THE SALMON TRIBE 2871 



lated spots are generally found in clear rapid rivers, and in small open Alpine pools; 

 in the large lakes with pebbly bottom the fish are bright silvery, and the ocellated 

 spots are mixed with or replaced by X-shaped black spots; in pools or parts of 

 lakes with muddy or peaty bottom, the trout are of a darker color generally; and 

 when inclosed in caves or holes, they may assume an almost uniform blackish 

 coloration." A change of color also takes place in the migratory species with the 

 renovation of the scales, which occurs during their residence in the sea, the newly- 

 grown portion of the silvery scales concealing the spots; and this change of color- 

 ation varies greatly according to the habitat of the individuals of some of the 

 species. Variations of size are also common, these being for the most part depend- 

 ent upon the abundance or otherwise of the food, and the extent of the area in 

 which the fish dwell; but differences in this respect also occur among the fish 

 hatched from the same batch of spawn, and living under the same conditions. The 

 variations in the form and proportions of the body, and more especially in the head 

 and jaws, according to age, sex, and season, are likewise very important, but can- 

 not be noticed fully. 



The true salmon (S. salar), together with the kindred species and 

 the trouts, belongs to a group of the genus characterized by the pres- 

 ence of teeth on the whole length of the vomer during at least some period of life. 

 In the case of such a well-known fish and also one which is generally pretty easy 

 to distinguish from its congeners it will be unnecessary to give a description. Dr. 

 Gunther gives, however, certain characteristics by which this fish may always be 

 identified, and among these the following may be noticed. The scales on the tail 

 are of relatively large size, and each transverse series running from behind the fatty 

 fin toward the lateral line contains only eleven, or occasionally twelve, whereas in 

 the trouts there are from thirteen to fifteen. Secondly, the main part or body of 

 the vomer carries a single series of small teeth, which, with advancing age, gradu- 

 ally disappear from behind forward, so that half-grown and adult individuals have 

 but a few remaining. Having a circumpolar distribution, the salmon ranges south- 

 ward in America to 41 north latitude, and in the Old World to 43, being unknown 

 in any of the rivers flowing into the Mediterranean. Salmon will grow to a length 

 of between four and five feet, and commonly reach as much as forty pounds. Much 

 heavier fish are, however, occasionally captured. Among these may be mentioned 

 a salmon of sixty pounds from the Severn in 1889; one from the Tay of sixty-two 

 pounds in 1891; a third of sixty -three pounds from the Esk in 1890; another of 

 sixty-eight pounds from the Tay in 1893; an( l a fifth from the same river taken in 

 1870, which weighed a fraction under seventy pounds. There is an earlier record 

 of a British salmon of eighty-three pounds weight, while a Russian is stated to have 

 scaled upward of ninety-three pounds. 



For the following brief sketch of the life history of the salmon, we are 

 indebted to a paper by Mr. G. Rooper, from which the following extracts, with 

 some verbal alterations, are taken. After mentioning the well-known periodical 

 migration of salmon, the writer observes that the eggs are deposited by the female 

 "some time during the winter months, in beds of gravel over which a rapid stream 

 flows, principally in the upper reaches of the river, where the water is more 



