ZOOLOGY. 329 



incliuled. Indeed, the specimens of the species of Salmonidre from the Pacific coast of America, 

 now in the Smithsonian collection, vary so much in regard to the arrangement of the teeth on 

 the vomer that I have no hesitation in rejecting, for the present, the genus Fario of Valenciennes. 

 It is very probable that the arrangement and number of the vomerine teeth dejiends greatly 

 on the mje of the individual, and may also ordinarily vary much in individuals otherwise alike. 

 The female obtained by me from the Straits of Puca had a very short, small head, forming 

 about one-thirteenth of the total length of the fish. Female salmon usually have smaller heads 

 than the males, but I do not remember ever seeing those of any species so small, compared to 

 the total length of the body, as in the present instance. The under jaw was received nicely 

 and accurately within the upper. The labial, inferior maxillary, and vomerine teeth are very 

 uniforju in size, and quite small, those of the intermaxillary larger, but still small. 



The name given to the species by the Klallam Indians is Klutchin. 



While residing at Puget Sound I collected the following information from the Indians 

 respecting the salmon known to the Nisquallies as the skwowl, which I consider identical with the 

 Klutchin of the Clallums, a specimen of which has served as the typical example of the present 

 species. This fine salmon is second to none in beauty, size, or excellence. It arrives in the 

 bays and estuaries of Puget Sound about the middle of autumn, and towards the first of 

 December commences to run up the lai'ger rivers emptying into the sound. Their ascent of 

 these streams continue through December and January. This arrival of the species in fresh 

 water is not as simultaneous, neither do they arrive in such great numbers at any one time or 

 in "schools,'' as is the case with the skourtz and several other species, but the "run" being 

 somewhat more "drawn out" affords a steady moderate supply to the Indians during its con- 

 tinuance. In the fall and winter large number are taken by the Indians from the salt water 

 by trolling with hook and line in the bays and coves of Puget Sound. The bait used is 

 generally a small kind of herring, a little larger than the common sardine of commerce. After 

 entering the rivers it is taken by the Indians in nets, traps, baskets, <fcc., and also by spearing. 



Its flesh when cooked is of a beautiful salmon red, and, as a table delicacy, when fat, as it 

 generally is when "fresh run," ranks equally with that of the S. salar, the safsi^p, or the 

 quinnat. The Cowlitz river, (a branch of the Columbia,) situated not more than sixt}' miles 

 from the head of Puget Sound, has salmon of various species entering it at regular periods 

 annually. Indians of intelligence have told me that the species under consideration is the only 

 kind common to both these waters. How far we can place reliance on their statements is 

 difficult to determine. 



The distinguishing characters which strike the eye at a glance are its short and small head, 

 the small weak teeth in the jaws, and the shape of its tail, which is truncated — not forked. 



I obtained a fine specimen of the Klutchin, at New Dungeness, Straits of Juan de Fuca, during 

 the last week of January, 1857. The measurements were as follow: 



Upper measurement 



Inches. 



Total length 29^ 



Head from tijj of snout 3^ 



Nose to first dorsal fin 12| 



Nose to adipose dorsal 22 



Length along the lateral line from nose to 



base of tail 28 



12 Q 



Lower measurement. 



Inches. 



Nose to tip of tail, total length SOJ 



Nose to pectoral fin 3^ 



Nose to abdominal fin 14 



Nose to ventral 20| 



Nose to base of lowermost caudal rays, 



about 27 



