Evening star., 1914-10-05

strongest. is the speckled brook trout
OF pleasant memory, the commonest.
best known and most widely distribut-
ed of the New England charrs. Then
there is the lake trout, or christivomer
namaycush, to give him his dress pa
rade title. with a number Of local va
riations and names, such as "togue,
etc. These two appear to let the aver
age man out, as far as familiarity goes,
but there are. absolutely native to New
England waters, three other varieties,
more or less abundant: The blueback
trout or Salvelinus oQuossa, named
after Oquossoc lake, one of the famous
Rangeley group, in which they were
once found. but are now. DR.. Kendall
thinks extinct; the Salvelinus aureolus,
or white trout of the Sunapee lake, ana
the Salvelinus agassiZii, or silver trout
of Monadnock lake.
One of the most interesting stories OF
the way in which an entire species OF
fish can disappear is told by DIR. Ken
dali in connection with these nsh.
Small, shy and living in deep water
most of the year, they were formerly
caught in nets in abundance by the
inhabitants of the Rangeley region IN
the spawning season. when they ran
into the mouths of little brooks. ana
at no other time and practically never
with lure Even these heavy drains
on the supply did not destroy II, the
balance between their reproductive
ness and the ravages OF human pe1nss
and of the big brook trout, when 1eo
on them, being fairly well maintained.
Salmon Destroy Trout.
But with the introduction into
Rangeley waters of the land-locKeo
salmon some years ago. said DR.. Ken
dali. this balance was destroyed. The
salmon missed their accustomed diet OF
smelt, and simply switched to menu
of blue-backs, with the result that tney
ultimately disappeared. In l9o4 an ar
tist and l worked with the utmost
pains to procure two or three OF eacn
sex for mounting purposes and to draw
their coloration. OF these two were
males. We used one to get the outline
of the body, and kept the other alive
to get the colors from, but. owing 10
the fact that there was no cover on
the vessel in which he was connned' ne
jumped out and was eaten by a rat. and
never since has one been procured.
This remnant of the thousands that
once swarmed in the waters were all
much above the average size, and mad
probably lived because they were TOO
big mouthful for either big brook
trout or salmon.
yelinus aureolus, and the long dispute
as to its title as distinct species. and
the claim that it had been introduced
from Europe, DIR. Kendall said, in part:
"That fish may exist in a body of
water for many years without becom-
ing generally known is not so strange
as at first thought it seems: Many
anglers have caughe at times fish that
was more or less strange in appear
ance. In such cases they discuss Its
identity among themselves and, per-
haps, come to the conclusion that 1t IS
a freak form of some other fish which
it. to some extent, resembles.
:rWhen not accounted for in that way
it is usually ascribed to hybridization,
or if a fish with which they are not
familiar is known to have been intro
duced, it is likely to be considered that
form. But seldom is it suggested that
it is a hitherto unrecognized species,
and usually, instead of sending 1t to
some competent authority for identih-
cation it is taken home and eaten or
given to the cats or hens.
But when some more observing per-
son detects a hitherto unrecognized
fish many others remember that they
have caught the same thing at one
time or another. The Sunapee trout.
for instance, was at first thought to
be the result of a plant of some fish
from the ST. John river. But 1t Is well
known that no such fish occurs in that
river.