88 THE SALMON. 
CHAPTER Y. 
THE SALMON. 
Salmo Solar. — ^This celebrated fish is totally difi*ereiit 
in appearance from the trout, having decidedly brilliant 
scales, colored bluish black down to the lateral line, and 
beautiful and white as glistening silver below. It has 
on the gill-covers and upper part of the sides occasion- 
ally dark irregular spots. The tail is more forked, and 
proportionally more expanded than that of the trout, 
while the fish is of a more slim and elegant shape. 
The branchial rays are twelve, and the fin-rays are as 
follows : 
D. 13.0 ; P. 15 ; Y. 9 ; A. 9 . C. 19f . 
These splendid and valuable fish, whether regarded as 
an object of the sportsman's skill or the epicurean's 
taste, though once abundant in our State, are so no more. 
Hendrick Hudson, on ascending the river he discovered, 
was particularly struck with their immense numbers, 
and continually mentions the " great stores of salmon." 
The last unhappy fish that was seen in the Hudson had 
his adventurous career terminated by the net, near 
Troy, in the year 1810. The rivers flowing into Lake 
Ontario abounded with them even until a recent period, 
but the persistent efibrts at their extinction have at last 
prevailed, and except a few stragglers they have ceased 
