FOREST, LyiKE, AND RIVER 



ascending all suitable waters north of Cape Cod to 

 Hudson Bay ; it has been said that they were 

 abundant in the Hudson River, and also as being 

 an occasional visitor to the Delaware, both of 

 which statements are, however, open to question ; 

 certainly indigenous salmon (Salmo salar) have not 

 been taken from or seen in either river since the 

 first day of the last century, — a period of nearly 

 one hundred and two years. The salmon of 

 Northern Europe is identical in structure and 

 habits with the Sal??io salar of American waters, 

 but the salmon [Oncorhynchus] of the Pacific coast 

 (five species) are distinct in form, but not greatly 

 in habits, from the eastern species. One striking 

 peculiarity exists, however, in that many of the 

 Pacific fish die after spawning ; whereas none, if 

 any, of the Atlantic do so, returning to the sea 

 after the reproductive act, slab-sided, debilitated, 

 and hook-jawed, but rapidly recovering when in 

 salt water. 



The salmon ascends North American rivers in 

 May and June, and the greater portion of them, 

 perhaps all, in the opinion of many ichthyologists 

 and observant anglers, return to the sea in the 

 same month of the following year. John Mowatt 

 of Canada, who was a reliable and unusually intel- 

 ligent angler, now deceased, made a study for 



14 



