380 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



light, but could not find one male. This has been the case since the first 

 entrance of the salmon this fall. There are any amount of beds; in fact, 

 on many of the gravel beds the bottom of the creek is literally ploughed 

 up with the workings of these salmon. Another peculiarity is that not 

 a single grilse has been seen (with the exception of one California 

 grilse taken last night). In the fall of 1878 salmon of both sexes and 

 grilse were very numerous, quite equal to the olden times some thirty- 

 five or forty years ago. In 1879 they fell off very largely in numbers, 

 and this season they are very much reduced from last year, with the pe- 

 culiarity of all being large females, and no grilse. I mention these cir- 

 cumstances for your information, and they wiU, no doubt, appear to you 

 as being very extraordinary. I can hardly venture to ask you for a 

 cause, or even the theory of a cause, for this peculiarity with my fish. 

 My only hopes are that when Professor Hind hears of it he, with his 

 love in relation to salmon (particularly the biennial and summer-spawn- 

 ing ones), will, no doubt, incubate some theory why, and how, these phe- 

 nomena have occurred. 



I am also getting puzzled in mind about your California salmon; they 

 are also turning a cold shoulder to me. The record, this season of 1880, 

 is as follows : In April last my son caught a very beautifully formed one 

 in the stream here whilst fishing for some suckers. He was about three 

 pounds in weight; I have him yet. He has been kept ih a small tank 

 of spring water along with some trout, but we have never seen him eat 

 anything yet. He is looking a little thin just now. One small trap-net 

 was set out in the lake this season nearly opposite my stream, and dur- 

 ing my absence the fishermen reijorted that about half a dozen small 

 Californias were taken, from four to six pounds. About ten days ago 

 a female California was caught in this creek (spent); length, 28 inches; 

 she was terribly battered up ; and last night I caught a small grilse ; 

 they were the most miserable specimens offish I ever saw. Judging from 

 what I have read of the " Quinnat" (having never seen a full sized adult), 

 these two last mentioned specimens cannot belong to that class. I should 

 say they must be more like the ^'■Salmo sc'Oi*Zeri," hooked-nosed salmon, or 

 ^^Salmo canis,''^ dog-salmon, as each of them has three sharp hooked- 

 like teeth at the extreme end of both the upper and lower jaws. I have 

 never seen fish with teeth so strangely shaped, nor so i^eculiarly placed 

 in their mouths as these two fish have them. 



Before closing this letter, might I ask as a favor, whether it would be 

 possible for me to obtain from you a few carp. I have some ponds which 

 were originally made for nursery ponds for young salmon, but finding 

 that the temperature of the water rises so high in them in the summer, 

 that the salmonoid family all die, I have thought of using them for carp. 

 The water, to any extent, can be supplied from the main creek ; the ponds 

 cover some three acres or more, ranging from 2 to 4 feet deep. Should 

 I succeed in getting a few carp, I would sink wells some 8 or 10 feet 

 deep in them, in which the carp coidd sleep during the extreme cold in 



