JAN. 26, 1888.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



9 



fox and Mirer 



Angling Talks. By Geo. Dawson. Price 50 cents. Fljl- 

 Bods and Fly-Tackle. By H. P. Wells. Price $.3.50. Fly- 

 Fishinq and Fly-Making for Trout. By J. M, Keene. 

 Price $1.50. American Anglers' Book. By Thad. Norris. 

 Price $5.50. 



NOTES ON THE SUNAPEE TROUT. 



A SUPPOSED NEW SPECIES FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



ON Oct. 81, 1885, Colonel E. B. Hodge, Fish and Game 

 Commissioner of New Hampshire, sent to the Na- 

 tional Museum a fresh trout from Sunapee Lake weigh- 

 ing 5^1bs. On Dec. 10, 1886, he sent several more large 

 specimens from the sarne lake. It was stipposed at first 

 that this trout is most closely allied to the blueback of 

 Maine, but as our specimens of oquassa were uniformly 

 smaller than any of the Sunapee fish no satisfactory com- 

 parison could be made at the time. 



During the summer of 1887, however, Dr. John D. 

 Quackenbos obtained three young specimens of the Sun- 

 apee Lake species and Colonel Hodge added another some- 

 what larger. The longest of the young trout sent by Dr. 

 Quackenbos measured about 7in. I have compared it 

 carefully with bluebacks from Maine of about the same 

 size and find some differences which 1 had not observed 

 before. 



I have all along believed that the Sunapee Lake Salvc- 

 linus without mottled fins is identical with oquassa. It 

 is possible that the identity of the two forms will yet be 

 established, but so far it has been impossible to obtain 

 specimens of the blueback from Maine which show a per- 

 fect agreement with the large individuals found in Sun- 

 apee. 



The National Museum has numerous small examples of 

 the blueback, the largest of which is about ten inches 

 long. One significant fact which I have not seen recorded 

 is that all of our bluebacks show very distinct parr marks 

 and are consequently young. It is true that bluebacks 

 begin the reproductive act before they have reached a 

 length of ten inches, but the number of eggs in trout of 

 that size is always small, about fifty to one hundred, and 

 parr marks are always present. In my opinion the blue- 

 back reaches a large size. In a pamphlet entitled "Down 

 East Latch Strings," published at Boston by the Boston 

 & "Maine Railroad in 1887, page 119, will be found an illus- 

 tration of a species of Salveliniis caught in Lake Moos z- 

 lucmeguntic, Maine, which measured 28|in. in length 

 and weighed 10 gibs. It is highly probable that this trout 

 was not fontinalis, and it may have been the blueback; it 

 shows a strong resemblance to the large trout of Sunapee 

 Lake. It will be necessary to determine the species to 

 which this trout belongs before we can say with certainty 

 that the blueback does not reach a large size. 



In Forest and Stream of June 23, 1887, "The Large 

 Trout Record" is reviewed by Geo. Shepard Page, A. N. 

 Cheney and "Special." I do not believe that all of the 

 large trout referred to in that record were fontinalis, but 

 I cannot prove that they were not, because I have not 

 seen any of the specimens. It is to be hoped that one of 

 the Maine angling associations will send some of the very 

 large trout from the Rangeley Lakes to the National 

 Museum; specimens which have been in the collection a 

 few years are usually unsuitable for comparison with 

 fresh material from other sources. Salmon and trout 

 are among the most difficult of all fishes to preserve. 



