82 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



hours after capture. These fish are all about the same size, and, strange 

 to say, they seem to be all males,* and the milt often flows from them 

 while being taken from the hook, through squeezing them. 



d. Oncorhynchiis nerka. 



(Adult ill September; "Red-fish.") 



Description and color notes taken of several specimens, just as they 

 came out of the water, showing the difterences in individuals. All were 

 from Wallowa Lake, Oregon, caught with a seine near the head of the 

 lake August 31 and September 1, 1880. 



l^o. 1, S ■ Upper half of sides and back bright scarlet red, ijosterior 

 parts shading off to a bright crimson; the two upper fins same color as 

 the back, lower tins bluish on lower parts, the upper ends greenish olive; 

 belly bluish ; whole upper part of head light greenish yellow, showing 

 in strong contrast to the body; base of upper jaw steel-blue, lower jaw 

 bluish white. 



No. 2, ^ . Upper parts claret-color, slightly brighter about the caudal 

 region, otherwise marked like No. 1. Top of head hght yellowish green, 

 the yellow predominating, this color extending to and below the eye, 

 and backwards to end of gills, a deep olive green darker than the upper 

 parts of head, giving this specimen a very peculiar appearance ; belly 

 bluish white. 



No. o. Upper parts a very deep purple ; lower parts of belly a deep 

 bluish lead-color, otherwise marked like No. 2. 



No. 4, J . Small. Presumably just arrived at the lake. In this speci- 

 men the hooked nose is not as fully developed as in the preceding ones, 

 and the characteristic red of this species is obscured and partly hidden 

 by a bluish tint. The hump is not yet developed on the back, and if it 

 was not for the slightly hooked nose this specimen might readily be 

 taken for a female. Belly silvery white beneath, slightly tinged with 

 blue on the sides. Iris silvery. 



The females are .much more uniformly colored. The head is consider- 

 ably tinged with steel-blue and the red tint on the sides is more or less 

 clouded with blue and bronze. Females after spawning show consider- 

 able amount of red, only after spawning I noticed that the red color- 

 ing matter deposited in the skin appears to be drawn from the flesh, and 

 I find that in i^roportion to the bright coloring of the sldn of the fish 

 the flesh loses this tint. In some instances it is barely pink-colored or 

 almost white. After the spawning of these fish they are brightest out- 

 side and palest inside (as far as the flesh is concerned). The average 

 size of a luimber of males by actual weight is only 5 pounds, and of 

 females only 3f pounds. After death within half an hour the color of 

 these fish rapidly changes about the head and becomes a dark olive 

 green with bluish reflections, in some instances almost bluish black. 



* One female less than a foot long was found in the lot. The eggs were well de- 

 veloped, though few in number. — D. S. J. 



