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240 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



The common names I have given will show how widely the mykiss is distributed in 

 the waters of the West. As Jordan and Evermann say of it, "A very widely 

 distributed species, found in all clear streams of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra 

 Nevada, from Kamchatka and Alaska to Chihuahua and Northern California, and 

 often entering the sea. It is exceedingly variable, being subject to many local 

 changes, and its extreme forms show a degree of variation rarely met within the 

 limits of a single species." 



The excellent authorities I have quoted write of the black spotted, steelhead and 

 rainbow, as the "American trout," and it would appear that they were the original 

 pilgrims to our shores and waters, antedating the other and more noted pilgrims whose 

 descendants now wage war against the earlier comers because of their game and 

 toothsome qualities. They say: "It seems not improbable that the American trout 

 originated in Asia, extended its range southward to the upper Columbia, thence to 

 the Yellowstone and Missouri; from the Missouri southward to the Platte and the 

 Arkansas, thence from the Platte to the Rio Grande and the Colorado, and from the 

 Colorado across the Sierra Nevada to Kern River, thence southward and coastwise, 

 the sea-running forms passing from stream to stream as far north as Fraser River 

 where the variety Kamloops would mark one extreme of the series, and re-entering as 

 a distinct species the waters long occupied by typical mykiss" All of which goes to 

 prove that the American trout is a hustler and well named, and it does not make a bit 

 of difference to the average angler whether his genealogy fits the branches of the 

 family tree which the scientists have made for him or not; he is a good fish, a 

 handsome fish and a game fish, even admitting that his pedigree is a little clouded. 

 There may be an objection to an American trout being called mykiss because 

 it is a vernacular name of the species in Kamchatka, but it must be remembered 

 that the United States is not all of America, however much we may think so. 



The typical black spotted trout, Salmo mykiss, has "body moderately elongate, 

 compressed. Mouth moderate, the maxillary not reaching far beyond the eye. 

 Vomerine teeth as usual, set in an irregular zigzag series; teeth on the hyoid normally 

 present, but often obsolete, especially in old examples. Dorsal fin rather low; caudal 

 fin slightly forked (more so in young individuals than in the adult, as in all trout). 

 Back and caudal peduncle profusely covered with rounded black spots of varying size; 

 dorsal, caudal and adipose fin covered with small spots about as large as the nostril; 

 a few spots on the head; belly rarely spotted; inner edges of the mandibles below 

 with a deep red blotch. * * * The red blotches on the lower jaw between 



the dentary bones on the membrane joining them is usually constant and 

 characteristic." Some varieties certainly have no red mark under the jaw, and this is 

 admitted by Gilbert and Evermann in their investigation of the Columbia River Basin, 



