Trans, N. Y. Ac. Sez. 6 Oct. 17, 
perhaps the most striking being Lryanthus, which has a fine fir-like 
foliage and clusters of beautiful purple flowers. It belongs to the 
Heath family, and closely resembles the heather of Scotland. ; 
The streams of this region areclear, cold, and rapid, and abound in 
fish, chiefly of the salmon family, and these have given the name to 
Salmon River, the principal water course. 
Two species of salmon were running up the Salmon River, one the 
large Quinnat or Chinook salmon, comparatively rare, and the other 
the “red fish’’ (Oncorhynchus nerka). This isa small salmon, 15 to 
18 inches in length, and weighing 3 to 5 pounds. As seen in their mi- 
gration their bodies are brick red to purple in color, the heads dark or 
light green ; they were then going up to their spawning ground, Red- 
fish Lake, one of a half-dozen of small lakes on the headwaters of the 
Columbia, which are the special breeding-places of this ‘interesting 
fish. Coming all the way from their abode in the ocean, led by an in- 
fallible but inscrutable instinct, they push on night and day till they 
reach their remote birthplaces in these little lakes far up in the moun- 
tains and 1000 miles from their starting point. Here they accomplish 
apparently the great object of their lives, the reproduction of the 
species, by depositing the spawn in the shallows of the rivulets which 
fall into the lake. 
The always attractive coloring of the fish during this nuptial season 
becomes greatly heightened ; the body assumes a brilliant, almost lu- 
minous red, as bright as that of the gold fish, and where numbers are 
dashing through the water, literally in a blaze of excitement, they pro- 
duce an exhibition that is strikingly novel and interesting. 
When the spawning season is over they probably do not return, as 
none are seen descending the rivers. The young fish start on their 
migration to the ocean while yet very small, and within the first year 
of their lives, remaining away it is supposed some three or four years, 
during which they acquire their full growth when they return to die 
where they were born. 
An active industry has grown up in the capture of the red fish in 
their annual migrations, but it is pushed with so much energy and un- 
sparing cupidity that their numbers are rapidly diminishing and the 
species will apparently be soon extirpated in these waters unless pro- 
tected by legal enactment. 
A branch of the Union Pacific Railroad is being constructed from 
Granger, Wyoming, to the mouth of the Columbia. On this a large 
amount of traffic is expected, as it will link together many settlements 
having a considerable resident population and traverse in different por- 
tions of the route rich agricultural and mining districts. 
Dr. Newberry then briefly described a small but remarkably rich 
