1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 81 



_ _i _^_ ^y^v^^La_ 



VoirviII, ]¥o. 6. TVashing^toii, D. C. ^ay-S«, 1 885. 



NOTE ON MR. GARMAN'S PAPER ON "THE AMERICAN SALMON 



AND TROUT." 



By DAVID S. JORDAN. 



In the " Mneteenth Auuual Report of tlie Commissioners on Inland 

 Fisheries of Massachusetts " is a paper on " the American Salmon and 

 Trout, including introduced species," by Mr. Samuel Garman, of the Mu- 

 seum of Comparative Zoology. This paper gives a series of brief but 

 excellent and pertinent descriptions of the various species of Salmon 

 and Trout, as also a series of very useful outline figures representing the 

 specimens examined. In general, Mr. Garman's determinations and 

 names agree very closely with those given by Jordan & Gilbert in the 

 " Synopsis of Fishes of North America," and it is very gratifying to 

 us to find our conclusions verified by so careful an observer as Mr. Gar- 

 man. 



There are, however, a few points of difference between his results and 

 ours. These I wish to notice in the present paper. 



1. Genera adopted. — Mr. Garman refers all the Salmon and Trout to 

 one genus, Salnio. I prefer to recognize Oncorhynchiis, and especially 

 SaJvelinus, as distinct groups. This is, however, solely a matter of con- 

 venience. 



2. Nomenclature of varieties. — Mr. Garman places under separate head- 

 ings, under binomial names, forms* which are certainly not species, and 

 which at the most are geographical variations of trifling value and 

 scarcely distinguishable. Thus he writes " Salmo virgmalis,''^ and says 

 below, "a variety of 8. clarkii.^^ If the virginalis be named at all, I 

 prefer Salmo clarJcU subsp. virginalis, or var. virginalis, or, still better, 

 in accordance with current American usage, Salmo clarkii virginalis. 

 To place such forms in coordinate paragraphs with the unquestionable 

 species is productive of confusion. This again, however, is a matter 

 of taste or convenience. 



3. Salmo {Oncorhynclius) MsutcJi. — The name " hisutch,^^ given by Wal- 

 baum, is a simple misprint for " Msutch,^'' and the error is corrected by 

 him in the " Emendanda," page 720. I do not think that the law of pri- 

 ority should require the retention of obvious misprints in spelling. The 

 fish is still, as in the time of Steller, called Kisutch (Kee-zich) in Alaska. 



4. Salmo irideus is regarded by Dr. Bean "and myself as the inland 

 form of the " Steelhead," Salmo gairdneri. This view, however, needs 

 verification. 



5. Salmo clarMi.—l see no reason for doubting the identity of this 

 species with the one described from Kamtschatka by Pallas, under the 



Proc. N. M. 85 6 



