SALMONIDÆ—(_Continued_)
=SALMO, the Trout and Atlantic Salmon.=—The genus _Salmo_ comprises
those forms of salmon which have been longest known. As in related
genera, the mouth is large, and the jaws, palatines, and tongue are
armed with strong teeth. The vomer is flat, its shaft not depressed
below the level of the head or chevron (the anterior end). There are a
few teeth on the chevron; and behind it, on the shaft, there is either a
double series of teeth or an irregular single series. These teeth in the
true salmon disappear with age, but in the others (the black-spotted
trout) they are persistent. The scales are silvery and moderate or small
in size. There are 9 to 11 developed rays in the anal fin. The caudal
fin is truncate, or variously concave or forked. There are usually 40 to
70 pyloric cœca, 11 or 12 branchiostegals, and about 20 (8 + 12)
gill-rakers. The sexual peculiarities are in general less marked than in
_Oncorhynchus_; they are also greater in the anadromous species than in
those which inhabit fresh waters. In general the male in the breeding
season is redder, its jaws are prolonged, the front teeth enlarged, the
lower jaw turned upwards at the end, and the upper jaw notched, or
sometimes even perforated, by the tip of the lower. All the species of
_Salmo_ (like those of _Oncorhynchus_) are more or less spotted with
black. Unlike the species of _Oncorhynchus_, the species of _Salmo_ feed
more or less while in fresh water, and the individuals for the most part
do not die after spawning, although many old males do thus perish.
=The Atlantic Salmon.=—The large species of _Salmo_, called salmon by
English-speaking people (_Salmo salar_, _Salmo trutta_), are marine and
anadromous, taking the place in the North Atlantic occupied in the North
Pacific by the species of _Oncorhynchus_. Two others more or less
similar in character occur in Japan and Kamchatka. The others (trout),
forming the subgenus _Salar_, are non-migratory, or at least irregularly
or imperfectly anadromous. The true or black-spotted trout abound in all
streams of northern Europe, northern Asia, and in that part of North
America which lies _west_ of the Mississippi Valley. The black-spotted
trout are entirely wanting in eastern America—a remarkable fact in
geographical distribution, perhaps explained only on the hypothesis of
the comparatively recent and Eurasiatic origin of the group, which, we
may suppose, has not yet had opportunity to extend its range across the
plains, unsuitable for salmon life, which separate the upper Missouri
from the Great Lakes.
The salmon (_Salmo salar_) is the only black-spotted salmonoid found in
American waters tributary to the Atlantic. In Europe, where other
species similarly colored occur, the species may be best distinguished
by the fact that the teeth on the shaft of the vomer mostly disappear
with age. From the only other species positively known, the salmon trout
(_Salmo trutta_), which shares this character, the true salmon may be
distinguished by the presence of but eleven scales between the adipose
fin and the lateral line, while _Salmo trutta_ has about fourteen. The
scales are comparatively large in the salmon, there being about one
hundred and twenty-five in the lateral line. The caudal fin, which is
forked in the young, becomes, as in other species of salmon, more or
less truncate with age. The pyloric cœca are fifty to sixty in number.
The color in adults, according to Dr. Day, is "superiorly of a
steel-blue, becoming lighter on the sides and beneath. Mostly a few
rounded or X-shaped spots scattered above the lateral line and upper
half of the head, being more numerous in the female than in the male.
Dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins dusky; ventrals and anal white, the
former grayish internally. Prior to entering fresh waters these fish are
of a brilliant steel-blue along the back, which becomes changed to a
muddy tinge when they enter rivers. After these fish have passed into
the fresh waters for the purpose of breeding, numerous orange streaks
appear in the cheeks of the male, and also spots or even marks of the
same, and likewise of a red color, on the body. It is now termed a
'redfish.' The female, however, is dark in color and known as
'blackfish.' 'Smolts' (young river fish) are bluish along the upper half
of the body, silvery along the sides, due to a layer of silvery scales
being formed over the trout-like colors, while they have darker fins
than the yearling 'ping,' but similar bands and spots, which can be seen
(as in the parr) if the example be held in certain positions of light.
'Parr' (fishes of the year) have two or three black spots only on the
opercle, and black spots and also orange ones along the upper half of
the body, and no dark ones below the lateral line, although there may be
orange ones which can be seen in its course. Along the side of the body
are a series (12 to 15) of transverse bluish bands, wider than the
ground color and crossing the lateral line, while in the upper half of
the body the darker color of the back forms an arch over each of these
bands, a row of spots along the middle of the rayed dorsal fin, and the
adipose orange-tipped."
The dusky cross-shades found in the young salmon or parr are
characteristic of the young of salmon, trout, grayling, and nearly all
the other _Salmonidæ_.
The salmon of the Atlantic is, as already stated, an anadromous fish,
spending most of its life in the sea, and entering the streams in the
fall for the purpose of reproduction. The time of running varies much in
different streams and also in different countries. As with the Pacific
species, these salmon are not easily discouraged in their progress,
leaping cascades and other obstructions, or, if these prove impassable,
dying after repeated fruitless attempts.
The young salmon, known as the "parr," is hatched in the spring. It
usually remains about two years in the rivers, descending at about the
third spring to the sea, when it is known as "smolt." In the sea it
grows much more rapidly, and becomes more silvery in color, and is known
as "grilse." The grilse rapidly develop into the adult salmon; and some
of them, as in the case with the grilse of the Pacific salmon, are
capable of reproduction.
After spawning the salmon are very lean and unwholesome in appearance,
as in fact. They are then known as "kelts." The Atlantic salmon does not
ascend rivers to any such distances as those traversed by the quinnat
and the blue-back. Its kelts, therefore, for the most part survive the
act of spawning. Dr. Day thinks that they feed upon the young salmon in
the rivers, and that, therefore, the destruction of the kelts might
increase the supply of salmon.
As a food-fish the Atlantic salmon is very similar to the quinnat
salmon, neither better nor worse, so far as I can see, when equally
fresh. In both the flesh is rich and finely flavored; but the appetite
of man becomes cloyed with salmon-flesh sooner than with that of
whitefish, smelt, or charr. In size the Atlantic salmon does not fall
far short of the quinnat. The average weight of the adult is probably
less than fifteen pounds. The largest one of which I find a record was
taken on the coast of Ireland in 1881, and weighed 84¾ pounds.
The salmon is found in Europe between the latitude of 45° and 75°. In
the United States it is now rarely seen south of Cape Cod, although
formerly the Hudson and numerous other rivers were salmon-streams.
