ZOOLOGY. 319 



generally at the head of largo bands, on account of which the natives call them mee-oo-tees, or 

 chiefs. The Indians say that they have suffered these disasters by falling back among the 

 stones when coming up difficult places in the rapids which they pass." 



The method of capturing salmon by "hooking" them, in the manner described by Dr. 

 Cooper, is in vogue with the Indians of Puget Sound, who in this way take vast quantities of 

 the autumnal species, which, as alreadj"- stated, are fond of entering the more shallow streams. 



At the great Dalles fisheries on the Columbia I did not notice the disposition of the salmon 

 to arrive in series according to age, but in June, 1855, I remarked, on the contrary, that vast 

 numbers of fish o/' all sizes, varying from a pound and a half to 30 or 10 pounds, were taken 

 promiscuously together. 



The question whether all individuals of certain species of salmon do not die in fresh water 

 soon after spawning, none returning to the sea, is a mooted point on our northwestern frontier. 

 Pallas, in speaking of certain of the salmon of Kamtschatka, takes particular pains to state 

 that they do not return to salt water. Thus, in referring to the S. proteus, or hunchback, he 

 says : "After the month of August has been passed in the functions of generation, all of these 

 fishes perish in the rivers, and strew the land and the banks of the rivers with their dead 

 bodies, none returning alive to the sea." — (See Pallas Zoographica Rosso-Asiatica, Fislies, 

 p. 377 ; also translation beyond under the head of S. gibber.) 



On this subject Dr. Scouler remarks as follows :* 



"Pennant says the Kamtschatka salmon die without returning to the sea after spawning. 

 I never heard such an opinion mooted on the northwest coast, and saw nothing to confirm it ; 

 but, as the streams which the American salmon ascend are often extremely shallow, and as they 

 spawn in Observatory inlet during the months of July and August, when the water is at the 

 lowest, I should suppose that great numbers must perish from emaciation, (for their flesh then 

 becomes white, or at least a great deal less red, and of bad quality,) and from the extreme 

 difficulty they must experience in returning to the sea from the want of water, and perhaps 

 from its high temperature. Thousands also must be devoured by the osprey, the white-headed 

 eagle, and the otter, in the fresh waters, and by the seals in the sea, so that I should think few 

 survive. I am unable, however, to say whether any return to the sea or not." 



Since Dr. Scouler wrote, many white settlers have located themselves on the north Pacific 

 coast of America, and large and flourishing settlements have grown uj). In consequence, 

 observation in all branches of natural history has been much extended, and our knowledge of 

 that hitherto obscure region increased. It seems from the accounts of recent observers that 

 certain species of salmon do not, in general, return to the sea after spawning, but die in the 

 fresh water streams remote from the ocean. Other species, on the contrar}-, seem to return to 

 the sea, no matter to what distance in the interior they may have penetrated. Of course, in 

 speaking of a species, we mean the bulk of individuals belonging to it, forming the "run" or 

 migration. Of all kinds vast numbers die from exhaustion and the attacks of their various 

 enemies, but certain species appear, as a rule, to die out after completing their procreative 

 efforts, while the great number of individuals composing other species return to the sea. Some 

 think that distance from salt water is the governing condition affecting the return. This it does 

 to a certain degree, but still the individual instincts and tenacity of life of certain species have 

 probably more to do in regulating it. Angus McDonald, who writes from the Kettle Palls, a 

 point fur up the Columbia, says that the sce-mct-leek (S. quinnai) are the first in the season "to 



•Scoulur in id. Rich. F. B. A., Ill, 15U. 



