190S.] 



FISHES. 



511 



months' residence at Fort Franklin in 1825-26, took 3,500 trout 

 weighing from 2 to 30 pounds each." 



Speckled trout. — Under this general heading I include a few 

 notes collected from various sources regarding the occurrence of 

 speckled or brook trout, probably of several species, in a number of 

 widely separated localities in the Mackenzie Basin. 



Mr. John Firth of Fort McPherson assured me that speckled trout 

 are found in "West Rat River, a tributary of the Porcupine west of 

 Fort McPherson. It is probable that these are either Sal mo mykiss 

 or Salvelimis mahna, both of which are known to occur in Alaskan 

 streams. In East Rat River also, which is connected with the west- 

 ward-flowing stream (and therefore may contain trout of the Bame 

 species) , but which flows eastward into the Peel, he said that speckled 

 trout are common. 



Mr. Firth also informed me that a form of sj)eckled trout is found 

 in a stream which enters the sea a short distance west of the mouth 

 of the Mackenzie. MacFarlane states that speckled trout have been 

 taken in loAver Anderson River.^ As anadromous trout of the Salve- 

 Jinus alpinus type are known to occur in the Coppermine, these rec- 

 ords may refer to the same species. 



I also learned from several independent sources that speckled trout 

 occur in the Towattinow and in one or two other tributaries of the 

 Athabaska. but I was never able to procure specimens. 



Thymallus signifer (Richardson). Arctic Grayling. 



The Arctic grayling, usually called bluefish in the north, has a 

 very extensive range. It occurs throughout the region from Peace 

 River and Athabaska Lake northward and northwestward to the 

 Arctic Ocean. I can not find that it has been detected in the Atha- 

 baska. As it prefers clear streams it is somewhat local in distribu- 

 tion, occurring but seldom in the main rivers, Avhich are usually 

 muddy, but being abundant in many of the clear tributaries and the 

 lakes which they drain. During my explorations I met with the 

 grayling in the lake country between Great Slave and Great Bear 

 lakes and at a number of points on the Mackenzie. It was especially 

 abundant in the rapid stream which I descended to MacTavish Bay 

 in August, 1903, and I caught many Avhile fishing for trout with a 

 spoon hook. It was common also in Great Bear Lake near Fort 

 Franklin a little later, where many were being taken in the whitefish 

 nets. 



In the spring of 1904 I had an opportunity to observe the method 

 of taking this fish employed by the Indians of the Mackenzie. A 



« Fauna Boreali-Americana, III, p. 208, 1836. 



* Second Rept. Committee of Senate ( Canada ) on Mackenzie Basin, p. 54, 

 1891. ' 