Overfishing, obstructions in the rivers, and pollution of the water by
manufactories and by city sewage are agencies against which the salmon
cannot cope.
Seven species of salmon (as distinguished from trout) are recognized by
Dr. Günther in Europe, and three in America. The landlocked forms,
abundant in Norway, Sweden, and Maine, which cannot, or at least do not,
descend to the sea, are regarded by him as distinct species. "The
question," observes Dr Günther, "whether any of the migratory species
can be retained by artificial means in fresh water, and finally
accommodate themselves to a permanent sojourn therein, must be negatived
for the present." On this point I think that the balance of evidence
leads to a different conclusion. These fresh-water forms (_Sebago_ and
_Ouananiche_) are actually salmon which have become landlocked. I have
compared numerous specimens of the common landlocked salmon (_Salmo
salar sebago_) of the lakes of Maine and New Brunswick with landlocked
salmon (_Salmo salar hardini_) from the lakes of Sweden, and with
numerous migratory salmon, both from America and Europe. I see no reason
for regarding them as specifically distinct. The differences are very
trivial in kind, and not greater than would be expected on the
hypothesis of recent adaptation of the salmon to lake life. We have
therefore on our Atlantic coast but one species of salmon, _Salmo
salar_. The landlocked form of the lakes of Maine is _Salmo salar
sebago_. The _Ouananiche_ of Lake St. John and the Saguenay, beloved of
anglers, is _Salmo salar ouananiche_.
=The Ouananiche.=—Dr. Henry Van Dyke writes thus of the _Ouananiche_:
"But the prince of the pool was the fighting _Ouananiche_, the little
salmon of St. John. Here let me chant thy praise, thou noblest and most
high-minded fish, the cleanest feeder, the merriest liver, the loftiest
leaper, and the bravest warrior of all creatures that swim! Thy cousin,
the trout, in his purple and gold with crimson spots, wears a more
splendid armor than thy russet and silver mottled with black, but thine
is the kinglier nature.
"The old salmon of the sea who begat thee long ago in these inland
waters became a backslider, descending again to the ocean, and grew
gross and heavy with coarse feeding. But thou, unsalted salmon of the
foaming floods, not landlocked as men call thee, but choosing of thine
own free will to dwell on a loftier level in the pure, swift current of
a living stream, hath grown in grace and risen to a better life.
"Thou art not to be measured by quantity but by quality, and thy five
pounds of pure vigor will outweigh a score of pounds of flesh less
vitalized by spirit. Thou feedest on the flies of the air, and thy food
is transformed into an aerial passion for flight, as thou springest
across the pool, vaulting toward the sky. Thine eyes have grown large
and keen by piercing through the foam, and the feathered hook that can
deceive thee must be deftly tied and delicately cast. Thy tail and fins,
by ceaseless conflict with the rapids, have broadened and strengthened,
so that they can flash thy slender body like a living arrow up the fall.
As Launcelot among the knights, so art thou among the fish, the
plain-armored hero, the sunburnt champion of all the water-folk."
Dr. Francis Day, who has very thoroughly studied these fishes, takes, in
his memoir on "The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland," and in other
papers, a similar view in regard to the European species. Omitting the
species with permanent teeth on the shaft of the vomer (subgenus
_Salar_), he finds among the salmon proper only two species, _Salmo
salar_ and _Salmo trutta_. The latter species, the sea-trout or
salmon-trout of England and the estuaries of northern Europe, is similar
to the salmon in many respects, but has rather smaller scales, there
being fourteen in an oblique series between the adipose fin and the
lateral line. It is not so strong a fish as the salmon, nor does it
reach so large a size. Although naturally anadromous, like the true
salmon, landlocked forms of the salmon-trout are not uncommon. These
have been usually regarded as different species, while aberrant or
intermediate individuals are usually regarded as hybrids. The
salmon-trout of Europe have many analogies with the steelhead of the
Pacific.
The present writer has examined many thousands of American _Salmonidæ_,
both of _Oncorhynchus_ and _Salmo_. While many variations have come to
his attention, and he has been compelled more than once to modify his
views as to specific distinctions, he has never yet seen an individual
which he had the slightest reason to regard as a "hybrid." It is
certainly illogical to conclude that every specimen which does not
correspond to our closet-formed definition of its species must therefore
be a "hybrid" with some other. There is no evidence worth mentioning,
known to me, of extensive hybridization in a state of nature in any
group of fishes. This matter is much in need of further study; for what
is true of the species in one region, in this regard, may not be true of
others. Dr. Günther observes:
"Johnson, a correspondent of Willughby, had already expressed his belief
that the different salmonoids interbreed; and this view has since been
shared by many who have observed these fishes in nature. Hybrids between
the sewin (_Salmo trutta cambricus_) and the river-trout (_Salmo fario_)
were numerous in the Rhymney and other rivers of South Wales before
salmonoids were almost exterminated by the pollutions allowed to pass
into these streams, and so variable in their characters that the passage
from one species to the other could be demonstrated in an almost
unbroken series, which might induce some naturalists to regard both
species as identical. Abundant evidence of a similar character has
accumulated, showing the frequent occurrence of hybrids between _Salmo
fario_ and _S. trutta_.... In some rivers the conditions appear to be
more favorable to hybridism than in others in which hybrids are of
comparatively rare occurrence. Hybrids between the salmon and other
species are very scarce everywhere."
Very similar to the European _Salmo trutta_ is the trout of Japan
(_Salmo perryi_), the young called yamabe, the adult kawamasu, or
river-salmon. This species abounds everywhere in Japan, the young being
the common trout of the brooks, black-spotted and crossed by parr-marks,
the adult reaching a weight of ten or twelve pounds in the larger rivers
and descending to the sea. In Kamchatka is another large, black-spotted,
salmon-like species properly to be called a salmon-trout. This is _Salmo
mykiss_, a name very wrongly applied to the cutthroat trout of the
Columbia.
The black-spotted trout, forming the subgenus _Salar_, differ from
_Salmo salar_ and _Salmo trutta_ in the greater development of the
vomerine teeth, which are persistent throughout life, in a long double
series on the shaft of the vomer. About seven species are laboriously
distinguished by Dr. Günther in the waters of western Europe. Most of
these are regarded by Dr. Day as varieties of _Salmo fario_. The latter
species, the common river-trout or lake-trout of Europe, is found
throughout northern and central Europe, wherever suitable waters occur.
