3o Transactions of the Canadian Institute. - [Vol. IX. 



five per cent, of their former weight. This loss is partly due to changes 

 in the flesh, which becomes less firm and at the same time loses much of 

 its bright red colour. This colour change may also take place 

 independently of the other alterations that have been mentioned, since in 

 the Columbia River a few Spring salmon are taken in the early run and 

 many in the fall run whose flesh is almost white, and in the Fraser River 

 the great majority of the Spring salmon taken in the fall are white or 

 partly so. The flesh of these pale fish may be just as firm and quite as 

 palatable as that having the normal salmon colour, but it is less esteemed 

 by consumers, who demand the colour they are accustomed to associate 

 with salmon. Hence the canners distinguish between Red Springs and 

 White Springs in the tabulation of their catch. 



And njt less remarkable than these changes are those undergone by 

 the digestive organs. The stomach of the sea run salmon is a well marked 

 organ, and clustered around the intestine immediately below it there is a 

 number of fi.nger-shaped outgrowths, known as the pyloric caeca. These 

 vary in number in the different species, the Coho possessing about sixty- 

 three, the Sockeye somewhere between seventy-five and ninety-five, 

 while in the other species they number somewhere in the neighbourhood 

 of one hundred and eighty. In fish that have spawned or are on the 

 spawning grounds the entire digestive tract has shrunken to a mere 

 shadow of its former condition, the stomach is hardly distinguishable and 

 the pyloric caeca form merely a short fringe around the upper part of the 

 intestine. 



These changes have been ascribed to the influence of fresh water, but 

 the weight of evidence is entirely opposed to such a supposition. The 

 modifications are undoubtedly associated with the maturation of the re- 

 productive organs and may occur independently of the migration of the 

 fish to fresh water. Thus it has already been noted that the change in 

 the colour of the muscular tissue occurs in the Spring salmon of the fall 

 run, that is to say, these fish enter fresh water already changed in this 

 respect. So, too, Sockeye taken at the mouth of the Fraser late in the year 

 already show the hooked snout and the changed colour of the skin, and, 

 indeed, the fish of the late runs are inferior in quality to those arriving 

 earlier in the year. It is owing to the fact that the Spring and Sockeye 

 salmon migrate in quantities so early in the year that they are most suit- 

 able for canning. The Humpbacks are of much less value owing to their 

 run being later, although if taken in its earlier runs and fresh from the 

 sea it is a most excellent fish and by some even preferred to the Spring 

 salmon. The Dog salmon, which is the latest to run, is almost useless 



