THE SALMON FAMILY. 5/ 



Among the dog salmon, which run only in the fall, 

 the males are hook-jawed and red-blotched when 

 they first enter the Strait of Fuca from the outside. 

 The humpback, taken in salt water about Seattle, 

 have the same peculiarities. The male is slab- 

 sided, hook-billed, and distorted, and is rejected 

 by the canners. No hook-jawed females of any 

 species have been seen. It is not positively known 

 •that any fully hook-jawed male survives the repro- 

 ductive act. If any do, the jaws must resume the 

 normal form. 



On first entering a stream the salmon swim 

 about as if playing. They always head towards the 

 current, and this appearance of playing may be 

 simply due to facing the moving tide. Afterwards 

 they enter the deepest parts of the stream and 

 swim straight up, with few interruptions. Their 

 rate of travel at Sacramento is estimated by Stone 

 at about two miles per day; on the Columbia at 

 about three miles per day. Those who enter the 

 Columbia in the spring and ascend to the moun- 

 tain rivers of Idaho, must go at a more rapid rate 

 than this, as they must make an average of nearly 

 four miles per day. 



As already stated, the economic value of any 

 species depends in great part on its being a 

 "spring salmon." It is not generally possible to 

 capture salmon of any species in large numbers 

 until they have entered the rivers, and the spring 

 salmon enter the rivers long before the growth of 

 the organs of reproduction has reduced the rich- 

 ness of the flesh. The fall salmon cannot be taken 

 in quantity until their flesh has deteriorated; hence 