It is abundant, gamy, takes the hook readily, and is excellent as food.
It is more hardy than the different species of charr, although from an
æsthetic point of view it must be regarded as inferior to all of the
_Salvelini_. The largest river-trout recorded by Dr. Day weighed
twenty-one pounds. Such large individuals are usually found in lakes in
the north, well stocked with smaller fishes on which trout may feed.
Farther south, where the surroundings are less favorable to trout-life,
they become mature at a length of less than a foot, and a weight of a
few ounces. These excessive variations in the size of individuals have
received too little notice from students of _Salmonidæ_. Similar
variations occur in all the non-migratory species of _Salmo_ and of
_Salvelinus_. Numerous river-trout have been recorded from northern
Asia, but as yet nothing can be definitely stated as to the number of
species actually existing.
=The Black-spotted Trout.=—In North America only the region west of the
Mississippi Valley, the streams of southeastern Alaska, and the valley
of Mackenzie River have species of black-spotted trout. There are few of
these north of Sitka in Alaska, although black-spotted trout are
occasionally taken on Kadiak and about Bristol Bay, and none east of the
Rocky Mountain region. If we are to follow the usage of the names
"salmon" and "trout" which prevails in England, we should say that, in
America, it is only these western regions which have any trout at all.
Of the number of species (about twenty-five in all) which have been
indicated by authors, certainly not more than about 8 to 10 can possibly
be regarded as distinct species. The other names are either useless
synonyms, or else they have been applied to local varieties which pass
by degrees into the ordinary types.
=The Trout of Western America.=—In the western part of America are found
more than a score of forms of trout of the genus _Salmo_, all closely
related and difficult to distinguish. There are representatives in the
head-waters of the Rio Grande, Arkansas, South Platte, Missouri, and
Colorado rivers; also in the Great Salt Lake basin, throughout the
Columbia basin, in all suitable waters from southern California and
Chihuahua to Sitka, and even to Bristol Bay, similar forms again
appearing in Kamchatka and Japan.
Among the various more or less tangible species that may be recognized,
three distinct series appear. These have been termed the cutthroat-trout
series (allies of _Salmo clarkii_), the rainbow-trout series (allies of
_Salmo irideus_), and the steelhead series (allies of _Salmo rivularis_,
a species more usually but wrongly called _Salmo gairdneri_).
The steelhead, or _rivularis_ series, is found in the coastwise streams
of California and in the streams of Oregon and Washington, below the
great Shoshone Falls of Snake River, and northward in Alaska along the
mainland as far as Skaguay. The steelhead-trout reach a large size (10
to 20 pounds). They spend a large part of their life in the sea. In all
the true steelheads the head is relatively very short, its length being
contained about five times in the distance from tip of snout to base of
caudal fin. The scales in the steelhead are always rather small, about
150 in a linear series, and there is no red under the throat. The spots
on the dorsal fin are fewer in the steelhead (4 to 6 rows) than in the
other American trout.
The rainbow forms are chiefly confined to the streams of California and
Oregon. In these the scales are large (about 135 in a lengthwise series)
and the head is relatively large, forming nearly one-fourth of the
length to base of caudal. These enter the sea only when in the small
coastwise streams. Usually they have no red under the throat. The
cutthroat forms are found from Humboldt Bay northward as far as Sitka,
in the coastwise streams of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and
Alaska, and all the clear streams on both sides of the Rocky Mountains,
and in the Great Basin and the head-waters of the Colorado. The
cutthroat-trout have the scales small, about 180, and there is always a
bright dash of orange-red on each side concealed beneath the branches of
the lower jaw. Along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada there are
also forms of trout with the general appearance of rainbow-trout and
evidently belonging to that species, but with scales intermediate in
number (in McCloud River), var. _shasta_, or with scales as small as in
the typical cutthroat (Kern River), var. _gilberti_. In these
small-scaled forms more or less red appears below the lower jaw, and
they are doubtless what they appear to be, really intermediate between
_clarkii_ and _irideus_, although certainly nearest the latter. A
similar series of forms occurs in the Columbia basin, the upper Snake
being inhabited by _clarkii_ and the lower Snake by _clarkii_ and
_rivularis_, together with a medley of forms apparently intermediate.
It seems probable that the American trout originated in Asia, extended
its range to southeast Alaska, thence southward to the Fraser and
Columbia, thence to the Yellowstone and the Missouri _via_ Two-Ocean
Pass; from the Snake River to the Great Basins of Utah and Nevada; from
the Missouri southward to the Platte and the Arkansas, thence from the
Platte to the Rio Grande and the Colorado, and then from Oregon
southward coastwise and along the Sierras to northern Mexico, thence
northward and coastwise, the sea-running forms passing from stream to
stream.
[Illustration:
FIG. 61.—Rainbow Trout (male), _Salmo irideus shasta_ Jordan.
(Photograph by Cloudsley Rutter.)
]
Of the American species the rainbow trout of California (_Salmo
irideus_) most nearly approaches the European _Salmo fario_. It has the
scales comparatively large, although rather smaller than in _Salmo
fario_, the usual number in a longitudinal series being about 135. The
mouth is smaller than in other American trout; the maxillary, except in
old males, rarely extending beyond the eye. The caudal fin is well
forked, becoming in very old fishes more nearly truncate. The head is
relatively large, about four times in the total length. The size of the
head forms the best distinctive character. The color, as in all the
other species, is bluish, the sides silvery in the males, with a red
lateral band, and reddish and dusky blotches. The head, back, and upper
fins are sprinkled with round black spots, which are very variable in
number, those on the dorsal usually in about nine rows. In specimens
taken in the sea this species, like most other trout in similar
conditions, is bright silvery, and sometimes immaculate. This species is
especially characteristic of the waters of California. It abounds in
every clear brook, from the Mexican line northward to Mount Shasta, or
beyond, the species passing in the Columbia region by degrees into the
species or form known as _Salmo masoni_, the Oregon rainbow trout, a
small rainbow trout common in the forest streams of Oregon, with smaller
mouth and fewer spots on the dorsal. No true rainbow trout have been
anywhere obtained to the eastward of the Cascade Range or of the Sierra
Nevada, except as artificially planted in the Truckee River. The species
varies much in size; specimens from northern California often reach a
weight of six pounds, while in the streams above Tia Juana in Lower
California the southernmost locality from which I have obtained trout,
they seldom exceed a length of six inches. Although not usually an
anadromous species, the rainbow trout frequently moves about in the
rivers, and it often enters the sea, large sea-run specimens being often
taken for steelheads. Several attempts have been made to introduce it in
Eastern streams, but it appears to seek the sea when it is lost. It is
apparently more hardy and less greedy than the American charr, or
brook-trout (_Salvelinus fontinalis_). On the other hand, it is
distinctly inferior to the latter in beauty and in gaminess.
