Iviii NATURAL HISTORY. 



the head, and in the size and general character of the scales ; it differs from it, how- 

 ever, in having a thicker body, a ventricose belly, and short fins. Its upper jaw, too, is 

 comparatively shorter, the distance from the tip of the snout to the extremity of the 

 labials, when apphed to the top of the head, falling about an inch short of the nape 

 instead of reaching to it as in the preceding species. Its colours are described 

 as follows by Captain J. C. Ross : " The body above the lateral line is of a deep green, 

 softening towards the belly, which, posteriorly to the pectorals, is of a beautiful yel- 

 lowish-red. There are several rows of occellate red spots, confined chiefly to the space 

 between the lateral line and the yellowish-red of the belly, and varying in size, the largest 

 being as big as a pea. The dorsal fins are of the colour of the back. The pectorals, 

 ventrals, and anals, are dusky-red, their first rays white." 



The length of the specimen is twenty inches, of which the head forms more than 



one-fifth. 



Fins: Br. 11, 12. P 17. D 14—0. V 10. A 12. C 214- 



SALMO HOODII {The Masamucush). 



ICON.— Fflwn. Bor. Amcr.—^\. 82, fig. 2, pi. 83, fig. 2, and liead pi. 87, fig. I. 



This Char is well known throughout the fur countries, being found in every river and 

 lake. Its Cree name is Masuw-mcEcoos. It resembles the two preceding Chars in its 

 scales, but differs from them in the shortness of its jaws, and from the rest of the genus 

 in the peculiar smallness of its head, which forms only one-sixth of the total lengtli. 

 Plate 82, fig. 2, above quoted, is copied from a drawing made from a recent specimen 

 taken at Cumberland House, on the Saskatchewan, lat. 54°, by the lamented officer 

 whose name it bears; while plate 83, fig. 2, is from the dried skin brought home 

 by Captain J. C. Ross, An individual killed at Fort Enterprise, in March, 1821, 

 exhibited the following colours : Back and sides intermediate between olive-green and 

 clove-brown, bestudded with moderately large roundish spots of yellowish-grey, 

 the colour becoming more dilute as it descends on the sides ; the belly and under jaw 

 are white, and there are a few bluish-grey dots in the latter : there are also some small 

 and regular dots on the caudal and dorsal fins; irides honey-yellow, scales having 

 merely a moderate degree of lustre; there is a row of teeth across the tip of the 

 tongue, and a few scattered ones on its centre, as well as the usual row on each side. 



The length of the specimen from Boothia Felix is twenty-one inches. 



Fms: Br. 10, 11. P 16. D 12— 0. V 10. All. C 19 J. 