Forest and Stream during the years 1886 and 1887 

 published numerous articles relating to the trout from 

 Sunapee Lake and the blueback, aud to those columns the 

 reader must turn for particulars as to the discovery and 

 the subsequent history of the Sunapee trout in New 

 Hampsliire, Various theories as to the origin of the fish 

 in Sunapee Lake have been proposed and discussed. My 

 opinion at present is that the species have lived in the 

 lake a great many years. It has probably not been dis- 

 tinguished from the common brook trout (fontinalis) 

 until Colonel Hodge, Dr. Quackenbos and others called 

 attention to its peculiarities. More than one ichthyolo- 

 gist, including myself, at first gl mce supposed the species 

 to be fontinalis, but after subsequent careful examina- 

 tion it was found to belong to another group of species, 

 namely the one having teeth well developed upon the 

 hyoid bone. These teeth in Salvelinus are founcl on the 

 bone between the lower extremities of the first two gill- 

 arches. In the Sunapee Lake species this patch of teeth 

 is very conspicuous in medium and large-sized individ- 

 uals. If future investigations show that large trout like 

 those in Sunapee Lake are found in the Rangeley Lakes 

 of Maine, the origin of the Sunapee trout may be traced 

 to some early introduction of the blueback into New 

 Hampshire. This, however, is at present only a matter 

 of opinion. The material now in the National Museum 

 will not enable me to say positively that the Sunapee 

 and blueback trout are identical. There is nothing left 

 for me, therefore, but to describe the species from New 

 Hampshire as probably new. This I have done in the 

 current volume of the Proceedings of the National 

 Museum and have given to it the name Salvelinus aure- 

 olus. 



There are at least six apparent points of difference be- 

 tween the Sunapee trout and the blueback: 1. Salvelinus 

 aureolus has eight developed rays in the anal fin besides 

 three rudiments, while the blueback has ten developed 

 rays and three rudiments. 2. Blueback trout begin 

 spawning when they are about 9m. long, but Sunapee 

 trout of the same length in otu- collection are all imma- 

 ture. 3. Blueback trout in the fresh state are described 

 as having the back uniform steel blue, while in the young 

 Sunapee trout there are numerous dark blotches on the 

 top of the back which give the fresh fish a mottled ap- 

 pear- nee. 4. It is stated by Fred Mather that the embryos 

 of the Sunapee trout have a white line at the upper and 

 lower edges of the caudal fin, and no such character lias 

 been observed in embryos of the blueback. 5. It is said 

 that the blueback spawns in streams while the Sunapee 

 trout is a lake spawner. 6. The gill-rakers of the Suna.xe 

 trout are shorter and usually less numerous than in the 

 blueback, and they are almost invariably curled up at 

 ends, while in the blueback they are always straight and 

 slender. This may be due to a difference in the charaoter 

 of the food. 



In Forest and Stream of Jan. 14, 1886, Colonel Hodge 

 thus describes the colors of Sunapee trout: "The females 

 have a brownish back; sides lemon color. Males, small 



ones, bluish-black back, largo ones much lighter, in 

 fact, almost cream color; some are very light olive; sides 

 and belly golden orffhge. They are the most brilliant 

 colored of any fresh-water fish that I know. The fins 

 are very large, much larger than in the common trout, 

 and the fish is entirely destitute of mottlings on the back, 

 in fact, there are none of the usual characteristic mot- 

 tlings of brook trout." 



The fresh colors of the blueback are thus described by 

 Mr. Hem-y O. Stanley in FOREST AND Stream, May 5, 

 1887: "I have watched the bluebacks (Salmo oquassa) 

 carefully, habits and characteristics, and have taken all 

 the eggs that have ever been taken at Rangeley, have 

 hatched them a number of years and watched them 

 through all their stages till turned loose, and have never 

 noticed any white line on the lower edge of the tail fin 

 you speak of. Had there been any (even if very slight) I 

 think I should not have failed to notice it. I am sorry to 

 say we have not any eggs hatching this season to verify 

 my opinion, but I feel very sure there is none. The adult 

 fish does not have any white on the. fins at all like the 

 brook trout. The fins of the males are bright red, or the 

 color of bright autumn leaves. When taken from the 

 water they are of a dark color, after death turn to a 

 bright yellowish cast. The spots are very minute, very 

 thick, very bright yellow and red, both thicker and 

 brighter than on the brook trout." 