[Illustration:
FIG. 62.—Rainbow Trout (female), _Salmo irideus shasta_ Jordan.
(Photograph by Cloudsley Rutter.)
]
Three varieties of some importance have been indicated, _Salmo irideus
stonei_, the Nissui trout of the Klamath, with spots on the posterior
parts only, _Salmo irideus shasta_ of the upper Sacramento, and the
small-scaled _Salmo irideus gilberti_ of the Kings and Kern rivers. In
the head-waters of the Kern, in a stream called Volcano Creek or Whitney
Creek, the waterfall sometimes called Agua-Bonita shuts off the
movements of the trout. Above this fall is a dwarf form with bright
golden fins, and the scales scarcely imbricated. This is the "golden
trout of Mount Whitney," _Salmo irideus agua-bonita_. It will possibly
be found to change back to the original type if propagated in different
waters.
In beauty of color, gracefulness of form and movement, sprightliness
when in the water, reckless dash with which it springs from the water to
meet the descending fly ere it strikes the surface, and the mad and
repeated leaps from the water when hooked, the rainbow trout must ever
hold a very high rank. "The gamest fish we have ever seen," writes Dr.
Evermann, "was a 16-inch rainbow taken on a fly in a small spring branch
tributary of Williamson River in southern Oregon. It was in a broad and
deep pool of exceedingly clear water. As the angler from behind a clump
of willows made the cast the trout bounded from the water and met the
fly in the air a foot or more above the surface; missing it, he dropped
upon the water, only to turn about and strike viciously a second time at
the fly just as it touched the surface; though he again missed the fly,
the hook caught him in the lower jaw from the outside, and then began a
fight which would delight the heart of any angler. His first effort was
to reach the bottom of the pool, then, doubling upon the line, he made
three jumps from the water in quick succession, clearing the surface in
each instance from one to four feet, and every time doing his utmost to
free himself from the hook by shaking his head as vigorously as a dog
shakes a rat. Then he would rush wildly about in the large pool, now
attempting to go down over the riffle below the pool, now trying the
opposite direction, and often striving to hide under one or the other of
the banks. It was easy to handle the fish when the dash was made up or
down stream or for the opposite side, but when he turned about and made
a rush for the protection of the overhanging bank upon which the angler
stood it was not easy to keep the line taut. Movements such as these
were frequently repeated, and two more leaps were made. But finally he
was worn out after as honest a fight as trout ever made."
"The rainbow takes the fly so readily that there is no reason for
resorting to grasshoppers, salmon-eggs, or other bait. It is a fish
whose gaminess will satisfy the most exacting of expert anglers and
whose readiness to take any proper line will please the most impatient
of inexperienced amateurs."
The steelhead (_Salmo rivularis_) is a large trout, reaching twelve to
twenty pounds in weight, found abundantly in river estuaries and
sometimes in lakes from Lynn Canal to Santa Barbara. The spent fish
abound in the rivers in spring at the time of the salmon-run. The
species is rarely canned, but is valued for shipment in cold storage.
Its bones are much more firm than those of the salmon—a trait
unfavorable for canning purposes. The flesh when not spent after
spawning is excellent. The steelhead does not die after spawning, as all
the Pacific salmon do.
[Illustration:
FIG. 63.—Steelhead Trout, _Salmo rivularis_ Ayres. Columbia River.
]
It is thought by some anglers that the young fish hatched in the brooks
from eggs of the steelhead remain in mountain streams from six to
thirty-six months, going down to the sea with the high waters of spring,
after which they return to spawn as typical steelhead trout. I now
regard this view as unfounded. In my experience the rainbow and the
steelhead are always distinguishable: the steelhead abounds where the
rainbow trout is unknown; the scales in the steelhead are always smaller
(about 155) than in typical rainbow trout; finally, the small size of
the head in the steelhead is always distinctive.
The Kamloops trout, described by the writer from the upper Columbia,
seems to be a typical steelhead as found well up the rivers away from
the sea. Derived from the steelhead, but apparently quite distinct from
it, are three very noble trout, all confined so far as yet known to Lake
Crescent in northwestern Washington. These are the crescent trout,
_Salmo crescentis_, the Beardslee trout, _Salmo beardsleei_, and the
long-headed trout, _Salmo bathæcetor_. The first two, discovered by
Admiral L. A. Beardslee, are trout of peculiar attractiveness and
excellence. The third is a deep-water form, never rising to the surface,
and caught only on set lines. Its origin is still uncertain, and it may
be derived from some type other than the steelhead.
=Cutthroat or Red-throated Trout.=—This species has much smaller scales
than the rainbow trout or steelhead, the usual number in a longitudinal
series being 160 to 170. Its head is longer (about four times in length
to base of caudal). Its mouth is proportionately larger, and there is
always a narrow band of small teeth on the hyoid bone at the base of the
tongue. These teeth are always wanting in _Salmo irideus_ and
_rivularis_ in which species the rim of the tongue only has teeth. The
color in _Salmo clarkii_ is, as in other species, exceedingly variable.
In life there is always a deep-red blotch on the throat, between the
branches of the lower jaw and the membrane connecting them. This is not
found in other species, or is reduced to a narrow strip or pinkish
shade. It seems to be constant in all varieties of _Salmo clarkii_, at
all ages, thus furnishing a good distinctive character. It is the sign
manual of the Sioux Indians, and the anglers have already accepted from
this mark the name of cutthroat-trout. The cutthroat-trout of some
species is found in every suitable river and lake in the great basin of
Utah, in the streams of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, on both sides of
the Rocky Mountains. It is also found throughout Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, British Columbia, the coastwise islands of southeastern Alaska
(Baranof, etc.), to Kadiak and Bristol Bay, probably no stream or lake
suitable for trout-life being without it. In California the species
seems to be comparatively rare, and its range rarely extending south of
Cape Mendocino. Large sea-run individuals analogous to the steelheads
are sometimes found in the mouth of the Sacramento. In Washington and
Alaska this species regularly enters the sea. In Puget Sound it is a
common fish. These sea-run individuals are more silvery and less spotted
than those found in the mountain streams and lakes. The size of _Salmo
clarkii_ is subject to much variation. Ordinarily four to six pounds is
a large size; but in certain favored waters, as Lake Tahoe, and the
fjords of southeastern Alaska, specimens from twenty to thirty pounds
are occasionally taken.
