FISHES. 321 



Sound. At this latter place in 1878 and 1879 they first appeared on the 12th, and ran until the 

 16th. During the run they keep close to the shore, so that a person can stand on the beach and 

 spear them as they pass, and many are caught in seines by the Eskimo. Near Cape Vancouver many 

 are caught in gill-nets and dip-nets at this season. During the run schools of Belugas or White 

 Whales follow along shore and feast upon them. In 1881 the herrings did not appear at Saint 

 Michaels until June 15, and on the 19th the run was over. At this time these fish form a contin- 

 uous line along the beach, passing from south to north in unbroken succession, spawning on the 

 sea-weeds and rocks from above low-tide mark to a fathom below it. They enter all the inner 

 bays and swarm about every reef and rocky point. 



The water boils with them along shore as they struggle about in a dense mass among the short 

 sea-weed in spawning, and they can be easily caught in one's hands. The females move slowly 

 among the weeds and press in the midst of them, depositing their eggs, which adhere to M'hatever 

 they come in contact with by means of a gummy secretion, with which they are coated. Thrusting 

 my hand under water for a half minute was snfiicient for it to be covered with eggs. 



During all of the spawning time the milt of the males discolors the water to an opaque dirty 

 milky hue for from 2 to 4 fathoms from shore. 



The temperature of the water in the midst of the spawning fish was 44o.2. A large portion 

 of the eggs deposited during high tide were exposed to the sun and air at ebb so that they dried, 

 and the following high tide washed them off the weeds and they were lost. The amount thus 

 destroyed would equal at least 25 per cent, of the eggs deposited. 



In Sauer's account of the Billings Expedition, at the end of last century, he states that on 

 June 7, at the harbor of Saints Peter and Paul, in Kamchatka, he saw the herrings spawning on 

 sea-weeds along shore, so that at ebb tide a portion of them were exposed. He adds further that 

 the herrings return to that coast in fall, but that the spring fish are largest. 



It may be noted here that the water of Norton Sound, where I saw these fish spawning, is 

 very far from being as salty as the sea water on the coast of Kamchatka, owing to the proximity 

 of the Sound to the Yukon mouth, from which it appears that the herrings of this region are 

 somewhat indifiereut as to the quality of the water on their spawning beds. 



49. Catostomus catosxomus Forster. Pipe Fish (TwpAa of Russians). 



29906. (250-252.) Nulato, March, 1831. 

 32859. (49.) Nulato, January, 1878. 



Description of a specimen which was not kept. Length, 19 inches, dorsal 10 ; anal 7 ; scales, 17, 

 115, 14. Color, dull plumbeous on back and sides, fading gradually into white on the lower surface. 

 Extending along the lateral line is a band of light pink or rose color, gradually fading on the 

 posterior half. Iris golden. Head, above and on sides, bluish purple. Nose much prolonged. 

 Lips very prominently papillated. A series of small papilla) extend from under the eye out on the 

 snout on either side. Proportions: Head a trifle o%'er 4 times in entire length. Eye, 8^ in head, 

 3i in interorbital space. Depth of head 1^ in length of same. Height of dorsal a little more than 

 base and If in length of head. Pectoral, If in head. Ventral, 1$ in head. Anal, li in head. 

 Caudal, IJ in head. Caudal peduncle, width 3 in head. Depth of body, IJ in head. From eye 

 to end of snout 2 in head. 



The contour of head reminds one strikingly of a Sturgeon. 



32888. (101-106.) Audraevsky, Yukon River, win er, 1877-78. 

 32959. (314,316.) Audraevsky, Yukon River, sr .all creek. 

 32984. juv. Audraevsky, Yukon River, winter, 1377-78. 



The Eussiau name is derived from the peculiar shape of the head. 



This is an abundant species throughout Northern Alaska in all the streams, so far as I could 

 learn. Specimens were brought me from the Yukon at various points and from other streams, and 

 the first of September, 1881, I saw quite a number of them taken in a seine by the Eskimo from 

 the brackish estuaries of streams flowing into Kotzebue Sound. 

 S. Mis. 156 41 



