480 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



'The distribution' of tin- Quinnat is from Ventura River, where individuals occasionally run in 

 tin 1 winter, to Kamtehatka. It also occurs in the rivers of the corresponding- latitude in Asia 

 Tin- abundance of this species lias probably not yet materially diminished in the Columbia. More 

 than a million and a half have been canned on the Lower Columbia dining the present season 

 (April. May. .June, .Inly, isso), a greater number than has ever been taken before. In the 

 Sacramento the numbers have doubtless been reduced by overlishing, and a systematic process 

 of keeping up the supply in the Columbia by means of hatcheries will very soon be necessary. 



"The Salmon take no food in fresh water. In the headwaters of .the rivers, in the clear water, 

 they (at least the males) will sometimes take an artificial fly. In the ocean they take a trolling 

 bait, readily. They then feed on anchovies, herring, smelts, sand lauuces, shrimps, and in general 

 on any living object. Even at the time of first entering the rivers in spring the stomach is found 

 empty and contracted. 



"The enemies of the Salmon are, when very young, the chubs, suckers, and other small fishes, 

 which prey upon the eggs and young fish. In the ocean their chief enemies are the seals of 

 different species, who bite out their throats and destroy very great numbers of them all along the 

 coast. No diseases were noticed by us, except those produced by the accidents and great exertions 

 accompanying the spawning season. 



"The economic value of this species at present exceeds that of all others on the Pacific coast 

 combined. It is brought fresh to the markets of all the cities, and the flesh is canned for export 

 to the East and to other countries, especially to England." 



NAMES. The first scientific name by which this fish was commonly known was Salmo qwiiit. 

 This name is generally reputed to be derived from a river, called the Quinuault, where a partic- 

 ularly good variety of this Salmon was found. This the writer is quite positive is an error. The 

 common name of the Salmon, at least among the Columbia River Indians that lived near the mouth 

 of the Willamette, was "Quinuault," of which Quinnat is a conuption, and the scientific name was 

 undoubtedly taken directly from the Indian name of the fish. The river might have been named 

 after the fish, but it is not likely that the fish was named after the river. 



Not long ago Professor Jordan, after a critical examination of the fish, pronounced it to be 

 not correctly a Salmon, but an Oncorhynchus, and rechristened the fish Oncorhynchns qitinnat, 

 which name it held till last summer (1880), when Professor Jordan discovered that the ti-sh 

 had probably been described by Walbaurn, in 1792, under the name of tialmo chouicha, and 

 yielding to prior authority restored its original name, by calling it Oncorhynchus chouicha, 

 which name it will now probably retain until a more captivating successor presents itself. The 

 small tish which were called by Girard, Suckley, Jordan, and Copelaud by the appellations Fario 

 argyreus, Salmo argyrem, and Salmo Warreni were without doubt the young of the Oncnrhynclius 

 chouiclia, and the names will now be given up. 



DISTRIBUTION. The distribution of this Salmon is quite limited, being at present restricted 

 to the Pacific slope of North America, between the neighborhood of the bay of Monterey and the 

 Alaska bonier, although if it is the same as the "King Salmon" of the Yukon and the Alaska 

 Rivers its range extends as far north as the Arctic Ocean. 



The California Salmon is taken in the largest quantities in the Sacramento and Columbia 

 Rivers, these being the largest rivers on the coast, but is also found in considerable numbers in 

 the smaller rivers of California, Oregon, Washington Territory, and British Columbia, notably in 

 the Eel, Russian, Ivlamath, Rogue, and Frazer Rivers. 



The adult fish vary widely in size. The smallest mature fish on record was caught in the 

 McCloud River, California, and weighed about four pounds. The largest on record was caught in 



