THE SALMONIDjE. 449 



lias fifteen or sixteen anal rays. The tialmo solar Linn, 

 sometimes weighs eighty pounds. It is common to Europe 

 as well as Northeastern America. In the autumn the salmon 

 ascends rivers to spawn, penetrating as near the source as 

 possible. During the breeding season the males differ de- 

 cidedly from the females, in the long, slender, hooked snout, 

 the body being thin and high-colored. The eggs are very 

 large, exceeding a pea in size, and are laid in shallow holes 

 made in the gravel of streams. The extreme young are 

 banded and called parr ; when about a year old, and of a 

 bright silvery color, before descending the rivers to the sea, 

 it is called a smolt ; after its return from the sea into fresh 

 water it goes by the name of grilse ; and finally, after re- 

 turning a second time from the sea, it assumes its name of 

 salmon. The trout, Salmo (Salvelinus) fontinalis Gill and 



Pig. 404. The Smelt Osmerus mordax one half natural size. From the Amer- 

 ican Naturalist. 



Jordan, also breeds in the autumn and early winter ; it is 

 not anadromous, living permanently in streams and ponds. 



An allied family embraces the smelts, Osmerus eper- 

 lanus Linn., and 0. mordax Mitchill, which live on both 

 sides of the Atlantic, and range from Nova Scotia to Vir- 

 ginia. The capelin, Mallotus villosus Cuvier, is valuable 

 as bait in the cod fishery. It spawns in the summer. The 

 males are distinguished by a prominent lateral ridge along 

 the sides of the body and are more numerous than the 

 females. 



Belonging to the same suborder or group of families 

 as the Salmonidce is the family Galaxiidce, represented by 

 Galaxias and Neoclianna (Fig. 413), in the latter of which 

 the ventral fins are absent. 



