116 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



vertex along the median line, and not from snout to farthest ])oint on i 

 edge of operculum. It was this measurement of the head which was 

 one-thirteenth of the fish's total length. 



The following is extracted from the report on the SalmonidiB in the 

 Pacific Railroad Eeport, vol. xii : 



While residing at Puget Sound I collected the following information 

 from the Indians respecting the salmon known to the Nisquallies as the 

 slcivowJ, which I consider identical with the MufcMii of the Klallams, 

 a specimen of which has served as the ty[)ical example of the present : 

 species. This fine salmon is second to none in beauty, size, or exceU • 

 lence. It arrives in the bays and estuaries of Puget Sound about the ^ 

 middle of autumn, and toward the 1st of December commences to run 

 up the larger rivers emptying into the sound. Their ascent ol* these i 

 streams continues through December and January. This arrival of the ) 

 species in fresh water is not as simultaneous, neither do they arrive in i 

 such great numbers at anyone time or in schools, as is the case with i 

 the shrwitz, and several other species, but the " run " being somewhat i 

 more "drawn out" affords a steadj^, moderate supply to the Indians i 

 during its continuance. In the fall and winter large numbers are taken i 

 by the Indians from the salt water by trolling with hook and line in the • 

 bays and coves of Puget Sound. The bait used is generally a small I 

 kind of herring, a little larger than the common sardine of commerce. 

 After entering the rivers it is taken by the Indians in nets, traps, bas- 

 kets, and also by spearing. Its flesh when cooked is of a beautiful I 

 salmon-red, and, as a table delicacy, when fat, as it generally is when i 

 " fresh run," ranks equally with that of the iS. salar, the satsup, or the 

 quimiat. The Cowlitz River, (a branch of the Columbia,) situated not 

 more than sixty miles from the head of Puget Sound, has salmon of I 

 various species entering it at regular periods annually. Indians of in- 

 telligence have told me that the species under consideration is the only 

 kind common to both these waters. How far we can place reliance on i 

 their statements is difficult to determine. 



The distinguishing characters which strike the eye at a glance are its 

 short and small head, the small weak teeth in the jaws, and the shape of I 

 its tail, which is truncated, not forked. Mr. George Gibbs says that the ; 

 >S'. tnnicafns {Jx-JiWiin or llut-chm) has the most solid meat of all the sal- • 

 mon, and has a very small abdominal cavity. It keeps its depth to the ^ 

 insertion of the tail, and weighs more in proportion than any other. 

 Body covered with small black, roundish spots ; back, dark olive; sides, ,^ 

 gray ; belly, white — gray behind ; nose straight. A specimen obtained 1;' 

 by him, 29 inches in length, had a girth in front of dorsal fin of 17 inches; ;| 

 girth at insertion of caudal, 7 inches. Length of head, 5 inches ; nose to > 

 dorsal fin, 13.75 inches ; breadth of tail, (at extremities of lobes,) 6 inches. 

 Scales small; weight, 9.75 pounds; male. Whether this be the 

 sIcwou'J or not^ the fact that slcwoivl enters the rivers in mid-winter and 

 is gone or exhausted when the S. quinnat arrives, is of value, and will 

 afford a clue to the collector. 



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