ZOOLOGY. 331 



SALMO GAIRDNERI, Rich. 



Gairdner's Salmon. 



SvN. — Salino gairdneri, Rich., Fauna B. A , Fishes, 183G, 221.— DeKat, N. Y. Fauna, iv, 1542, 243. — Stop.er, Synop. 

 1846, 196. —Herbert, Suppl. to Fjsh and Fishing of the United Slates, 1850, 34. (Now Fario 

 Gairdneri, Grd. Pr A. N. Sc, Phil, viii, 18oG, 219; sive Ibid, Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. vii ; et 

 Gen. Rep Fishes; p. 313, Plate, LXXI, fig. 1—4.') 

 ?(lueachls, Chinook. 

 Sp. Ch — [Based on data given by Richardson, and on the examination of two dried skins in the Smithsonian collection.] — 

 Profile of dorsal outline nearly straight; tail terminating in a sHghlly semilunar outline. Ventrals correspond to commencement 

 of dorsal, and adipose to end of anal. Jaws fully armed with strong hooked teeth, except a small space in centre of upper 

 jaw. Vomer armed with a double row for two-thirds of its anterior portion. Back of head and body, bluish gray; sides, 

 ash gray; belly, white; caudal, spotted with oval dark spots; snout, rounded, (much more blunt than in S. quiniiat.) Head, 

 short and comparatively broad. Under fins light colored. 



Thi.s salmon differs from the S. quinnat in the rounded not pointed muzzle, in lacking the 

 sharp, toothless, triangular prolongation of the lower jaw, anterior to the teeth; in its shorter and 

 thicker head, in being more slender, and in having the dorsal outline more straight. It also 

 differs in its filightly lunated tail, in having the rows of teeth on the tongue diverging posteriorly, 

 and having but 12 or 13 branchial rays. The teeth generally are smaller and of more uniform 

 size than those of the S. quinnat of equal condition. The lips in the dried specimens do not seem 

 as thick as in the last mentioned species, the teeth thus appearing nearer the outside margin. 



Dr. Gairdner says that the only traces of variegated markings found on this fish are "a few 

 faint spots at the root of the caudal." In the Smithsonian collection there are, at present, two 

 dried skins which, upon careful comparison with Sir John Richardson's description of the 

 present species, agree in so many respects, that we have no doubt of their identity with it. 

 They were obtained recently from Mr. James Waj'ne, of. Astoria, Oregon, and wore caught at 

 the same season of the year that Dr. Gairdner mentions that it is common in the Columbia. 

 The only marked discrepancj'', which I have found between these specimens and Dr. Gairdner's 

 description, is in his statement as above, of the absence of marJdngs. In Mr. Wayne's salmon 

 the tails were profusely spotted with elliptical and roundish spots of a dark color. As before 

 stated, I do not consider the occasional absence of spots is of sj^ecific value, but simply a mark 

 of variety. 



Richardson says : "In this species the gill-cover resembles that of ^S*. solar still more strongly 

 than that of the quinnat does, the shape of the sub-operculum, in particular, being precisely 

 the same with that of solar. The teeth stand in bony sockets like those of the quinnat, but 

 are scarcely so long. Those of the lower jaw and interniaxiliaries are a little smaller tlian tlie 

 lingual ones, and somewhat larger than the palatine or labial ones. The tongue contains six 

 teeth on each side, the rows not parallel as in the quinnat, but diverging a little posteriorly. 

 The pharyngeals arc armed with small sharp teeth; the numbers of the teeth (excluding the 

 small ones which fall off with tlie gums) are as follows: Interniax., 4 — 4; labials, 21 — 21; lotuer 

 jaio, 11 — 11; palate bone.s, 12 — 12; vomer, lost; tongue, G — G. When the soft parts are 



•Plate LXXt seems to be ta'ien from the young of some species either not yet recognized, or hitherto unde-scribed . It is 

 ■possible that the fish may have been a very young S gairdneri; unless, as has been suggested, the number of rows of vomerine 

 teeth be eitiier variable, according to age or individual development, a wide difference would eeem to exist between Dr. Girard's 

 specimen, which he includes under the genus Fario (and therefore has but a single row of teeth on the vomer,) and the descrip- 

 tion given by Dr. Gairdner of the dental arrangement of the present species, which has a double row of teeth for two-tlirds of 

 the anterior portion of the vomer. 



