14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.85 



putrescunt, ac si prima vice comesti palate arriserint, altera tamen vice non 

 appetuntur. Hinc exsiccari tantum solent pro canum pabulo, nee illis sunt salu- 

 bres, quippe debilitates inde alvi profluvium pati observatum est. Dira tamen 

 fames etiam incolas harum regionum cogit ad tale nutrimentum recurrere. 



Descr. Forma accedit ad Osmerum Spirinchum, quo major est; longitudinem 

 tamen 7 poll, latitudine unum nunquam superant. Caput longum, compressum, 

 rostro producto, vertice piano. Maxilla inferior superiore longior et angustior; 

 rictus amplus; nares utrinque geminae contiguae, in fossula oblonga, medio inter 

 ocidos et rostri apicem spatio. Oculi ad verticem, a rostro remotiusculi, majus- 

 culi; Iris lata, aureo-argentea, pupilla versus rostrum ovata. Lingua acuta. 

 Denies min[u]tissimi, tactu tantum explorandi, in margine maxillarum, laminae 

 mystaceae, areola linguae, et duplici stria palati. — Opercula branchiarum argentea, 

 rotundata late hiantia; Flabella branchialia decemlamellata. Corpus compres- 

 sum, microlepidotum, dorso subolivaceo opaco, cum relucente virore, lateribus 

 secundum lineam lateralem subaureolis, infra eandem purissime argentea. Linea 

 lateralis rectissima, dorso vicinior ji; supra eandem continua /ascia 1 lineam lata, 

 hispida, obsita squamulis subtilissimis, setaceoacutis, subarrectis. Squamae etiam 

 carinae ventralis setaceae, acutae, serraturam efEcientes (unde Miillero Clupea 

 dictus); in reliquo corpore minutissimae, strictae, ut in Eperlano. Pinnae 

 pectorales ad ipsa opercula oblique ortae, magnae, 18 radiorum, quorum duo an. 

 tcriores simplices; p. ventrales dorsali oppositae, itidem ortu obliquo, octoradiatae; 

 appendiculae squamiformes, ut in Eperlano et Spirincho nullae. P. ani magna, 

 lata, segmentum circuli referens, insidensque carinae carnoso-radiatae, valde 

 prominulae, ipsa constans radiis 21 vel 22. P. dorsi subquadrata, radiorum 12; 

 adiposa ante caudam tenuissima, arcuata, totaque longitudine adnata. Cauda 

 argute forcipata, radiis 18. articulatis. Vertebrae 68. 



The binominal name of Pallas, as defined above, has been accepted 

 by all recent authors as the oldest name given to the capelin of the 

 North Pacific. During his investigations of the life of Steller, how- 

 ever, Dr. L. Stejneger, head curator of biology of the United States 

 National Museum, found a still older name — "Salmo catervarius of 

 Steller" — which was pubUshed by Thomas Pennant ^ in his Arctic 

 Zoology (1784, vol. 1, p. cxxvii), his description being quoted in full 

 below: 



The most singular is the Ouiki, or Salmo Catervarius of Steller. It belongs to 

 the Osmeri of Linnaeus. Swims in immense shoals on the eastern coast of 

 Kamtschatka, and the new-discovered islands, where it is often thrown up by the 

 eea to the height of some feet, upon a large extent of shore: is excessively unwhole- 

 some as a food, and causes fluxes even in dogs. It never exceeds seven inches in 

 length. Just above the side-line is a rough fascia, beset vnih minute pyramidal 

 scales, standing upright, so as to appear like the pile of shag: their use is most 

 curious — while they are swimming, and even when they are flung on shore, two, 

 three, or even as many as ten, will adhere as if glued together, by means of this 

 pile, insomuch that if one is taken up, all the rest are taken up at the same time. 



To conclude this list of Kamtschatkan Salmon, I must add the Salmo Thyviallus, 

 or Grayling; the S. Cylindraceus, before described; the Salmo Albula, Lin. Syst. 

 512; and the Salmo Eperlanus, or common Smelt, to those which ascend the 

 rivers. — For this account I am indebted to Doctor Pallas, who extracted it from 

 the papers of Steller, for the use of this Work. 



3 Sherborn in his Index Animalium (1902, p. xliii) states that "no sp. nn.", no specific names, were given, 

 which is an error. 



