482 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH ! ' AND FISHERIES. 



V 



The gentleman from whom I procured them writes me that when 

 alive in the water they are all of a beautiful vermilion, very nearly the 

 color of gold-fish, and that they are considered excellent eating. I would 

 be pleased, if after their receipt and examination, you will give me your 

 views in relation to these fish. Unfortunately, instead of being placed 

 in alcohol, they were packed in a box of salt, but still I think they are 

 not so shrunk but that you can determine their class. 



I trust that when your carp come from Germany we may receive a 

 few for propagation. We have any quantity of lakes, surrounded by 

 tule and other vegetable growth, admirably adapted to carp, filled now 

 with only very poor and coarse suckers and chubs, except in the case of 

 Tulare Lake, where there is a large, fine fish, locally called lake-trout, 

 but which I believe to be of the carp kind. I will try and procure one 

 of them and forward to you. 



Very respectfully, &c, B. B. BEDDING, 



Secretary California Fish Commission. 



Prof. S. F. Baird, 



Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 



San Francisco, Cal., August 25, 1875. 



Sir : I have received some further information relative to salmon in 

 the San Joaquin Fiver. Mr. O'Neil, who has charge of the railroad- 

 bridge crossing the San Joaquin Riser, in latitude 36° 30' north and 

 longitude 120° west, writes me, on the 13th August, that the salmon 

 have commenced running up and are passing by the bridge in quanti- 

 ties. He states that they do not appear to be any different from the 

 Sacramento salmon. 



The run of salmon in this river, at this particular season of the year, 

 seems somewhat extraordinary, from the fact that it is in the midst of 

 the summer, and to reach this point they have passed for one hundred 

 and fifty miles through the San Joaquin Valley, where the temperature of 

 the air at noon is, at this season of the year, never less than 80°, and is 

 often as high as 110°. 



The record of temperature of air and water is kept at that point and 

 forwarded regularly to you. I find, on examination, that the mean from 

 the 16th to the 31st, was, for the air, 104f°, water at the surface, 80°, 

 water at the bottom, 79°, mean of the depth of the river, 4 feet 7f iuches. 

 The record, when received, will show that the mean of both air and water 

 in July was higher. 



It seems very extraordinary to me that there should be a run of sal- 

 mon at this season of the year come in from the ocean for the purpose 

 of spawning, and passing up a river for more than one hundred and 

 fifty miles, where the temperature of the air and water are so high as 

 these figures show. It but confirms Mr. Livingston Stone's theory, in 

 his report to you, that somewhere in California the salmon are spawn- 



