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REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



which are equal to the same thing are no longer equal to one another, there is no 

 varietal difference whatever between the so-called variety Sebago and the ouananiche 

 of Canadian waters. Agassiz, too, in 1875, examined the ouananiche with Boardman 

 and Putnam, and declared it to be identical with the so-called land-locked salmon of 

 Maine. 



In the " Book of the Ouananiche" I have referred to the various points of dissimi- 

 larity' in appearance, manners or size that are'cited and relied upon by those who deny 

 the absolute identity of the salmon of the sea, its congener of the Maine lakes, and the 

 Canadian ouananiche. In some of the American lakes I understand that it has been 

 taken almost equaling in size the adult saltno salar of many a well known salmon 

 stream. In Canadian waters, though there are stories of heavier fish, I have never 



known of a larger ouananiche than eight pounds, and those of this size are somewhat 

 rare. If they occupied less rapid water, or periodically left their fresh water habitat 

 to fatten upon the ocean feeding beds of their anadromous kith and kin, much of the 

 difference in size between these latter and the fresh water fish would doubtless dis- 

 appear in a few generations. I am thus led to wonder what results might follow the 

 efforts of fish culturists to improve the size of the Canadian fish and the game 

 qualities of the American land-locks, by either crossing the two, or by breeding 

 either or both with salmon from the sea. Where access to the sea is open, as in all 

 Canadian ouananiche waters, there might of course be danger that the habit of 

 anadromy would be transmitted to the product of a union between salmo salar and 

 ouananiche. In the case of the latter fish, a cross with the Maine fresh water salmon 



