322 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIOXS IX ALASKA 



50. Ammocoetes aureus Bean. Lamprey Eel (Esk. Xil-muy-tlshiik). 



32fc'40. (73.) Mission, Yukon River, winter, lfi77-'78. 



32841. (76.) Mission, Yukon Eiver, winter, 1877-'78. 



32874. (70.) Mission, Yukon River, winter, 1877-'78. 



32875. (71.) Mission, Yukon River, winter, 1877-78. 



32876. (72.) Missiou, Yukon River, winter, 1877-'78. 



32877. (74.) Missiou, Yukon River, winter, 1877-'78. 



32878. (75.) Mission, Yukon River, winter, 1877-78. 



Ordinarily soon after the ice sets in the Yukon, and rarely just before this occurs, these fish 

 ruu up the Yukon in large numbers, reaching at least up to Xulato. They keep in the middle of 

 the river and move up against the swiftest part of the current and run in a dense body. So 

 compactly do they ruu that the natives use either a stick, with two short cross-bars at the lower 

 end, or a dip-net to throw them out on the ice. By means of these implements great numbers of 

 them are caught, although it is claimed that the eels only require about au hour for the main body 

 of them to pass any given point. The Yukon Eskimo have holes cut in the ice, and continuous 

 watch is kept when the time for their ruu apiiroaches, and as soon as they appear the alarm is given 

 and every one runs out on the ice with stick or dip-net, and, making holes in the thin ice, secures as 

 many as possible while the fish pass their station, and then they run upstream a half mile or so 

 and make another hole and secure as many more as possible, and thus follow the slowly-moving 

 fish for a long distance. In 1879 the run began at Anvik on the evening of November 26. They 

 are extremely oily, and the natives use the oil for eating and for lamps as a substitute for seal oil. 



