102 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ily since then Dr. Kennerly lias sent home a fine skin and one or more 

 heads;] Ibid. Nat. Hist. Wash. Terr., chap, on Salmonidte. 

 Oncorhi/ncits canis, Suckley, Notices of Certain New Species N. A. Salmonidse. 

 N. Y., June 15, 1861. 



Sp. Oh. — Head large ; contained about 4^ times in the total length -, its 

 dorsal outline nearly straight; a dilated knob on the extremity of lower 

 jaw, upon which there are usually at least three large curved teeth, the 

 anterior being the largest. Large curved teeth on the premaxillary ; 

 arms of the jaws studded with small teeth of nearly uniform size and 

 appearance. Tongue with a diverging row of four teeth on each side. 

 Nostrils large and pyriform. Free margin of opercuia rounded much as in 

 )S. salar ; average number of branchiostegals, 13. Skin thick, fleshy; 

 tin membranes ditto. Scales quite adherent and over-lapping each other 

 about one-third. General form of body, compressed laterally, causing 

 it to be a rather deep fish for its size and weight; dorsal outline only 

 moderately arched; caudal insertion rather deep, caudal furcate. 



Colors. — Skin unspotted ( t. e., without speckles) but blotched on the 

 sides (especially after being a few days in fresh water) with large patches 

 of dingy-green and purplish-red. Fins and tail unspeckled. 



Diagnosis. — The Salmo canis is kuown from the S. sconleri by the 

 greater equality of its jaws; by its shorter intermaxillaries; by the 

 short, small, iiointed, nearly uniform aw^-like teeth on the bodies of the 

 inferior maxillaries. From the humped species it can readily be re- 

 cognized. Like the 8. scoidcri it has an unspotted tail. 



Hab. — Northwestern coast of America; enters the streams along 

 Piiget Sound in great numbers in autumn. 



The mouth of the female, as is usual with this group or subgenus of 

 salmon, is nmch more symmetrical than that of the male. 



The dried skin of a female salmon was obtained by Mr. George Gibbs 

 at New Dungeness, Straits of Fuca, August 12, 1851. It is now cata- 

 logued in the Smithsonian Museum as No. 1128. At first we took the 

 specimen to be a female S. scoideri, but more careful examination showed 

 our error. It more nearly approaches the ;S'. canis and is probabl^i the 

 female. 



Mr. Gibbs says it was known to the Klallams as the Jcet-hlchfs. In the 

 alcoholic specimen before me, the adipose fin is much elongated; its 

 anterior (or upper) margin much curved. The jaws are about equal in 

 length, but owing to the long teeth anteriorly they could not be made 

 to close tightly — the nearest approach to perfect closure being when the 

 under jaw was diverted to the right or left of its true line, like a pair of 

 tongs, in which the extremities pass each other owing to a defect in the 

 joint. 



There are also two teeth felt near the middle of the vomer, one before 

 the other. The jaws nearly equal in length, the lower being barely 

 received in the upper. 



The following quotation from our former report contains all the infor- 

 mation recorded concerning the habits of the fish : 



