ZOOLOGY. 311 



salmon. Tlie Indians take them in weirs gjid by spearing. In curing, the salmon shrinks one- 

 half in bulk. This shrinising should take place in the ' striking tubs' before packing, that they 

 may keep solid."* 



The salmon of Puget Sound and its affluents are probably not all precisely identical with those 

 of the Columbia, although for the most part the species are the same. Puget Sound is an arm 

 of the sea running into the land through a gap, called the Straits of Fuca, lying between the 

 south end of Vancouver's Island and the shores of Washington Territory. It extends to a 

 point some two hundred miles in the interior, and notwithstanding the number of fresh 

 mountain streams which empty into it, is apparently as salt at its head as the waters of the ocean 

 itself. There are many islands in the sound, and, as a consequence, there are numerous narrow 

 crooked passages, so that the whole, when stretched on a map, looks like a cunninglj'-contrived 

 aqueous labyrinth. The streams which empty into the sound for the most part arise in the 

 snow ranges on either side. The principal of these are the Nisqually, Puyallup, Dwamish, and 

 Snohomish rivers, and adjoining Puget Sound — forming part of the same water system in 

 Bellingham bay and the Gulf of Georgia — we have the Lurami river emptying. All these 

 streams are rapid and cold, and, considering the amount of water which flows through them, 

 short of extent, the dividing ridges of the mountains being generally not more than sixty or 

 seventy miles in a direct line from the sound. 



Puget Sound proper has scarcely any rock bottom, and but two or three reefs. Near Belling- 

 ham bay, and alcng the north side of the straits, many rock islands occur. Along the shores 

 are many sandspits partially surrounding shallow bays, in which vast numbers of j'oung 

 salmonidae feed and live, and where for a short time before the season of entering the rivers 

 the adult individuals of each kind may be found. It is in these situations that most of the good 

 salmon taken by the Indians during the cold months are caught. Although salmon have been 

 as yet unknown to take btiit or the fly after entering the rivers of that region, they nevertheless 

 are caught in the salt bays in large numbers by the natives. The following plan is pursued. 

 A small herring four or five inches long, is tied to a^ hook. Some six or eight feet from the 

 bait a small round stone is fastened to the line. Tlie stone acts as a "sinker," keeping the 

 bait sunk some six or eight feet below tlie surface while being " trolled." The Indian in a 

 light canoe paddles about slowly and noiselessly, trolling the line with a jerking motion, and 

 not unfrequently taking in the course of a couple of hours several handsome fish, weighing 

 from ten to thirty pounds each. The time chosen for this business is generallj^ the two hours 

 succeeding day break and an hour or two towards evening. 



Besides the species contained in the list given, there are probably several salmon and trout, 

 occurring in the Oregon fauna, which have as yet been undescribed. Some of those known may 

 have been formerly described by Russian naturalists, as already stated. To one unaccustomed 

 to the variations in appearance caused by age, sex, and condition, in individuals even of the 

 same species, the proper classification of the northwest salmonidae may not seem a difficult 

 subject. But practically — and we hope that we may be pardoned for again reiterating previous 

 remarks— the reverse is the case. Added to alterations in color, according to different stages 

 of exhaustion, which are as great as those which have rendered the dying dolphin noted, we . 

 have alterations in contour and a difference in the anatomical appearance of the jaws and 



* Atler going througli the " sinking tubs" 1 am told that the salmon should be forced into the barrels by a press or screw, 

 so that the fish which are piled up to a point one third higher than the depth of the barrel sliall be forced in by the barrel 

 "head," which is pushed down by the screw. Thus closely packed, there is no danger of their " working" and becoming 

 disorganized by the motion of a vessel at sea. 