Dr. John D. Quackenbos describes the colors of the 

 Sunapee trout as follows: "The coloration of the sides 

 varies from a dead lustre cream tint or a delicate olive to 

 a dazzling orange, which in some specimens deepens into 

 a dark steel blue on the back; always destitute of mottling 

 and with none of the characteristic of the brook trout. 

 The spots are generally secondary, though in some fish 

 vermilion specks are a conspicuous feature, while in 

 others spots of any hue are hardly perceptible. Occa- 

 sionally the females are as highlv colored as the males." 



On Oct. 31, 1886, Colonel Hodge thus described the 

 colors of the Sunapee trout in a letter to the late Professor 

 Baird: "During the summer they are very light colored, 

 almost white; they are not mottled on the back like the 

 other trout in the lake. The smaller ones, from one to two 

 pounds, are almost black on back, but orange on sides. 

 These fish grow very large, reaching ten pounds and over, 

 and at this season (Oct. 31) when first taken are in color 

 on sides a deep golden orange, and as the males roll up in 

 the water look Tike a broad band of gold. In swimming 

 these fish move along exactly like a salmon, that is they 

 swim with their whole body from head to tail." 



On Dec. 10, 1886, Colonel' Hodge sent some fresh speci- 

 mens of the Sunapee trout to the National Museum. 

 When received the colors were as follows: Head and 

 upper parts brownish gray; caudal the same, with the ex- 

 ception of a narrow white margin on the lower lobe; 

 under surface of head in most examples brownish gray, 

 in others whitish; belly orange, this color extending up 

 on the sides, but not to the middle line of the body, and 

 orange with white margin in front; ventrals orange with 

 broad white margin on the outer rays; upper half of pec- 

 toral gray, lower half orange; dorsal gray, lighter along 

 the base; sides, both above and below the lateral line, 

 with numerous orange spots fading out to whitish, the 

 largest of these spots are a little more than one-third as 

 long as the iris; no mottlings anywhere. 



The young specimens received from Dr. John D. 

 Quackenbos, which were collected in Sunapee Lake dur- 

 ing last summer, have the following color marks : Sides, 

 silvery white; back, with six or more well-defined, band- 

 like dark markings, besides some irregular mtervening 

 dark blotches. There are about ten parr marks on the 

 sides and numerous small roundish white spots. A 

 female llin. long sent by Colonel Hodge from Sunapee 

 Lake, November 28, 18S5, has a few free eggs in the ab- 

 dominal cavity; it seems to be nearly spent. This exam- 

 ple has numerous parr marks on the sides and band-like 

 markings on the back are still very evident. 



T. H. Bean, Ichthyologist, U. S. Fish Commission. 



U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C, Jan. 23. 



SENSIBLE ICELANDIC FISHERMEN. 



IN the nineteenth century many a fisherman is foolish 

 enough, in order to obtain a single meal, to destroy 

 fishes that would have sufficed, if not interfered with in 

 breeding times, to feed twenty families for a week. A 

 recent letter from Iceland shows a remarkable contrast 

 in this regard, and its people are certainly entitled to call 

 us barbarians, as compared with themselves in the matter 

 of securing a permanent supply of fish food. 



Dr. Labonne, member of a scientific mission to Iceland, 

 met a young Scotchman, who, like many of his country- 

 men, passes six weeks every year in Iceland, fishing for 

 trout, salmon, and the red-fleshed char. "Being per- 

 mitted to accompany him." he writes, "on lake and 

 river, I was astonished to meet frequently, at short dis- 

 tances apart, rectangular boxes with gratings at each 

 end, fixed in the middle of the stream by cords attached 

 to the basaltic rocks on the banks. On raising the lid of 

 one he saw inside a number of small trout and salmon, a 

 few inches long, grouped on a bed of small stones and 

 volcanic mud, carefully arranged on the bottom. He ex- 

 plained this to me as follows: ' When an Icelander catches 

 a trout, salmon, or char, filled with eggs or milt, he thinks 

 of others than himself, and does not cook the whole. 

