122 AMERICAN FISHES. 



rely as well on his kindness in supplying me with any information ha 

 might possess on the subject, as on his skill and thoroughness as a 

 sportsman and fly-fisher, and his science as an icthyologist. 



He obligingly replied to me at length, beside sending me a highly 

 valuable report on the Fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, fully 

 confirming my opinion of the existence of this noble and sporting fish 

 in the Province. 



Without farther comment I proceed to lay his observations before 

 my readers, premising only, that while they fully prove the identity 

 of the New Brunswick White Trout with the Salmon Trout of Yarrel, 

 Salmo Trulta, and distinguish it from the Brook Trout, whether Eng- 

 lish or American, Salmo Fario, or Salmo Fontinalis, they show some 

 remarkable differences in habit from the same fish in the British Islands. 



" You will perceive," says Mr. Perley, " that, under official orders, 

 I have been compelled to go into natural history ; and that you may 

 see the whole, I send some reports printed in 1847, including one fon 

 the Forest Trees of New Brunswick. I procured the second edition 

 of Yarrel, when in London last year, and the beautiful supplement 

 containing the plates of the Salmon, from the little Parr up to the 

 grilse of two years, all of which I have been compelled to study. 



" The White Trout of the gulf of St. Lawrence, is precisely simi- 

 lar to th« Salmo Trutta of Yarrel. The drawing of Vol. II.; p. 77, 

 second edition, is a very good representation of our White Trout. In 

 June, when in the finest condition, they are somewhat deeper than 

 there represented " — the cut at the head of this paper is a fac similie 

 of the plate in Yarrel alluded to by Mr. Perley — " the shoulder is 

 then exceedingly thick ; the head, especially in the female, is very 

 small. I never heard of any weighing more than seven pounds. I 

 have never seen a White Trout on this side of the province, or any- 

 where except within the gulf. They are of delicious flavor when new- 

 ly caught, the white curds lying thick between the bright pink flakes ; 

 and they do not cloy like the Salmon. 



" Many of the common Trout, Salmo Fario' 1 '' — Fontinalis ? — 

 " also visit the mixed water of the estuaries, and very likely go out to 

 sea. They then acquire a peculiar silvery brilliancy, and their con- 

 dition becomes greatly improved ; but they cannot be mistaken, even 

 then, for the White Trout. They are a longer fish — their heads are 



