SALMONID.E. 371 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGIl . SALMONID.E. 



THE LAKE TROUT. 



Salmo Confinis; DeKay. 



Concerning no fish have I seen oocasion so greatly to alter my ex- 

 pressed opinions — founded chiefly on the opinions of others, and, where 

 original, formed from examination of fish taken in the waters of the 

 Eastern States, and in Lakes George and Champlain, in none of which 

 is it either a game fish, or in my opinion a good fish. 



I still doubt greatly whether there be not two distinct species of 

 Lake Trout, one quite peculiar to the small lakes of New York. Cer- 

 tainly I never saw or tasted any Lake Trout similar in appearance, or 

 equal in flesh and flavor, to those which I ate at Geneva, and which 

 were subsequently sent down to me in ice, by my friend Mr. Mande- 

 ville, of that city. 



The description of these fish exactly tallies with the account of the 

 red-fleshed Lake Trout of Hamilton county, where I have never fished, 

 being deterred therefrom by dread of that curse of the summer angler, 

 the black fly, which is to me especially venomous. 



A letter which I insert below, from a capital angler, who has caught 

 this fish in the far-famed Louis Lake, agrees exactly with the charac- 

 teristics of the Seneca Lake Trout, but not with his habits ; as I have 

 the best authority for stating that in Seneca Lake they are never taken 

 either by the fly or by trolling ; although in Crooked Lake, immedi- 

 ately adjoining it, they are constantly caught by trolling for them 

 " with shiners strung upon the hook, and drawn head foremost, with 

 a hook leaded to sink twenty to thirty feet." 



In Seneca Lake they are taken on set lines, varying in depth from 

 twenty-five to four hundred feet, concerning which method more under 

 the head of Lake Fishing. 



The following is an accurate description of one of the fish sent to 

 me from Seneca Lake. It duTers, as will be seen, in many respects, 



