MO. 1876 ALASKAN FRESHWATER SCULPIN — BEAN AND WEED 459 



young Salmon of the size of those they had eaten, and there is no 

 reason to suppose that they would voluntarily wait until their stom- 

 achs were entirely empty unless from some special cause. 



Blobs in general are bottom fish and prefer to remain hidden 

 under stones, etc. It is just in similar places that young Salmon 

 and Trout hide at certain hours of the day, usually when the sun is 

 hottest; the Blobs can then get them with least difificulty. It is 

 probable, therefore, that the stomach contents of each of these Blobs 

 represents one day's feeding and that under proper conditions 

 (when Salmon eggs or young Salmon are available) about the same 

 amount would be eaten each day. 



These fourteen Blobs had eaten thirty-nine Salmon and forty-six 

 •eggs, or an average of almost three Salmon and a little over three 

 eggs for each fish. This is probably a good daily average for at 

 least two months of each year, and if the Blobs are present in the 

 river in such numbers as are indicated in Mr. Patching's letter, the 

 consequent loss would be many thousand Salmon a year. 



The greediness of some of the Blobs was certainly remarkable. 

 One had eaten seven Salmon, five of which were about 5 cm. (2 

 Indies) long and the other two about 7 cm. (nearly 3 inches) long. 

 'JMie last fish eaten was about 7 cm. long and had been swallowed 

 tail first. As there was no room in the Blob's stomach for this one, 

 only its tail was found there, while its head stretched up into the 

 mouth of the Blob. The young Salmon eaten by the Blobs varied 

 from about 5 centimeters (2 inches) to more than twice that length. 

 One or two that were smaller seemed to be Trout (Salvio sp.). 

 Nearly all the fish were in such condition that the genus to which 

 they belong could be determined. 



In all but one of the Blobs the presence of large numbers of Nema- 

 tode parasites was noted. They were in the body cavity, either free 

 or in cysts. Most of them were just leaving the cysts, but a few 

 were entirely free. Two or three were found in the stomach or in- 

 testine and several more had penetrated the wall of the stomach. 

 Others had started to burrow in the dorsal and ventral muscles and 

 some were visible from the outside just under the skin of the belly. 

 In their attempts to burrow to the outside they had penetrated all 

 the visceral organs ; one had even entered the head and seemed to 

 be seeking an exit through the cranium. The cysts were found in 

 the peritoneum, in the wall of the stomach, in the dorsal and ventral 

 muscles and in the liver and kidney. None was found in the ovary 

 or the testis. The males seemed to be less susceptible to the attacks 

 of these worms than the females, but this mav be due to the small 



