POPULAR MISCELLANY 



573 



time, the domestic animals, the dog, sheep, 

 horse, and various breeds of cattle appear, 

 and are subject to man; and along with 

 them there was the cultivation of the arts 

 of agriculture. In conclusion, he claimed 

 that hopes of fixing the exact antiquity of 

 man would be vain, as there were intervals 

 of the length of which we have no record ; 

 but he was certainly an inhabitant of the 

 earth during the Glacial period. 



Does Sargassnm yegetate in the Open 



Sea ? — In reply to the questions of a corre- 

 spondent in " Nature," regarding sargassum, 

 Mr. J. J. Wild gives the following informa- 

 tion : While on board the Challenger, dur- 

 ing her cruise in the North Atlantic in the 

 year 1873, he had frequent opportunity for 

 observing this alga, and more than once 

 saw large patches of it extending from the 

 vicinity of the vessel to a great distance. 

 As regards the appearance of these sargas- 

 sum patches, he quotes Sir C. WjTille Thom- 

 son, who says: "They consist of a single 

 layer of feathery branches of the weed 

 {Sargassum baccifh-um), not matted, but 

 floating nearly free of one another, only 

 sufficiently entangled for the mass to keep 

 together. Each tuft has a central brown, 

 thread-like, branching stem, studded with 

 round air-vesicles on short stalks, most of 

 those near the center dead and coated with 

 a beautiful netted white polyzoon. After a 

 time vesicles so incrusted break off, and, 

 when there is much gulf-weed, the sea is 

 studded with these little separate white 

 balls. A short way from the center toward 

 the ends of the branches, the serrated, wil- 

 low-like leaves of the plant begin, at first 

 brown and rigid, but becoming further on 

 in the branch paler, more delicate, and more 

 active in their vitality. The young fresh 

 leaves and air-vesicles are usually orna- 

 mented with the stalked vases of a campa- 

 nularia. The general color of the mass of 

 weed is thus olive in all its shades, but the 

 golden olive of the young and growing 

 branches greatly predominates." Mr. Wild 

 still further quotes from the same author 

 to the effect that sargassum is the "one 

 notable exception " to the rule that the 

 higher algae do not live on the surface of 

 the sea. Mr. H. N. Moseley, in " Notes by 

 a Naturalist," refers to the pelagic habits of 



sargassum and other sea-wccds when he 

 says, " They grow attached to rocks, as well 

 as free, but they all produce spores only 

 when attached." 



The Salmon Industries of Oregon. — It 



is well known that the salmon, which is es- 

 teemed a luxury, and at certain seasons of 

 the year is found only on the tables of the 

 rich, is a prolific fish. A female will yield 

 about a thousand eggs for every pound of 

 her weight, but, of the millions of eggs 

 deposited in spawning-beds, only a few de- 

 velop to adult salmon. Numberless ova es- 

 cape fertilization, floods carry them from 

 their places of deposit, and enemies destroy 

 both eggs and fish. Enthusiasts in fishery 

 economy assert that in the near future salm- 

 on will be as cheap as other fish. At pres- 

 ent, however, it is very dear, and, notwith- 

 standing that artificial spawning is resorted 

 to, the fish does not increase in proportion 

 to the increasing demand. This keeps up 

 the price, and has given rise to an impoi't- 

 ant industry in the preparation of canned 

 salmon. We glean the following concern- 

 ing this industry from " Chambers's Jour- 

 nal " : A surprising trade in this commodity 

 has developed in Oregon, and large quan- 

 tities of canned fish are exported from this 

 source to Great Britain and Europe. Scot- 

 land and Ireland yield excellent salmon, 

 but the canned fish may be obtained even 

 in remote towns of the ITnited Kingdom for 

 half the price of the fresh. There are flour- 

 ishing canneries on the Umpqna, Eraser, 

 Royal, and Columbia Rivers. In some of 

 these a capital of fifty thousand dollars 

 has been invested, and twice that outlay 

 will be required for some newly projected 

 establishments. The fish taken from the 

 Columbia River are nearly all ' canned,' and 

 as many as twelve million pounds of salm- 

 on have been taken from this source in a 

 single season. The Columbia is a river of 

 vast extent, with an enormous body of water. 

 Salmon run up to a distance of four hun- 

 dred miles from the sea, and thus obtain 

 ample living and spawning room in shallow 

 places of the main stream and its tributa- 

 ries. The fish selected for canning is local- 

 ly known as the ' chinook salmon.' Its 

 average size is twenty-two pounds. When 

 taken only for local consumption, clubs and 



