104 REPORT OF COMMIS.SIOA^ER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

 7. SALMO SALAE, LinnaMis. 



COMMON SALMON OF EUROPE. 



We are by no means satisfied tliat tliis European species exists on tlie 

 American coast, altliougii Dr. Storer, De Kay and others have so writ- 

 ten. Herbert, qnoting Mr. Perley, says that tlie Salmo trutta, FIem.,of 

 Europe, is also found, and it lias been stated that the S. hamatus, Guv., 

 occurs. Most probably these species are, if ever found, only met with 

 as accidental individuals ; and those fish taken after cursory examina- 

 tion to be identical with the European are really of distinct species, 

 analoii'ous to or the counterparts of their relatives on the other side. 



The des(',rii)tiou of S Umo salar, contained iu Storer's synopsis, is so 

 meager that it is useless for purposes of identification. Those of other 

 authors are exceedingly contradictory. Jenyns, in his " Manual of British 

 Vertebrate Aninials," gives the following character as pertainnig to the 

 species : "Form, oval ; moderately elongated, with the head and back 

 in nearly the same line; the greatest dB!>th a little before the dorsal ; 

 contained about five times and a half in the entire length, increasing, 

 however, with age ; thickness, half tlie depth, head small, about one- 

 sixth of the entire length ; snout rather sharp ; jaws in young fish 

 nearly equal, but in old males the lower one longest and curving up- 

 ward in a hook. A row of sharp teeth along both sides of each jaw as 

 well as on the palathies ; but those on the vomer confined to its anterior 

 extremity, and in some specimeus rather obsolete. 



" The oidy specimen iu the Smithsonian collection, obtained from the 

 American coast, which closely ap})roaches the S. salar of Europe, is 

 the head of a salmon sup[)osed to have been brought from Maine, hav- 

 ing been purchased in the Washington market. In certain resi)ects the 

 fish undoubtedly approaches the European species, if we may be aUowed 

 to judge hy the head aloue. Compared to the specimen sent from the 

 Swedish Academy, and labelled ;S'. salar, (of the correctness of which 

 name we have, however, strong doubts,) we find the head comparatively 

 nnich wider between the eyes, and posteriorly, in the Maine specimen. 

 The taper of the snout and lower jaw is .more ra[)id; their extremities 

 sharper; teeth more irreguUir in size, and the angle of the mouth but 

 little behind a line drawn vertically from midway between the eye and 

 nostril ; whereas in the European s})ecimen the angle, when the jaw is 

 moderately drawn down, is found just beneath the pupil. T!ie shape 

 of the pre-opercula also differ ; that of the Maine fish having its poste- 

 rior boi'der nearly vertical, and not, as in the European specimen, arch- 

 ing almost parallel with the seaiicircular curve of the operculum. 



"In addition, the vomer of the Amerie in fish has hd teeth upon its 

 shaft, and but two on its anterior extremity, in this respect agreeing 

 with Jenyn's description of »S'. naJar, but diifering from the Swedish 

 specimens, which have two rjws of teeth upini the shafi] of that boiie." 



