42 SALMON OF NOVA SCOTIA—GILPIN. 
silvery. ‘On the opercle and pre-opercle one or two black spots. The colour of 
the fins are—dorsal lavender with irregular black spots, rays dark blue, adipose 
dark blue, caudal base and edges dark, the rest pale yellowish white, anal pale 
yellow, ventral yellowish, rays and anterior edge dark, pectoral pale bluish 
white, anterior edge and rays dark blue, a number of dark irregular blotches 
occur along sides and belly. Teeth upon intermaxilla, maxillz, palatine bones, 
one to three upon vomer, and about nine or ten upon tongue. 
“Rays P11, A 9, C20, V9, D 12, Gill rays 11 each side a large axiliary 
scale to V. 
“Tn counting fin rays I may state this as only an approximation, that the 
dorsal and anal may be said to have strictly proper webs, that in the dorsal the 
first ray is shortiand joined to second without webb, that the anal has also the 
first very thick, and that in the rest the rays starting as in the caudal from 
many irregular bases, and in the pectoral and ventral from one, the web being 
all but obliterated, it makes a count exceedingly difficult and varied by each 
counter. At the same time these rays vary in different specimens even in the 
dorsal, and are not typical.” 
I have presented you now with a description and portrait of a 
Nova Scotia Salmon in the full glow, strength and beauty of his 
magnificent proportions. His rounded back and powerful tail, 
the glorious steel blue of his back and sides, the opal lights ever 
reflecting on his silvery belly, tinged as it sometimes is with the 
warm pink of his blood-red flesh showing through, and the fair 
lavender of his fins cannot be described, must be seen to be rea- 
lized. Formerly, after the season was over, Salmon were often 
brought to Halifax from the Shubenacadie river, during the 
middle of July. They were.always out of season fish, blackish, 
with reddish blotches over them. On the 10th July, 1865, I pur- 
‘chased from about two dozen, the fish I now show you the 
sketch of. They all resembled each other. Both jaws were 
‘curved, the teeth were gone, the tongue exposed, and they were 
all out of season. On 26th November, 1865, Michael Brown Esq., 
sent mea Salmon, a male, weighing perhaps sixteen pounds, a 
‘sketch of which I now offer you. ‘The intermaxilla articulation 
was very loose, and much enlarged, the intermaxilla bone itself 
had grown at least two inches in length, formed into a beak like 
-an eagle’s, and filled with large teeth. The lower jaw had also 
grown to correspond in length, and-was also armed with large 
‘teeth, a‘cartilaginous knob projected upwards from the tip, which 
‘fitted into.a groove above in the intermaxilla. The new jaws 
