208 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



from 6 to 8 inches long, and by November, 8 to 11 inches. After that 

 they disappear, and I know of no instance of their appearance later 

 until they are on their way to spawn. As they will not take spoon or 

 bait, it would seem that, like the sockeye, they spend the intervening 

 time in the open sea. 



Of the 2,000 dog salmon examined, 1,300 were from near the 

 mouth of the little Qualicum river and the remainder were mostly 

 from the strait near Nanaimo, although at times fish from near 

 Chemainus were mixed with the Nanaimo fish, and it is possible some 

 of these were included. All the fish examined were of the sea type. 



The year classes were distributed as follows : 



This shows that dog salmon from these localities nearly all mature 

 in the third or fourth year, with the fourth year decidedly in the 

 majority. 



The proportion of males to females in the Nanaimo and Qualicum 

 lots is somewhat dissimilar. In the Qualicum dogs, the males are in 

 the majority in all the year classes, although not nearly so much in 

 the 3-year class as in the others, hence taking all together, the majority 

 is large. In the Nanaimo fish the females are in the majority in the 

 3-year class, but not in a large enough majority to balance the excess 

 of males in the 4-year class. The majority of males in the total, 

 however, is not very large. Strange to say, the only 2-year fish ob- 

 tained was a female. 



Qualicum 



