Salmonicbe 8 1 



salmon, ascend streams but a short distance before spawning. 

 They seem to be in great anxiety to find fresh water, and many 

 of them work their way up little brooks only a few inches deep, 

 where they perish miserably, floundering about on the stones. 

 Every stream of whatever kind, from San Francisco to Bering 

 Sea, has more or less of these fall salmon. 



The absence of the fine spring salmon in the streams of 

 Japan is the cause of the relative unimportance of the river 

 fisheries of the northern island of Japan, Hokkaido. It is 

 not likely that either the quinnat or the red salmon can be 

 introduced into these rivers, as they have no snow-fed streams, 

 and few of them pass through lakes which are not shut off by 

 waterfalls. For the same reason neither of these species is 

 likely to become naturalized in the waters of our Eastern States, 

 though it is worth while to bring the red salmon to the St. 

 Lawrence. The silver salmon, already abundant in Japan, 

 should thrive in the rivers and bays of New England. 



The Parent-stream Theory. It has been generally accepted 

 as unquestioned by packers and fishermen that salmon return 

 to spawn to the very stream in which they were hatched. As 

 early as 1880 the present writer placed on record his opinion 

 that this theory was unsound. In a general way most salmon 

 return to the parent stream, because when in the sea the parent 

 stream is the one most easily reached. The channels and run- 

 ways which directed their course to the sea may influence their 

 return trip in the same fashion. When the salmon is mature 

 it seeks fresh water. Other things being equal, about the same 

 number will run each year in the same channel. With all this, 

 we find some curious facts. Certain streams will have a run 

 of exceptionally large or exceptionally small red salmon. The 

 time of the run bears some relation to the length of the stream : 

 those who have farthest to go start earliest. The time of running 

 bears also a relation to the temperature of the spawning grounds : 

 where the waters cool off earliest the fish run soonest. 



The supposed evidence in favor of the parent-stream theory 

 may be considered under three heads: * (i) Distinctive runs in 



* See an excellent article by H. S. Davis in the Pacific Fisherman for July, 

 1903. 

 II 6 



