95 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



or five strong, sharp teeth on each side; hibials and limbs of the lower 

 jaw closely set with very fine, sharp teeth, finer and more numerous than 

 those of the S. scouleri ; vomerine and palatine teeth much larger than 

 those of the labials ; those of the vomer disposed in a single row on its 

 anterior portion ; tail rather strongly lunated, and profusely dotted with 

 large, elongated, oval, dark spots; the other fins usually unspotted, adi- 

 pose rather elongated ; scales much smaller than those of the IS. scouleri 

 and ver}' thin. They are imbedded in the skin and do not lap over, and 

 in many parts of the body do not even touch each other; those of the 

 back are much smaller than those below the lateral line. Skin very 

 thick. 



Hab. — The i^orthern Pacific coasts of Asiatic Eussia and America; 

 Puget Sound. Said not to enter the Columbia or to be seen south of the 

 Straits of Fuca. 



Diagnosis. — The present species may be distinguished from the S. 

 scouleri by its smaller size, the prominent hump in the males, its smaller 

 scales, spotted tail, and the fine regular teeth along the sides of the jaws. 

 The teeth of the 8. scouleri are scattered irregularly, and are generally 

 large, but by no means uniform in size along the sides of the maxillaries. 

 The female is shaped much like a shad. The si)ots on the caudal of 

 specimen 1132 are larger in proportion than those found on the tail of 

 any salmon of which examples from the northwest coast are contained 

 in the Smithsonian collection. But two hump-backed salmon have thus 

 far been received from the northwest coast, both obtained by Dr. Ken- 

 nerly, and both described in Vol. X, Pacific llailroad Reports. The 

 condition of the skins before us does not well admit of a satisfactory 

 demonstration whether the smaller scales along the abdomen and near 

 the tail do not overlap each other ; but the fact that they do not even 

 touch each other on the back and sides is apparent. It is very probable 

 that the salmon described by Richardson, (and included in the present 

 monograph,) 8. dermatiiiiis, is identical with the Froteus. (See S. der- 



MATINUS.) 



One of Dr. Kenuerly's specimens has a smooth, toothless tongue ; the 

 other, a female, has a single tooth thereon. The colors of this species, 

 like those of all anadromous salmon, become greatly changed after en- 

 trance into fresh water. Those of the male sent by Dr. Kennerly had 

 "the head greenish-yellow, clouded with black ; opercuhtj dull pinkish ; 

 upper parts, dirty grayish and yellow; ventrals and pectorals, grass- 

 green; dorsal, ultramarine and green ; tail, blotched with black." 



There are two specimens of the true hump-backed salmon of the north- 

 western coast in the Smithsonian collection. The writer described them 

 as new, under the name of iSalnio gibber, in the annals of the New York 

 Lyceum, December, 1858 ; but upon further examination, and a careful 

 comparison with Pallas's description of Salmo proteus, he become con- 

 vinced that it refers to the same fish* Upon comparing the same speci- 

 mens with Richardson's account of S. dermatinus, a similar identity of 



