The origin of 

 the ventral fin is vertically under the origin of the dorsal ; and the 

 origin of the anal equidistant from the termination of the ventral and 

 the origin of the caudal fin. The pectoral fin is about two-thirds the 

 length of the head. 



The pectoral fin has eleven rays, the first dorsal eleven, the ven- 

 tral eight, the anal fifteen, the caudal nineteen. The second dorsal 

 rayless and adipose. 



The head is smooth ; the body covered with small and delicate 

 scales. Teeth on the vomer, the palatine bones, and all the maxillary 

 bones. The head and upper part of the back are beautifully mottled, 

 like tortoise-shell, with brownish green and yellow spots ; the gill- 

 covers silvery, with yellowish and pink glazings ; the sides, about, the 

 lateral line, lustrous metallic bluish gray, with large yellow spots more 

 brilliant than on the back. A double row of vivid vermillion specks, 

 irregular in number, along the lateral line, above and below it. The 

 sides and upper portion of the belly glazed with bright carmine ; the 

 belly silvery white ; the pectoral fins reddish yellow, with a dusky 

 anterior margin ; the ventral fins the same, with the margin blacker 

 and more definite ; the anal fin red, with a broad white anterior mar- 

 gin, and a black lunated streak between the white and red ; the caudal 

 fin purplish brown ; the first dorsal golden yellow, barred and spotted 

 irregularly with jet-black ;.the second dorsal similar to the back. 



Such, briefly, are the characteristics and general appearance of this 

 beautiful and interesting fish, which in every part of the world where 

 angling is resorted to as a sport, and not merely as a mode of obtain- 

 ing subsistence, is the great object of the scientific fisherman's pursuit. 



There is no sportsman, who is actuated by the true animus of the 

 pursuit, who would not prefer basketing a few brace of good Trout, to 

 taking a cart-load of the coarser and less game denizens of the 

 waters ; nor, whether we consider his wariness, his timidity, his ex- 

 treme cunning, the impossibility of taking him in fine and much-fished 

 waters, except with the slenderest and most delicate tackle ; his bold- 



