TRANSMISSION OF SALMON EGGS TO AUSTRALIA, ETC. 887 



fish never spawn but once. I have a theory of the salmon of this river. 

 It may not be scientific, but it is mine, and I can give reasons for it. 

 It is this : The female salmon seldom or never spawns but once. The 

 exceptions to the rule, if any, are few, and the second product of these 

 exceptions is found in a salmon differing slightly from the mass of fish 

 found in the river. A goodly, though not the larger, part of the male 

 salmon that have assisted in reproduction return to the ocean, and 

 'live long and grow broad,' and return to the river many times. On 

 their return these fish constitute that class far above the average size. 

 They reach 30, 40, 50, and even a greater number of pounds in weight, 

 while the average weight tor which our meshes are sized is from 16 to 

 20 pounds. The female spawn is not ripe for delivery, nor the male fish 

 sufficiently mature for milting, until they have made repeated trips be- 

 tween the ocean and the river. The yearly broods return periodically 

 and in reg ular cycles ; the youngest fishes arrive earliest in the season, 

 which begins about the 1st of November, and do not x^enetrate far the 

 fij?st time. In the order of their birth, the other broods arrive and return 

 to the sea until in August and September, the great seed run, consist- 

 ing of mature fish, always on time, always urgent in their movements 

 and purposes, passes up to the headwaters. Salmon of different ages 

 are always coming in and going out to sea. The older the fish the 

 longer his stay in fresh water. The younger the fish (after he once 

 leaves for the ocean) the more of flirting about the bays and brackish 

 water near the mouths of the river, with short excursions ux) the river. 

 The foregoing is the outline of a theory, though it is deriv^ed from, and 

 apparently justified by, known truths in the history of the Sacramento 

 salmon during the last twenty years. I believe it to be correct ; that is 

 to say, that in any year representatives of the brood of any other year 

 not yet extinct enter the river, and that not one-fifth of the fish that 

 enter the river in any given year go to the headwaters that year, but 

 that*more than four-fifths return to the ocean, and, consequently, that 

 of all the fish that come into the river each year, but one-fifth go to the 

 headwaters for puri^oses of reproduction." 



6. The habits of the Sacramento salmon, while on their spawning 

 grounds in the McCloud Eiver, have been closely observed by Deputy 

 United States Fish Commissioner Livingston Stone, and the result of 

 his investigations has been jjublished by Congress in the report of the 

 United States Fish Commissioner, Spencer F. Baird. But Tittle is known 

 of their habits while in the ocean. They probably feed on shoals not 

 many miles from the shore. They are occasionally taken in the nets of 

 fishermen in the ocean not far fi-om Golden Gate. Many grilse, and a 

 few mature fish, make their api)earance in the Bay of San Francisco 

 in December, and remain several weeks feeding upon smelts and other 

 small fish. During this period thousands are taken with hook and 

 bait on lines from the Oakland pier and other wharves. Many more 

 are also taken in the nets of fishermen. After leaving the salt water 



