60 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



River Is more likely, on that account, to return to 

 the Clackamas than to go up the Cowlitz or the 

 Des Chutes. *' At the hatchery on Rogue River, 

 the fish are stripped, marked, and set free, and 

 every year since the hatchery has been in opera- 

 tion some of the marked fish have been re-caught. 

 The young fry are also marked, but none of them 

 have been re-caught." The shad is another spe- 

 cies of fish supposed to possess this remarkable 

 homing instinct. Shad have been planted in the 

 Sacramento River, and considerable numbers de- 

 scended from this plant have been already taken 

 in the Columbia River and in Monterey Bay, but 

 not a single one, so far as known to me, in the origi- 

 nal stream, the Sacramento. 



In regard to the diminution of the number of 

 salmon on the coast we may make these observa- 

 tions. In Puget Sound, Frazer River, and the 

 small streams, there appears to be little or no evi- 

 dence of diminution. In the Columbia River the 

 evidence appears somewhat conflicting. The catch 

 in 1880 was considerably greater than ever before 

 (nearly 540,000 cases of 48 pounds each having 

 been packed), although the fishing for three or 

 four years has been very extensive. On the other 

 hand, the high water of that year undoubtedly 

 caused many fish to become spring salmon which 

 would otherwise have run in the fall. Moreover, 

 it is urged that a few years ago, when the number 

 caught was about half as great as in 1880, the 

 amount of netting used was perhaps one eighth as 

 much. With a comparatively small outfit the can- 

 ners caught half the fish; now, with nets much 



