THE CAPELIN OF THE NORTH PACIFIC — SCHULTZ 15 



Stelier (1774, p. 149) also gives an account of the capelin, from which 

 Pennant no doubt obtained most of his information given above. I 

 quote below Dr. L. Stejneger's translation of this reference on the 

 capelin: 



During June and July [old style Julian Calendar] such incredible numbers of 

 a small fish, five or six in.clies long, are cast ashore about Avatcha [bay] and the 

 mouth of the river Kamtchatka that they lie two to three feet high on the beach, 

 two and two, male and female usually adhering together. In both Itelmanian 

 [Kamtchadal] languages they are called Uiky. They are gathered in great 

 quantities, dried in the open air on the sand or on straw mats, and in the winter 

 these fishes are common food for the dogs at the Kamtchatka River. The 

 people pound the dried fishes, skin and bone, in large wooden tubs or mortars 

 and bake them like flour in many ways, and during famine times they become 

 often of great importance. On June 5, 1742 [old style], such quantities were 

 throvrn up on Bering Island by northwest wind that they were lying on the beach 

 two feet high. 



Pennant took his account of M. catervarius from Stelier but does 

 not give the type locality. In Steller's account above "Bering 

 Island", "Avatcha bay", and "the mouth of the river Kamtchatka" 

 are given as the type localities of cafervarms. Therefore, in the 

 National Museum the following specimens are topotypes: U.S.N.M. 

 nos. 33876, 47560, and 48856. 



The description by Pallas of the capelin of the North Pacific did not 

 furnish adequate data to make it possible to distinguish it from the 

 Atlantic form, Mallotus villosus (Miiller),* nor does the older one by 

 Pennant. Ichthyologists have referred the capelin of the North 

 Pacific to the synonymy of Mallotus villosus, which is now removed 

 from the synonymy of that form and restored to the rank of a distinct 

 species, Mallotus catervarius (Stelier, in Pennant, 1784). The capelin 

 of the North Atlantic, then, retains the name Mallotus villosus 

 (MiiUer). 



In July 1929, Fenton Drake sent the author a mature male of 

 Mallotus, which measured 100 mm in standard length. This fish was 

 collected near the Pillar Bay Cannery, Kuiu Island, southeastern 

 Alaska. The small size of this mature capelin caused the author to 

 search for additional specimens. He mentioned the probabihty of a 

 new form of Mallotus to Dr. W. F. Thompson, director of investiga- 

 tions of the International Fisheries Commission, Seattle, Wash., who 

 kindly turned over a collection of the same form, taken off the wharf 

 at Yakutat, Alaska, U.S.N. JnI. no. 103127. Two additional speci- 

 mens, U.S.N.M. no. 103128, collected by Ira Cornwall at Bentinck 

 Island, British Columbia, winter of 1934-1935, were presented to the 

 author by G. V. Wilby. All the specimens examined are listed in 

 table 1. 



« Clupea vi'losa MiiUer, 1776, p. 50. 