Those species or individuals dwelling in lakes of considerable size,
where the water is of such temperature and depth as insures an ample
food-supply, will reach a large size, while those in a restricted
environment, where both the water and food are limited, will be small
directly in proportion to these environing restrictions. The trout of
the Klamath Lakes, for example, reach a weight of at least 17 pounds,
while in Fish Lake in Idaho mature trout do not exceed 8 to 9¼ inches in
total length or one-fourth pound in weight. In small creeks in the
Sawtooth Mountains and elsewhere they reach maturity at a length of 5 or
6 inches, and are often spoken of as brook-trout and with the impression
that they are a species different from the larger ones found in the
lakes and larger streams. But as all sorts and gradations between these
extreme forms may be found in the intervening and connecting waters, the
differences are not even of sub-specific significance.
[Illustration:
FIG. 64.—Head of adult Trout-worm, _Dibothrium cordiceps_ Leidy, a
parasite of _Salmo clarkii_. From intestine of white pelican,
Yellowstone Lake. (After Linton.)
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 65.—Median segments of _Dibothrium cordiceps_.
]
Dr. Evermann observes: "The various forms of cutthroat-trout vary
greatly in game qualities; even the same subspecies in different waters,
in different parts of its habitat, or at different seasons, will vary
greatly in this regard. In general, however, it is perhaps a fair
statement to say that the cutthroat-trout are regarded by anglers as
being inferior in gaminess to the Eastern brook-trout. But while this is
true, it must not by any means be inferred that it is without game
qualities, for it is really a fish which possesses those qualities in a
very high degree. Its vigor and voraciousness are determined largely, of
course, by the character of the stream or lake in which it lives. The
individuals which dwell in cold streams about cascades and seething
rapids will show marvelous strength and will make a fight which is
rarely equaled by its Eastern cousin; while in warmer and larger streams
and lakes they may be very sluggish and show but little fight. Yet this
is by no means always true. In the Klamath Lakes, where the trout grow
very large and where they are often very logy, one is occasionally
hooked which tries to the utmost the skill of the angler to prevent his
tackle from being smashed and at the same time save the fish."
Of the various forms derived from _Salmo clarkii_ some mere varieties,
some distinct species, the following are among the most marked:
_Salmo henshawi_, the trout of Lake Tahoe and its tributaries and
outlet, Truckee River, found in fact also in the Humboldt and the Carson
and throughout the basin of the former glacial lake called Lake
Lahontan. This is a distinct species from _Salmo clarkii_ and must be
regarded as the finest of all the cutthroat-trout. It is readily known
by its spotted belly, the black spots being evenly scattered over the
whole surface of the body, above and below. This is an excellent
game-fish, and from Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake it is brought in large
numbers to the markets of San Francisco. In the depths of Lake Tahoe,
which is the finest mountain lake of the Sierra Nevada, occurs a very
large variety which spawns in the lake, _Salmo henshawi tahoensis_. This
reaches a weight of twenty-eight pounds.
[Illustration:
FIG. 66.—Tahoe Trout, _Salmo henshawi_ Gill & Jordan. Lake Tahoe,
California.
]
In the Great Basin of Utah is found a fine trout, very close to the
ordinary cutthroat of the Columbia, from which it is derived. This is
known as _Salmo clarkii virginalis_. In Utah Lake it reaches a large
size.
In Waha Lake in Washington, a lake without outlet, is found a small
trout with peculiar markings called _Salmo clarkii bouvieri_.
In the head-waters of the Platte and Arkansas rivers is the small
green-back trout, green or brown, with red throat-patch and large black
spots. This is _Salmo clarkii stomias_, and it is especially fine in St.
Vrain's River and the streams of Estes Park. In Twin Lakes, a pair of
glacial lakes tributary of the Arkansas near Leadville, is found _Salmo
clarkii macdonaldi_, the yellow-finned trout, a large and very handsome
species living in deep water, and with the fins golden yellow. This
approaches the Colorado trout, _Salmo clarkii pleuriticus_, and it may
be derived from the latter, although it occurs in the same waters as the
very different green-back trout, or _Salmo clarkii stomias_.
[Illustration:
FIG. 67.—Green-back Trout, _Salmo stomias_ Cope. Arkansas River,
Leadville, Colo.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 68.—Yellow-fin Trout of Twin Lakes, _Salmo macdonaldi_ Jordan &
Evermann. Twin Lakes, Colo.
]
Two fine trout derived from _Salmo clarkii_ have been lately discovered
by Dr. Daniel G. Elliot in Lake Southerland, a mountain lake near Lake
Crescent, but not connected with it, the two separated from the sea by
high waterfalls. These have been described by Dr. Seth E. Meek as _Salmo
jordani_, the "spotted trout" of Lake Southerland, and _Salmo
declivifrons_, the "salmon-trout." These seem to be distinct forms or
subspecies produced through isolation.
[Illustration:
FIG. 69.—Rio Grande Trout, _Salmo clarkii spilurus_ Cope. Del Norte,
Colo.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 70.—Colorado River Trout, _Salmo clarkii pleuriticus_ Cope.
Trapper's Lake, Colo.
]
The Rio Grande trout (_Salmo clarkii spilurus_) is a large and profusely
spotted trout, found in the head-waters of the Rio Grande, the mountain
streams of the Great Basin of Utah, and as far south as the northern
part of Chihuahua. Its scales are still smaller than those of the
ordinary cutthroat-trout, and the black spots are chiefly confined to
the tail. Closely related to it is the trout of the Colorado Basin,
_Salmo clarkii pleuriticus_, a large and handsome trout with very small
scales, much sought by anglers in western Colorado, and abounding in all
suitable streams throughout the Colorado Basin.
=Hucho, the Huchen.=—The genus _Hucho_ has been framed for the Huchen or
Rothfisch (_Hucho hucho_) of the Danube, a very large trout, differing
from the genus _Salmo_ in having no teeth on the shaft of the vomer, and
from the _Salvelini_ at least in form and coloration. The huchen is a
long and slender, somewhat pike-like fish, with depressed snout and
strong teeth. The color is silvery, sprinkled with small black dots. It
reaches a size little inferior to that of the salmon, and it is said to
be an excellent food-fish. In northern Japan is a similar species,
_Hucho blackistoni_, locally known as Ito, a large and handsome trout
with very slender body, reaching a length of 2½ feet. It is well worthy
of introduction into American and European waters.
