346 
ZOOLOGY. 
very closely, and probably is identical with it. They are cangbt freely with either common 
bait, or the “artificial fly,” but by preference choose more readily half-dried salmon-roe , which 
fishermen, who are not too sportman-like to indulge in such unartistic angling, very frequently 
use, preferring the roe in its half-dried, glutinous, sticky condition, because it adheres more 
readily to the hook, With such bait, and with “artificial flies,” the writer has taken in a few 
hours large ‘ ‘ strings” of handsome trout, on one occasion catching thirty-four fish, the aggregate 
weight of which, when some hours out of the water, amounted to fifteen pounds. A favorite 
place for catching these fish is McAllister’s creek, a small stream about eight miles from 
Olympia, the capital of Washington Territory. The best “spots” for fishing there are below 
the “old mill site,” at a point where the stream meanders through the Nisqually “tide 
prairies,” and where the tide ebbs and flows strongly. The best angling is had during the 
last of the ebb, and half through the flood, at which time the trout, having retreated to the deep 
holes, can be caught very rapidly. At the same place I have caught with a hook and line 
several young “silver salmon,” such as might be called by the English grilse. 
EARIO STELLATUS, Grd. 
Oregon Brook-Trout. 
Plate LXIX, Pigs. 5—8. 
Sp. Ch.—B ody elongated and fusiform ; head well developed, contained four times and three-quarters in the total length ; 
jaws equal ; maxillary gently curved, reaching a vertical line, drawn posteriorly to the orbit. Anterior margin of dorsal fin 
a little nearer to the extremity of the mouth than the insertion of caudal fin. Back light olive; belly light yellowish white. 
Head, body, and fins, profusely spotted with black. 
Sin. — Fario stellaius, Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VIII, 1856, 219. —Ibid, Gen. Rep. Fishes, p. 316. 
Opkalloo, Wasco Indians. —Common trout, vernacular. 
This trout is found in all the rivers about Shoalwater bay, and above tide-water take the hook 
readily in spring and fall. I consider it entirely a fresh water fish, though called there “salmon 
trout.” It grows to the length of two feet, and is said sometimes to weigh fifteen pounds. In 
color it closely resembles the preceding.—C. 
The trout of Oregon and Washington Territories, which replace the Salmo fontinalis, or com¬ 
mon trout of the middle and Atlantic States, belong to two species, very similar to each other 
in their habits, which are also much like those of their Atlantic congener just mentioned. They 
belong to the species last described and to the present kind. 
The S. stellatus is very abundant in all the brooks and small rivers emptying into the lower 
Columbia and Puget Sound. It seems to enter the more rapid streams early in the spring, but 
I doubt whether it can be strictly called anadromous, as it is found in sluggish fresh water at all 
seasons; and I have caught it frequently from small lakes and brooks having no connexion with 
the sea at any season. When living in brooks near the sea they seem to avail themselves, 
however, of the invigorating effects of salt water, as I have caught them sparingly in such 
situations; but, as already stated, access to the sea seems to be by no means absolutely neces¬ 
sary even to health. The spawning season appears to be at its height in mid-winter, and lasts, 
occasionally, in certain individuals, as late as the first of March. 
While stationed at Fort Steilacoom I frequently amused myself by angling for trout, either 
using the “artificial fly” or common bait. Angle-worms being not found, as yet, in that region, 
I was obliged to rely upon meat, fresh fisli , and salmon-roe , when desirous of using natural bait. 
Unlike the S. fontinalis, (the common brook-trout of New York,) this trout does not delight in 
