SalmonicUe 73 



but the blue-back is not found in the Sacramento. Only the 

 quinnat and the dog-salmon have been noticed south of San 

 Francisco. In Japan keta is by far the most abundant species of 

 salmon. It is known as sake\ and largely salted and sold in the 

 markets. Nerka is known in Japan only as landlocked in Lake Akan 

 in northern Hokkaido. Milktschitsch is generally common, and 

 with masou is known as masu, or small salmon, as distinguished 

 from the large salmon, or sake\ T schawytscha and gorbuscha are 

 unknown in Japan. Masou has not been found elsewhere. 



The quinnat and blue-back salmon, the "noble salmon," 

 habitually "run" in the spring, the others in the fall. The 

 usual order of running in the rivers is as follows : tschawytscha, 

 nerka, milktschitsch, gorbuscha, keta. Those which run first go 

 farthest. In the Yukon the quinnat runs as far as Caribou 

 Crossing and Lake Bennett, 2250 miles. The red salmon runs 

 to "Forty-Mile," which is nearly 1800 miles. Both ascend to 

 the head of the Columbia, Fraser, Nass, Skeena, Stikeen, and 

 Taku rivers. The quinnat runs practically only in the streams 

 of large size, fed with melting snows; the red salmon only in 

 streams which pass through lakes. It spawns only in small 

 streams at the head of a lake. The other species spawn in 

 almost any fresh water and only close to the sea. 



The economic value of the spring-running salmon is far 

 greater than that of the other species, because they can be cap- 

 tured in numbers when at their best, while the others are usually 

 taken only after deterioration. 



The habits of the salmon in the ocean are not easily studied. 

 Quinnat and silver salmon of all sizes are taken with the seine 

 at almost any season in Puget Sound and among the islands 

 of Alaska. This would indicate that these species do not go 

 far from the shore. The 'silver salmon certainly does not. 

 The quinnat pursues the schools of herring. It takes the 

 hook freely in Monterey Bay, both near the shore and at a 

 distance of six to eight miles out. We have reason to believe 

 that these two species do not necessarily seek great depths, 

 but probably remain not very far from the mouth of the rivers 

 in which they were spawned. The blue-back or red salmon cer- 

 tainly seeks deeper water, as it is seldom or never taken with the 

 seine along shore, and it is known to enter the Strait of Fuca in 