[Illustration:
FIG. 71.—Ito, _Hucho blackistoni_ (Hilgendorf). Hokkaido, Japan.
]
=Salvelinus, the Charr.=—The genus _Salvelinus_ comprises the finest of
the _Salmonidæ_, from the point of view of the angler or the artist. In
England the species are known as charr or char, in contradistinction to
the black-spotted species of _Salmo_, which are called trout. The former
name has unfortunately been lost in America, where the name "trout" is
given indiscriminately to both groups, and, still worse, to numerous
other fishes (_Micropterus_, _Hexagrammos_, _Cynoscion_, _Agonostomus_)
wholly unlike the _Salmonidæ_ in all respects. It is sometimes said that
"the American brook-trout is no trout, nothing but a charr," almost as
though "charr" were a word of reproach. Nothing higher, however, can be
said of a salmonoid than that it is a "charr." The technical character
of the genus _Salvelinus_ lies in the form of its vomer. This is deeper
than in _Salmo_; and when the flesh is removed the bone is found to be
somewhat boat-shaped above, and with the shaft depressed and out of the
line of the head of the vomer. Only the head or chevron is armed with
teeth, and the shaft is covered by skin.
In color all the charrs differ from the salmon and trout. The body in
all is covered with round spots which are paler than the ground color,
and crimson or gray. The lower fins are usually edged with bright
colors. The sexual differences are not great. The scales, in general,
are smaller than in other _Salmonidæ_, and they are imbedded in the skin
to such a degree as to escape the notice of casual observers and even of
most anglers.
"One trout scale in the scales I'd lay
(If trout had scales), and 'twill outweigh
The wrong side of the balances."—LOWELL.
The charrs inhabit, in general, only the clearest and coldest of
mountain streams and lakes, or bays of similar temperature. They are not
migratory, or only to a limited extent. In northern regions they descend
to the sea, where they grow much more rapidly and assume a nearly
uniform silvery-gray color. The different species are found in all
suitable waters throughout the northern parts of both continents, except
in the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin, where only the black-spotted
trout occur. The number of species of charr is very uncertain, as, both
in America and Europe, trivial variations and individual peculiarities
have been raised to the rank of species. More types, however, seem to be
represented in America than in Europe.
[Illustration:
FIG. 72.—Rangeley Trout, _Salvelinus oquassa_ (Girard). Lake Oquassa,
Maine.
]
The only really well-authenticated species of charr in European waters
is the red charr, sälbling, or ombre chevalier (_Salvelinus alpinus_).
This species is found in cold, clear streams in Switzerland, Germany,
and throughout Scandinavia and the British Islands. Compared with the
American charr or brook-trout, it is a slenderer fish, with smaller
mouth, longer fins, and smaller red spots, which are confined to the
sides of the body. It is a "gregarious and deep-swimming fish, shy of
taking the bait and feeding largely at night-time. It appears to require
very pure and mostly deep water for its residence." It is less tenacious
of life than the trout. It reaches a weight of from one to five pounds,
probably rarely exceeding the latter in size. The various charr
described from Siberia are far too little known to be enumerated here.
Of the American charr the one most resembling the European species is
the Rangeley Lake trout (_Salvelinus oquassa_). The exquisite little
fish is known in the United States only from the Rangeley chain of lakes
in western Maine. This is very close to the Greenland charr, _Salvelinus
stagnalis_, a beautiful species of the far north. The Rangeley trout is
much slenderer than the common brook-trout, with much smaller head and
smaller mouth. In life it is dark blue above, and the deep-red spots are
confined to the sides of the body. The species rarely exceeds the length
of a foot in the Rangeley Lakes, but in some other waters it reaches a
much larger size. So far as is known it keeps itself in the depths of
the lake until its spawning season approaches, in October, when it
ascends the stream to spawn.
[Illustration:
FIG. 73.—Sunapee Trout, _Salvelinus aureolus_ Bean. Sunapee Lake, N.
H.
]
Still other species of this type are the Sunapee trout, _Salvelinus
aureolus_, a beautiful charr almost identical with the European species,
found in numerous ponds and lakes of eastern New Hampshire and
neighboring parts of Maine. Mr. Garman regards this trout as the
offspring of an importation of the ombre chevalier and not as a native
species, and in this view he may be correct. _Salvelinus alipes_ of the
far north may be the same species. Another remarkable form is the Lac de
Marbre trout of Canada, _Salvelinus marstoni_ of Garman.
In Arctic regions another species, called _Salvelinus naresi_, is very
close to _Salvelinus oquassa_ and may be the same.
Another beautiful little charr, allied to _Salvelinus stagnalis_, is the
Floeberg charr (_Salvelinus arcturus_). This species has been brought
from Victoria Lake and Floeberg Beach, in the extreme northern part of
Arctic America, the northernmost point whence any salmonoid has been
obtained.
[Illustration:
FIG. 74.—Speckled Trout (male), _Salvelinus fontinalis_ (Mitchill).
New York.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 75.—Brook Trout, _Salvelinus fontinalis_ (Mitchill), natural
size. (From life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.)
]
The American charr, or, as it is usually called, the brook-trout
(_Salvelinus fontinalis_), although one of the most beautiful of fishes,
is perhaps the least graceful of all the genuine charrs. It is
technically distinguished by the somewhat heavy head and large mouth,
the maxillary bone reaching more or less beyond the eye. There are no
teeth on the hyoid bone, traces at least of such teeth being found in
nearly all other species. Its color is somewhat different from that of
the others, the red spots being large and the black more or less mottled
and barred with darker olive. The dorsal and caudal fins are likewise
barred or mottled, while in the other species they are generally uniform
in color. The brook-trout is found only in streams east of the
Mississippi and Saskatchewan. It occurs in all suitable streams of the
Alleghany region and the Great Lake system, from the Chattahoochee River
in northern Georgia northward at least to Labrador and Hudson Bay, the
northern limits of its range being as yet not well ascertained. It
varies greatly in size, according to its surroundings, those found in
lakes being larger than those resident in small brooks. Those found
farthest south, in the head-waters of the Chattahoochee, Savannah,
Catawba, and French Broad, rarely pass the dimensions of fingerlings.
