lOG EEPORT OF COMxMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 



on this family fiirnislied by the writer for the twelfth volume Pacific 

 llailroad Eeports : 



In shape, and in many other iiarticulars, this fish agrees with the 

 description c,iven in Pallas, Zoog. Eoss. Asiat. of the S. orlentalii^^ and, as 

 quoted by Brevoort in notes on some figures of Japanese fish, like it, 

 reaches a weight of sixty pounds ; ascending the larger rivers only in the 

 months of April, May, and June; in having fleshy lips, and in gastro- 

 nomic excellence. It also has a large pointed head, with very similar 

 jaws. It differs from Mr. Brevoort's figure in having the tail much more 

 deeply cut out — almost forked — and iu having spots on the back and 

 head. It also but seldom attains the large size given above, the average 

 being usually about twenty-five pounds. Valenciennes says that the S. 

 orienfalis has numerous crescent-shaped spots above the lateral line. 

 This remark is based on a drawing, taken by Mertens, of a female. (See 

 Brevoort's work above quoted, p. 23.) The /S'. quinnat, according to 

 Gairdner, has the spots differently shaped. 



In a memorandum furnished me by George Gibbs, esq., he says that 

 in a visit to Chinook, near the mouth of the Columbia, he saw " the true 

 spring salmon of the Columbia. Speckled on back, fins, and tail, with 

 half-moon spots. Tail in large specimens not always spotted. Tail 

 forked." The S. quinnat [s designated by Lewis and Clarke as the "com- 

 mon salmon" of the Columbia. It was first scientifically described by 

 Sir John Kichardson from specimens and notes obtained from Dr. Gaird- 

 ner, who was then (about the year 1835) living at the trading-post of the 

 honorable Hudson Bay Company, situated on the right bank of the 

 Columbia, nearly opposite the mouth of the Willamette River, about one 

 hundred miles from the ocean, then and still known as Fort Vancouver. 

 While stationed as surgeon at that important point. Dr. Gairdner, in a 

 most praiseworthy manner, busied himself actively in studying the 

 natural history of the region; and in connection with the labors of Tol- 

 mie, Towusend, IS[uttall, and Douglass in the field, and of Richardson, 

 Hooker, Audubon, and Bachman iu the study, presented to the public 

 almost all that was known to na^turalists of that remote portion of the 

 world up to the period when the late scientific explorations were under- 

 taken under the auspices of our Government. 



This salmon is, perhaps, the finest of all that enter the ri\'ers and in- 

 lets of our Pacific possessions. The adults are readily recognized by the 

 settlers from their great size and their large deeply-forked tails. When 

 fresh from the sea they are in superb condition for the tiible, equal, iu 

 our estimation, to the best English or Scotch sahnon. 



The color of the flesh is of the richest "salmon-red." The general ex- 

 ternal appearance of the fish presents very bright silvery reflections. 

 They first arrive in the Columbia River during the mouth of April — the 

 periodical advents usually varying but a few days. 



Lewis and Clarke speakof their first arrival at the Skilloot village, be- 

 low the site of Fort Vancouver, on the ISth of April, 1800, and at the 

 Dalles (two hundred miles above the mouth of the Columbia) in the year 



