SALMON AND TROUT IN ALASKA. 79 



ber of fish from each locality being taken at the receiving scows in 

 order to eliminate as far as possible any doubt regarding the region 

 to which the fish belonged. 



The localities are rather widely distributed. The most northerly 

 and most distant from the ocean is Yes Bay, on the upper arm of 

 Behm Canal. Opposite the mouth of this arm, and across Clarence 

 Strait, is Karta Bay at the head of Kasaan Bay. The other locali- 

 ties are near the opening of Clarence Strait into Dixon Entrance ; on 

 the west side, Kegan and Nowiskay, tributary to Moira Sound, and 

 Dolomi just above it; on the east side, Boca de Quadra, opening into 

 Revillagigedo Channel; Tamgas, on Annette Island, about midway 

 between Moira Sound and Boca de Quadra, and Port Chester, just 

 above Tamgas, off Nichols Passage. 



To make these data of decisive value it remains to be proved that 

 fish taken in the receiving bay of a given stream are all destined, if 

 not interfered with, to enter that stream for spawning. It has been 

 suggested that fish may congregate in a given bay for a time and, 

 subsequently scattering, travel to distant streams to spawn. To test 

 this, Rutter in 1903 tagged several hundred fish and released them in 

 Karluk Bay or in the lagoon. But one of these was ever reported in 

 another basin; most of them were retaken in the seines working in 

 the bay at that time. If not taken the same day, they were seldom 

 found, though occasionally a straggler was discovered several days 

 after its release, the latest nine days after tagging. While not at all 

 definite, these results point to the probability that few, if any, fish 

 reach another river after appearing at the mouth of one. (See also 

 p. 106.) 



In some instances, in closely adjacent basins, the fishermen in their 

 effort to meet the incoming schools reach the neutral grounds between ; 

 for example, at Yes Bay some crews fish Behm Canal and so, perhaps, 

 interrupt schools bound for the Unuk River; Moira Sound fishermen 

 sometimes fish outside the respective arms. But this does not often 

 occur. In general, the figures from a given basin are believed to rep- 

 resent fairly well the fish traveling at the time for that particular 

 stream. 



Variations in weights and measurements. — In this inquiry weights 

 were taken on a small spring balance read to the nearest (juarter 

 pound. The lengths were taken with a steel tape, the fish lying on 

 a flat table. The points chosen, with the view of later making com- 

 parative measurements on spawned fish, were the center of the 

 eye and the extremity of the last caudal vertebra. The reading was 

 made to the nearest half centimeter. The depth was taken at the 

 front of the rayed dorsal by means of dividers, which were read from 

 a scale to milhmeters. As all the measurements with the exception 

 of the Port Chester and Tamgas figures were made by the writer, the 

 10731—07 G 