The largest specimens are recorded from the sea along the Canadian
coast. These frequently reach a weight of ten pounds; and from their
marine and migratory habits, they have been regarded as forming a
distinct variety (_Salvelinus fontinalis immaculatus_), but this form is
merely a sea-run brook-trout. The largest fresh-water specimens rarely
exceed seven pounds in weight. Some unusually large brook-trout have
been taken in the Rangeley Lakes, the largest known to me having a
reputed weight of eleven pounds. The brook-trout is the favorite
game-fish of American waters, preëminent in wariness, in beauty, and in
delicacy of flesh. It inhabits all clear and cold waters within its
range, the large lakes and the smallest ponds, the tiniest brooks and
the largest rivers; and when it can do so without soiling its
aristocratic gills on the way, it descends to the sea and grows large
and fat on the animals of the ocean. Although a bold biter it is a wary
fish, and it often requires much skill to capture it. It can be caught,
too, with artificial or natural flies, minnows, crickets, worms,
grasshoppers, grubs, the spawn of other fish, or even the eyes or cut
pieces of other trout. It spawns in the fall, from September to late in
November. It begins to reproduce at the age of two years, then having a
length of about six inches. In spring-time the trout delight in rapids
and swiftly running water; and in the hot months of midsummer they
resort to deep, cool, and shaded pools. Later, at the approach of the
spawning season, they gather around the mouths of cool, gravelly brooks,
whither they resort to make their beds.[10]
Footnote 10:
Hallock.
The trout are rapidly disappearing from our streams through the agency
of the manufacturer and the summer boarder. In the words of an excellent
angler, the late Myron W. Reed of Denver: "This is the last generation
of trout-fishers. The children will not be able to find any. Already
there are well-trodden paths by every stream in Maine, in New York, and
in Michigan. I know of but one river in North America by the side of
which you will find no paper collar or other evidence of civilization.
It is the Nameless River. Not that trout will cease to be. They will be
hatched by machinery and raised in ponds, and fattened on chopped liver,
and grow flabby and lose their spots. The trout of the restaurant will
not cease to be. He is no more like the trout of the wild river than the
fat and songless reedbird is like the bobolink. Gross feeding and easy
pond-life enervate and deprave him. The trout that the children will
know only by legend is the gold-sprinkled, living arrow of the white
water; able to zigzag up the cataract; able to loiter in the rapids;
whose dainty meat is the glancing butterfly."
The brook-trout adapts itself readily to cultivation in artificial
ponds. It has been successfully transported to Europe, and it is already
abundant in certain streams in England, in California, and elsewhere.
In Dublin Pond, New Hampshire, is a gray variety without red spots,
called _Salvelinus agassizi_.
[Illustration:
FIG. 76.—Malma Trout, or "Dolly Varden," _Salvelinus malma_ (Walbaum).
Cook Inlet, Alaska.
]
The "Dolly Varden" trout, or malma (_Salvelinus malma_), is very similar
to the brook-trout, closely resembling it in size, form, color, and
habits. It is found always to the westward of the Rocky Mountains, in
the streams of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British
Columbia, Alaska, and Kamchatka, as far as the Kurile Islands. It
abounds in the sea in the northward, and specimens of ten to twelve
pounds weight are not uncommon in Puget Sound and especially in Alaska.
The Dolly Varden trout is, in general, slenderer and less compressed
than the Eastern brook-trout. The red spots are found on the back of the
fish as well as on the sides, and the back and upper fins are without
the blackish marblings and blotches seen in _Salvelinus fontinalis_. In
value as food, in beauty, and in gaminess _Salvelinus malma_ is very
similar to its Eastern cousin.
[Illustration:
FIG. 77.—The Dolly Varden Trout, _Salvelinus malma_ (Walbaum). Lake
Pend d'Oreille, Idaho. (After Evermann.)
]
In Alaska the Dolly Varden, locally known as salmon-trout, is very
destructive to the eggs of the salmon, and countless numbers are taken
in the salmon-nets of Alaska and thrown away as useless by the canners.
In every coastwise stream of Alaska the water fairly "boils" with these
trout. They are, however, not found in the Yukon. In northern Japan
occurs _Salvelinus pluvius_, the iwana, a species very similar to the
Dolly Varden, but not so large or so brightly colored. In the Kurile
region and Kamchatka is another large charr, _Salvelinus kundscha_, with
the spots large and cream-color instead of crimson.
[Illustration:
FIG. 78.—Great Lake Trout, _Cristivomer namaycush_ (Walbaum). Lake
Michigan.
]
=Cristivomer, the Great Lake Trout.=—Allied to the true charrs, but now
placed by us in a different genus, _Cristivomer_, is the Great Lake
trout, otherwise known as Mackinaw trout, longe, or togue (_Cristivomer
namaycush_). Technically this fish differs from the true charrs in
having on its vomer a raised crest behind the chevron and free from the
shaft. This crest is armed with strong teeth. There are also large
hooked teeth on the hyoid bone, and the teeth generally are
proportionately stronger than in most of the other species. The Great
Lake trout is grayish in color, light or dark according to its
surroundings; and the body is covered with round paler spots, which are
gray instead of red. The dorsal and caudal fins are marked with darker
reticulations, somewhat as in the brook-trout. This noble species is
found in all the larger lakes from New England and New York to
Wisconsin, Montana, the Mackenzie River, and in all the lakes tributary
to the Yukon in Alaska. We have taken examples from Lake Bennett, Lake
Tagish, Summit Lake (White Pass), and have seen specimens from Lake La
Hache in British Columbia. It reaches a much larger size than any
_Salvelinus_, specimens of from fifteen to twenty pounds weight being
not uncommon, while it occasionally attains a weight of fifty to eighty
pounds. As a food-fish it ranks high, although it may be regarded as
somewhat inferior to the brook-trout or the whitefish. Compared with
other salmonoids, the Great Lake trout is a sluggish, heavy, and
ravenous fish. It has been known to eat raw potato, liver, and
corn-cobs,—refuse thrown from passing steamers. According to Herbert, "a
coarse, heavy, stiff rod, and a powerful oiled hempen or flaxen line, on
a winch, with a heavy sinker; a cod-hook, baited with any kind of flesh,
fish, or fowl,—is the most successful, if not the most orthodox or
scientific, mode of capturing him. His great size and immense strength
alone give him value as a fish of game; but when hooked he pulls
strongly and fights hard, though he is a boring, deep fighter, and
seldom if ever leaps out of the water, like the true salmon or
brook-trout."
