VIVIPAROUS FISH. 109 



system of cooking or culinary skill would ever 

 convert it into a palatable fish. 



The geographical range of viviparous fish, as far 

 as I have any opportunity of judging, is from the 

 Bay of San Francisco to Sitka. It may perhaps 

 (and I have but little doubt that it does) extend 

 much farther south along the Mexican coast ; but 

 this I can only surmise, never having seen them 

 beyond the limits above stated. It frequents all 

 the bays and harbours on the east and west sides 

 of Vancouver Island, and is equally abundant in 

 the Gulf of Georgia and the Straits of Juan de 

 Feuca; making its appearance about the same 

 period, or perhaps somewhat earlier, in the va- 

 rious inlets on the Oregon coast, from Cape Flat- 

 tery to the Bay of San Francisco. It will be just 

 as well perhaps, before I go into the subject of 

 its specific characters and singular reproductive 

 organs, I should mention how I first stumbled 

 upon the fact of its being viviparous. 



Soon after I arrived at Vancouver Island, I at 

 once set to work to investigate, as far as it lay in 

 my power, the habits and periods of migration of 

 the different species of fish periodically visiting 

 the North-west coast. The sole means then at 

 my disposal to obtain fish for examination, or as 

 specimens to send home, was to employ Indians 



