TROUT

the common title for a large group of fishes, found principally in fresh water, closely related to the salmon and many of them of the same genus. Their size, appearance, and characteristics are greatly affected by their environment, and the confusion of the layman is further increased by contradictory colloquial names. The most famous of American trouts are the Rainbow and the Brook, or Speckled (see the color-page opposite). The former—a small, highly colored fish with a maximum weight of about six pounds, though rarely exceeding two to three pounds —is native only to the streams of the California coast ranges but it now extends, by introduction, throughout the East and acro the waters to Europe, South Africa, and many other parts of the world. The Brook, or Speckled, is of the Kast, but it has, similarly, been spread west to the Pacific slope as well as also to foreign countries. It seldom avoids the angler long enough to reach its po ible weight (under good conditions) of about twelve pounds and is generally hooked before it has attained, or at all events before it has exceeded, a pound or so. Both the Rainbow and the Brook are noted as game-fish. The largest of American trout is the Great Lakes, or ‘‘Mackinaw,’’ widely distributed in northern waters. Big specimens have exceeded 125 pounds, but fifteen to twenty pounds constitutes a good size in the big Jakes, and from two to seven in le er waters. The catch is an important industry. Among other important types are the Steelhead (or ‘‘salmon-trout’’), the Cutthroat (which takes its name from its deep-red throat blotch), and the Dolly Varden. All three are of the Pacific slope and the first two are fishes of good size, occasionally reaching twenty pounds, the Steelhead averaging the larger. The Cut-throats, particularly, are found in numerous forms and sizes and are known under many local titles. In some parts they have become inextricably mingled with Steelheads by repeated cro ings. The Dolly Varden is somewhat smaller in maximum weight. It is red and black spotted and in many respects resembles the Brook-trout. The Steelhead has been succe fully established in the Great Lakes and elsewhere. The Brown trout (the European ‘‘Brook-trout’’) has been introduced as a substitute for the American Brook-trout in places where that has been exterminated either by over-fishing or by changes in river conditions. It is hardier and easily naturalized but it has neither the beauty nor the gamene of the American fish. Trout are easily raised in protected waters — the quality of their flesh being, though, much inferior to that of the wild fish.