890 



SCANDINAVIAN KISIIES. 



supporting rav, being iiere so devi'loped tiiat two so in tiie liasins of tiit- Volga and Inil tliere lives a 



vinii)le rays may with ease be counted in these fins. Ste)iodus hardly to be distinguished in species from 



The genus is strictly Arctic, belonging both to i the Siberian form, which in its turn seems to be 



Asia and America; but just as the Huch, a species in- | identical with tlie American. However this question 



habiting the Danube, has its nearest relation, not to of species be delermincd, we are here interested 



say identical species, in the Siljerian Sahi/o tiiiriatilis, only in 



THE NELMA OR SIBERIAN WHITE SALMON. 

 STEXODUS NKl.MA. 



Fig. •221. 



Fig. 221. ^lenodiis nelnni, $, from tlie lower part of the Dwina. Taken by Lienttiiant H. Sandeberg on llie 29tli Sept., 1877. 



V . of the naturiil size. 



/?.^r.(!))10;Z).A^^^U^U;]; A - ^^^^^^ [(15)16-18(19)]; 



14—16(17) 

 /,. /</^ K8— 109. 



10- 

 V. 



(9)10—11 



+ 1 + 17+1 



.%/i. (V) iSalmo leiicifhllii/s. Gvldenst-^dt, Nov. Coiiini. Ac-ail. Sc. Petrop., 



toni. XVI (1771—72), p. 5.33; cett. vide S.mitt, Riksm. 



^iilmoiiid., p. 207; adde Giiimm, Fish., Hunt. Riiss. Wat., 



pp. 12 et 20. 

 Saimo Nelma, P.4LL., Rnis. Rcis., p(. II, p. 716; cett. vide 



Smitt, 1. c. ; adde Grimji, 1. c. ; Lii.i.j. {SU'iiodus), jSc, SVorff. 



Fisk., vol. II, p. G98. 

 (y) .sVi/mo .Markeii:ii, Rich , Xan: Voy., Fkankl. 1819—22, 



App., p. 707; cett. vide Smiii, 1. c. 

 Coreyomis clupeoides, Lii.u., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1850, p. 304; 



cett. vide Smitt, 1. c. 



The Xelma is a tish highly esteemed and much 

 emploAcd in Russia. As we iiave already mentioned, 

 it probably belongs to the same species in South-eastern 

 liussia as in the .\rctic parts of that empire. The 

 southern form — wliich is perhaps distinguished l)y a 

 somewhat smaller head, less than ' - of the length of 

 the body — was named by Gyi.denstadt Leitcirhfhf/s, 

 a translation of the Russian Bjelaja Bi/him or IJcJari- 

 hitza, the white fish, referring to its coloration. In the 



" See Smiit, RikfM. .Salmon. , (ah. metr. VIII. 



Arctic Ocean it lives like the Salmons, and at the end 

 of wintci-, a.cc(_irdiiig to Pallas, ascends the rivers in 

 multitudes. Pallas supposed it to be wanting in the 

 Yenisei; but Nouden.skiuld'k E.xpedition of 187G brought 

 home fine specimens from that river. But most of the 

 Royal ^luseuni specimens are from the Dwina. where 

 they were taken at Archangel by Lieutenant H. San- 

 deblhg; and to judge by these specimens it ajipears as 

 if the spiiwning took jdace in s])ring or summer, for 

 in those caught at the end of Se])tcml)er" the genera- 

 tive organs were extremeh' litth.' developed. That it 

 is as mai-ked a predatory fish as the (jrayling, was 

 shown by one of these specimens, the stomach of which 

 contained five but partially digested Kotich. 



As Xii.s.sux has remarked, it is by no means im- 

 possible that tlic Nclma may sometimes rove from the 

 Arctic (»cean to the fjords or rivers of Norwegian Fin- 

 mark; but it has never vet Ijcen found there. Accord- 

 ing to (inniM the ;iimual take of in-hiid and Jeiicichthjis 

 in European Russia amounts to about 100,000 pud 

 (1,63S,050 kilo.) and has a value of more than 1,200,000 

 roubles (t'l 90,000)- 