 Before eating his fish he never fails to place in the boxes 

 above alluded to, the reproductive contents of the fish. 

 The eggs retained by the gratings find themselves under 

 the same circumstances as if they had been laid in the 

 stream, and hatch out perfectly. The little fish are fed 

 with the refuse of the kitchen, and when they have at- 

 tained a sufficient size to look out for themselves, are dis- 

 tributed in the neighboring streams.'" — Translated for 

 D. T. Curtis by Dr. Samuel Kneeland. 



Ice Fishing.— Worcester, Mass., Jan. 28.— Ice fishing 

 has been excellent the past four weeks and many fine 

 strings of pickerel have Tbeen taken; so plenty have they 

 been in the markets that citizens who do not care to 

 indulge in the sport could purchase them for their Friday 

 fare at a very moderate price. — E. S. K. 



"Rang-eley Spawning Grounds."— In Capt. Barker's 

 communication, Jan. 12, page 489, first paragraph, the 

 writer is made to say that the Kennebago stream empties 

 into the Cupsuptic stream. He wrote, "empties into the 

 Cupsuptic Lake about three miles below the Cupsuptic 

 stream." 



SUNAPEE LAKE. 



\\/ORCESTER, Mass., Jan. 10.— All laBt winter I 

 T t watched the columns of Forest and Stream for 

 some account of the fishing at Sunapee Lake, N. H., but 

 seeing none and being unable to learn much about the 

 lake 1 gave up the trip and went up to Lake Champlain 

 after bass again. I once lived in New Hampshire and 

 when there contracted (took it from the Ne%v Hampshire 

 boys I think) a severe case of "Sunapee fever," which I 

 have never been able to entirely shake off. I have seen 

 occasional accounts of the peculiar trout taken there, the 

 re-stocking, etc., but never a word, as I remember, about 

 the fishing. Why is it? Don't any one fish there? Don't 

 they catch enough to pay for a trip up there, or don't 

 they care to have outsiders come in and share their 

 sport? 



I always commence laying out my vacation plans right 

 after the holidays, and have already several Maine lakes 

 under consideration for the coming season, but I can't 

 get over the glowing description the New Hampshire 

 boys used to give me of Sunapee. Neither can I learn of 

 a lake in Maine where there is good fishing that is not 

 overrun with sportsmen or else hard to reach. By good 

 fishing I mean a fair day's sport with fair sized trout. 

 Trout running £ to 21bs. are large enough for me, and I 

 enjoy paddling along a pretty shore if I don't catch 

 many. 



You see my companion and I go fishing to fish, and be 

 by ourselves. Now, don't set us down for a pair of un- 

 social cranks, for we are not, but when a fellow is limited 

 to one week's outing a year, he can't afford to spend 

 much of it visiting. I can stand a heap of fishing. A 

 week solid does not tire me of it a particle, and when I 

 come in after an all day's session I am ready to lie off 

 and listen to a good story, swap lies with the guides, etc., 

 but I don't enjoy being kept awake till daylight by those 

 members of nearly every large party who do their heaviest 

 fishing after supper, "sounding" for the bottom of a glass 

 bait can. They usually find it before they quit, too. 



Now, if this catches the eye of any one lucky enough 

 to have been to Sunapee I hope he will give us the benefit 

 of his experience there. Tell us how to get there and 

 where to go when we do get there. 



We are both poor fishermen and mighty unlucky at 

 that, but we do like to drop into a place where we can 

 have a good week's fish. 



We feel obliged to spend about so much of oirr yearly 

 stipend and a week's time in somebody's woods looking 

 for somebody's fish or game every summer, and we would 

 just as soon have it in New Hampsliire as in Maine. In 

 i'act we would prefer to, as it is nearer. Let us hear from 

 Sunapee. Swirl. 



CHUBB'S CATALOGUE. 