In the depths of Lake Superior is a variety of the Great Lake trout
known as the Siscowet (_Cristivomer namaycush siskawitz_), remarkable
for its extraordinary fatness of flesh. The cause of this difference
lies probably in some peculiarity of food as yet unascertained.
=The Ayu, or Sweetfish.=—The ayu, or sweetfish, of Japan, _Plecoglossus
altivelis_, resembles a small trout in form, habits, and scaling. Its
teeth are, however, totally different, being arranged on serrated plates
on the sides of the jaws, and the tongue marked with similar folds. The
ayu abounds in all clear streams of Japan and Formosa. It runs up from
the sea like a salmon. It reaches the length of about a foot. The flesh
is very fine and delicate, scarcely surpassed by that of any other fish
whatsoever. It should be introduced into clear short streams throughout
the temperate zones.
[Illustration:
FIG. 79.—Ayu, or Japanese Samlet, _Plecoglossus altivelis_ Schlegel.
Tamagawa, Tokyo, Japan.
]
In the river at Gifu in Japan and in some other streams the ayu is
fished for on a large scale by means of tamed cormorants. This is
usually done from boats in the night by the light of torches.
=Cormorant-fishing.=—The following account of cormorant-fishing is
taken, by the kind permission of Mr. Caspar W. Whitney, from an article
contributed by the writer to _Outing_, April, 1902:
Tamagawa means Jewel River, and no water could be clearer. It rises
somewhere up in the delectable mountains to the eastward of Musashi,
among the mysterious pines and green-brown fir-trees, and it flows
across the plains bordered by rice-fields and mulberry orchards to the
misty bay of Tokyo. It is, therefore, a river of Japan, and along its
shores are quaint old temples, each guarding its section of primitive
forest, picturesque bridges, huddling villages, and torii, or gates
through which the gods may pass.
The stream itself is none too large—a boy may wade it—but it runs on a
wide bed, which it will need in flood-time, when the snow melts in the
mountains. And this broad flood-bed is filled with gravel, with
straggling willows, showy day-lilies, orange amaryllis, and the little
sky-blue spider-flower, which the Japanese call chocho, or
butterfly-weed.
In the Tamagawa are many fishes: shining minnows in the white ripples,
dark catfishes in the pools and eddies, and little sculpins and gobies
lurking under the stones. Trout dart through its upper waters, and at
times salmon run up from the sea.
But the one fish of all its fishes is the ayu. This is a sort of dwarf
salmon, running in the spring and spawning in the rivers just as a
salmon does. But it is smaller than any salmon, not larger than a smelt,
and its flesh is white and tender, and so very delicate in its taste and
odor that one who tastes it crisply fried or broiled feels that he has
never tasted real fish before. In all its anatomy the ayu is a salmon, a
dwarf of its kind, one which our ancestors in England would have called
a "samlet." Its scientific name is _Plecoglossus altivelis_.
_Plecoglossus_ means plaited tongue, and _altivelis_, having a high
sail; for the skin of the tongue is plaited or folded in a curious way,
and the dorsal fin is higher than that of the salmon, and one poetically
inclined might, if he likes, call it a sail. The teeth of the ayu are
very peculiar, for they constitute a series of saw-edged folds or plaits
along the sides of the jaws, quite different from those of any other
fish whatsoever.
In size the ayu is not more than a foot to fifteen inches long. It is
like a trout in build, and its scales are just as small. It is light
yellowish or olive in color, growing silvery below. Behind its gills is
a bar of bright shining yellow, and its adipose fin is edged with
scarlet. The fins are yellow, and the dorsal fin shaded with black,
while the anal fin is dashed with pale red.
So much for the river and the ayu. It is time for us to go afishing. It
is easy enough to find the place, for it is not more than ten miles out
of Tokyo, on a fine old farm just by the ancient Temple of Tachikawa,
with its famous inscribed stone, given by the emperor of China.
At the farmhouse, commodious and hospitable, likewise clean and charming
after the fashion of Japan, we send for the boy who brings our
fishing-tackle.
They come waddling into the yard, the three birds with which we are to
do our fishing. Black cormorants they are, each with a white spot behind
its eye, and a hoarse voice, come of standing in the water, with which
it says _y-eugh_ whenever a stranger makes a friendly overture. The
cormorants answer to the name of Ou, which in Japanese is something like
the only word the cormorants can say. The boy puts them in a box
together and we set off across the drifted gravel to the Tamagawa.
Arrived at the stream, the boy takes the three cormorants out of the box
and adjusts their fishing-harness. This consists of a tight ring about
the bottom of the neck, of a loop under each wing, and a directing line.
Two other boys take a low net. They drag it down the stream, driving the
little fishes—ayu, zakko, haë, and all the rest—before it. The boy with
the cormorants goes in advance. The three birds are eager as pointer
dogs, and apparently full of perfect enjoyment. To the right and left
they plunge with lightning strokes, each dip bringing up a shining fish.
When the bird's neck is full of fishes down to the level of the
shoulders, the boy draws him in, grabs him by the leg, and shakes him
unceremoniously over a basket until all the fishes have flopped out.
The cormorants watch the sorting of the fish with eager eyes and much
repeating of _y-eugh_, the only word they know. The ayu are not for
them, and some of the kajikas and hazés were prizes of science. But
zakko (the dace) and haë (the minnow) were made for the cormorant. The
boy picks out the chubs and minnows and throws them to one bird and then
another. Each catches his share on the fly, swallows it at one gulp, for
the ring is off his neck by this time, and then says _y-eugh_, which
means that he likes the fun, and when we are ready will be glad to try
again. And no doubt they have tried it many times since, for there are
plenty of fishes in the Jewel River, zakko and haë as well as ayu.
=Fossil Salmonidæ.=—Fossil salmonidæ are rare and known chiefly from
detached scales, the bones in this family being very brittle and easily
destroyed. Nothing is added to our knowledge of the origin of these
fishes from such fossils.
A large fossil trout or salmon, called _Rhabdofario lacustris_, has been
brought from the Pliocene at Catherine's Creek, Idaho. It is known from
the skull only. _Thaumaturus luxatus_, from the Miocene of Bohemia,
shows the print of the adipose fin. As already stated (p. 62), fragments
of the hooked jaws of salmon, from pleistocene deposits in Idaho, are in
the museum of the University of California.