GROWTH RATE IN PACIFIC SALMON 25 



Length-weight Ratio. — Concluded. 



Length 27-5 28 28-5 29 29-5 30 30-5 31 31-5 32-5 33 



ChemainusThree-year— Male 100 100 11-0 



Female 10-8 11-0 



Four-year— Male 10-5 11-2 13-5 



Female 100 10-5 10-5 11-3 



Nanaimo— Three-j'ear— Male 11-3 12-5 12-8 



Female Ill 12-7 



Four-year— Male 10 12-0 12-3 13-2 13-6 15-1 16-3 170 150 



Female 11-2 11-8 12-6 140 13-5 



Five-year— Male 16-5 



Qualicum — Two-year — Male 



Three-year— Male 11-1 12-2 12-7 



Female 11-3 



Four-year— Male 11-4 12-4 130 13-5 14-3 14-8 160 17-2 16-5 180 



Female 11-9 12-4 12-5 13-2 14-2 15-5 



Five-year— Male 15-2 17-5 



The three localities from which these dog salmon were taken are but little distant 

 from another and the differences are not so marked as in different groups examined 

 in the other species; nevertheless, there are some points that are worth considering. 

 There is greater similarity between the Nanaimo and Qualicum fish than there is 

 between either of these and the Chemainus fish, but even here there are some points of 

 difference. There is a great dissimilarity in the numbers in the different year classes. 

 Chemainus supplied no five year specimens and very few four year, the three year class 

 being nearly ten times as large. Nanaimo and Qualicum have the five year class 

 merely represented, but in the former the three year class is 2-4 times the size of the 

 four year, while in the latter the four .vear class is 1-7 times the three year and there 

 is one representative of the two year class. 



With regard to the proportion of the sexes, Chemainus shows the less usual 

 condition of having a greater percentage of females in the higher year than in the 

 lower, but as the four year class is so poorly represented this is not of great signifi- 

 cance. There is little difference in the general proportion. From Nanaimo the pre- 

 ponderance of femiales in the third year is more than enough to offset the prepon- 

 derance of the males in the smaller four year class, but even here the difference is not 

 excessive. From Qualicum, the large excess of males in the large four year class 

 makes a heavy general excess as in the smaller three year class the numbers are 

 nearly equal. 



The Nanaimo and Qualicum rate of growth corresponds almo.-t exactlj', year by 

 year. The Chemainus rate is different. There is a greater growth in the first year but 

 less in each succeeding year. Thus at the end' of the first year the length is greater 

 than in either of the others, at the end of the second year it is equal to and in later 

 years less than those. 



The weight of the Chemainus fish in projwrtion to the length is somewhat less 

 than that of either the Nanaimo or Qualicum fish and these show but little difference. 

 Judging from the figures of the one year, one should conclude that the earlier spawn- 

 ing fisli are the largest of tlie year class. 



The Chemainus fish come in much earlier than the other? and probably come from 

 the open sea by way of the south end of Vancouver island while those from Qualicum 

 and Nanaimo evidently come from the north. 



In comparing the 1917 dog salmon with those taken in 1916 only those from Nan- 

 aimo and Qualicum can be considered. The proportion of the four and the three- 

 year fish is almost the same in the two years with the Qualicum fish but in the Nan- 

 aimo fish, the three-year class from being in a small minority in 1916 changed over to 

 a large majority in 1917. The excess of males in the four year Qualicum fish, which 

 was great in 1916, became greater in 1917 but in the three-year class, the excess of 

 males, which was not great in 1916, became practically eliminated in 1917. In the 

 Nanaimo fish, the excess of males of the four-year class in 1916 was somewhat reduced 

 in 1917, but the excess of females in the three-year class was much the same in both 

 years. 



The 1917 fish were larger on the average than the 1916 fish in both year classes 

 and in both sexes. This difference is due almost entirely to the greater growth in 



