SALMO. 143 



yellow to the belly and fins, which become hered- 

 itary characters." 



Like the adult children of one family, one is 

 tall, another is a dwarf, a third is fat, a fourth has a 

 dark complexion, a fifth has red hair, a sixth blue 

 eyes, — the seventh excellent front teeth, — the 

 eighth good grinders, but imperfect incissors, the 

 ninth is lean, and the tenth differs from all the rest 

 — and yet they sprang from the same parents, — 

 the same blood circulates in their veins, at one ta- 

 ble they subsist on the same food, — and still no 

 two present the same external character, but why 

 they do not, is a mystery wholly beyond elucida- 

 tion ; such is precisely the case with the fresh wa- 

 ter or semi-marine trouts. 



England is famous for its trout, and for the va- 

 riety too, but after all, we have in the United 

 States an equally imposing catalogue, under differ- 

 ent names. 



But to the point ; — the common trout of Mas- 

 sachusetts is from eight to twelve inches long, — 

 dotted on the back, with brownish spots, — shaded 

 by a paler circle. On the gill covers is a broad 

 spot ; the under jaw is the longest ; the soft rayed 

 fins tinged with yellow, and on the sides of the 

 body are red spots. 



Hunchen Trout, — Salmo Hucho. Resem- 



