ALASKA FISHERY AXD FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1920. 



133 



after hatching burrow in the mud of the river banks and live like 

 earthworms for an indefinite period of two or more years. After 

 this they pass out to sea when some 6 inches long, and spend the 

 remainder of their life in the ocean. So far as known to the 

 writers, the lamprey scars have been found on salmon exclusively, 

 and on the Yukon never on chums or dog salmon. Some king 

 salmon Avould have two or even three scars and one was found on a 

 sockeye, but among the thousands of Yukon chums that we in- 

 spected there was not one that had been attacked b}' a lamprey. 

 It is an interesting question whether the Yukon lampreys follow 

 the Idng salmon of their own river on their feeding grounds and 

 prey on them. It is not known that their attacks are ever dan- 

 gerous. The salmon observed seemed in no case to have been 

 seriously injured. 



That the king salmon ascend the Yukon at a high rate of speed 

 has been accepted generally. An attempt was made to secure re- 

 liable records of their first appearance at a large number of localities 

 along the river. Wireless messages were sent to a number of points 

 during the early days of the run before the dates should be for- 

 gotten. And. in addition, a number of important records were 

 secured during visits to the fishing camps, some of these giving the 

 catch in detail day by day throughout the season. While it is 

 recognized that the capture of the first salmon of the season at 

 different points along the river may vary within a day or two in 

 relation to the beginning of the run, an examination of the data 

 indicates that this source of error is not serious and that reliable 

 conclusions concerning the rate of travel can be drawn from the 

 table presented. In this table, when two or more records have been 

 obtained from the same locality, the earliest has been selected as 

 giving the first appearance of the king salmon in that portion of 

 the river. 



Date OF Capture of First King Salmon at Localities on Yukon Kiveb, Season 



OF 1920. 



Locality. 



South mouth of river 



Run begins south mouth. 



Pilot Station 



Marshall . 



Russian Mission . . . 

 Tucker's fish camp. 

 Paimiut. 



Holy Cross 



Halls Rapids, above Anvik. . 

 Camp 51 miles below Kaltag. 



Kaltac 



KoyuKuk. 



Whisky Creek, above Louden. 



Ruby 



Tanana. 



Fish Creek, above Rampart Rapids . 

 Circle. 



Charlie Creek 



Eagle 



De Wolf's fish camp. 

 Dawson 



Date. 



June 13 

 June 15 

 June 20 

 . .do..., 

 June 21 

 June 23 

 Juno 22 

 Juno 23 

 June 24 

 June 27 

 June 28 

 Juno 29 

 Juno 27 

 ...do.. .. 

 Juno 28 

 July 3 

 July 11 

 July 12 

 July 13 

 Julv 14 



Approxi- 

 mate 

 distance 

 traveled. 



Miles. 



107 



144 



204 



221 



259 



279 



346 



440 



491 



555 



622 



659 



804 



851 



1,227 



1,317 



1,402 



1,478 



1,504 