THOS. H. CHUBB, the weB-known manufacturer of fishing 

 tackle, has issued a new catalogue which is a valuable guide 

 to the ourchase of angling supplies, and gives also a series of well- 

 written papers on fishing subjects. Dr. James A. Henshail dis- 

 courses of black bass and black bass fishing. Mr. A. N. Cheney 

 writes luminously of trout fishmg. There ar s several pages of 

 fish lore from the pen of Geo. P. Goff, A. M. Mr. W. H. H. Mnr- 

 rav talks of practical angling. Hints on salmon fishing are fol- 

 lowed bv notes on the manufacture and choice of hooks by Mr. 

 John R. Bartin, and "Old Izaak" concludes this portion of the 

 book with a talk on angling. The description of Ghubb's manu- 

 factory is instructive as a setting forth of how a small business 

 can rapidly grow into a big one, if the pwiduct be only something 

 that the public wants, and it appears to have taken a shine to 

 Chubh's rods. 



tgishculture. 



Addre<ss all communications to the- Forest and Stream Pub. Ce- 



BLACK BASS IN GERMANY. 



COUNT MAX VON DEM BORNE, Berneuchen, has issued 

 a little illustrated pamphlet on the two species of 

 American black bass, introduced by him into Germany.* 



He has not designated them as the small-mouth and bi«- 

 mouth.but has followed the obsolete nomenclature of "black" 

 bass, for the tirst named, and has translated the specific name 

 of the last (salmoides) into ''trout-perch," fortunately he did 

 not adopt the absurd name of "Oswego," for this fish. 



He calls them "royal" fish, and says that in Michigan and 

 Ohio they are, next to the whitefish, the most important food 

 fish of fresh water. Quotations from Dr. Henshail and Dr. 

 Sterling are frequent, and from these two authors alone the 

 German readers get much valuable information concerning 

 the life, history and habits of these fishes. In Germany the 

 adult fish spawn in May and June, as in New York, but our 

 author says that young fish sometimes spawn in the south 

 (in America) from August to November, a statement, which 

 is new to us. A careful study of the literature of these fishes 

 has enabled the author to condense a great deal of valuable 

 information in a small compass, and yet he is careful to credit 

 the authorities from which he draws, a most commendable 

 thing in a compiler. 



The two men in Germany who have been the most enter- 

 prising in exchanging the fishes of their country for those of 

 America, are Count von Behr, President of the German 

 Fishery Association, and Count von dem Borne, a private 

 fishculturist. The former confines himself to the introduc- 

 tion of American salmonidfp, while the latter inclines to the 

 percoids, of which European waters have but two good native 

 specimens. In return they have sent many valuable lots of 

 eggs of the different European salmonidae to this country, 

 aud their energy and enterprise will he remembered while 

 the literature of fishes remains. 



*' - Der Schwarzbarsch and der Foreileubarseb. Black Bass; zwei 

 Auierikanische Fischein Beutschiand. Von Max von dem Borne, 

 Berneuchen, Neudamm. Verlag von T. Noumann, 18s8. 



CANADIAN LOBSTERS.— Ottawa, Jan. 33. — The Do- 

 minion Government has adopted a few of the recommenda- 

 tions contained in the report of the Lobster Commission 

 appointed in May last. The last Canada, Gazette contains 

 an order in Council setting fortbfthat hereafter it will be 

 unlawful to catch or have m possession anywhere on the At- 

 lantic coasts, any lobsters between the 1st of July and the 

 31st of December, and on febe coasts of the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence the close season is" to extend from the 15th of July to 

 the 81st of December. It is further provided, that "It shall 

 be unlawful at any time to fish for, catch, kill, buy, selh. 

 expose for sale, or have in possession any berried or soft-shell 

 loBsters, or any lobster under 9in. ia length, measuring from 

 head to tail, exclusive of claws or feelers, and when caught 

 in fishing apparatus in legal use, they shall be liberated alive 

 by the proprietor, owner, agent, tenant, occupier, partner, 

 or person actually in charge, either as occupant or servant, 

 on each of whom shall devolve the proof of such actual lib- 

 erations*" 



