2878 THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



through all shades of orange to vermilion, from the throat to the pelvic fins, where 

 the color attains its greatest intensity. The sides are ornamented with rounded 

 spots varying from white to red in color; the dorsal fin has dark markings, and the 

 pectoral and pelvic fins are brilliant red. This form commonly grows to a length 

 of eight or nine inches, but the northern charr attains much larger dimensions. 

 Day writes that ' ' the colors of the British charr do not vary to so great an extent as 

 in the trout, owing to their residing in deeper waters, and usually merely ascend- 

 ing toward the surface at night time to feed, while other changes in tint are conse- 

 quent upon the breeding season. In the L,akes of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and 

 Lancashire this fish in its ordinary state is the case charr of Pennant; when exhibit- 

 ing the bright crimson belly which it assumes before spawning, it is called the red 

 charr; when out of season, the spawn having been shed, it is distinguished by the 

 name of the gilt charr. . . . Charr are a more delicate and apparently shorter- 

 lived fish than trout, requiring deeper and stiller pieces of water, and a colder tem- 

 perature; they have even been recorded as residing in lochs where the sun never 

 reaches the surface of the water. They are readily destroyed by poisonous sub- 

 stances; while attempts to introduce them to fresh localities have not been so uni- 

 formly successful as with the trout." 



The North-American charr (S. fontinalis}, which has been successfully intro- 

 duced into British waters, together with the hucho (SI hucho} of the Danube, differ 

 from the foregoing in the absence of median teeth on the hyoid bone; the latter fish 

 being shown in the lower figure of the illustration on p. 2875. The general color 

 of the American charr is greenish, lighter above than beneath, beautifully shot 

 with purple and gold, ornamented with numerous dark spots above, and fewer below 

 the lateral line, many of which in front of the dorsal fin coalesce into streaks, and 

 also with red spots above the aforesaid line. Most of the fins have dark markings; 

 and in the breeding season the male assumes a black line along the under surface. 

 These fish usually range in size from two to three pounds, although they may be 

 larger. The hucho, on the other hand, which is readily characterized by its elon- 

 gated, slender, and almost cylindrical form, attains dimensions equal to those of the 

 salmon. 



A group of migratory salmonoids (Onckorhynchus) inhabiting the 



North American and Asiatic rivers flowing into the Pacific differ from 

 Salmon 



the typical genus in having more than fourteen rays in the anal fin, 

 while their kelts are remarkable for the degree to which the jaws are hooked, and 

 the humping of the back. An early writer in describing the hordes in which these 

 salmon annually visit Kamchatka, states that they "come from the sea in such 

 numbers that they stop the course of the rivers, and cause them to overflow the 

 banks; and when the waters fall there remains a surprising quantity of dead fish 

 upon the shore, which produces an imcomparable stink; and at this time the bears 

 and dogs catch more fish with their paws than people do at other places with their 

 nets." Dr. Guillemard adds that " every year the various kinds of salmon arrive 

 at the mouths of the Kamchatkan rivers with surprising regularity. The date of 

 the advent of these different species extends from May to mid- August; but each has 

 its own time of arrival, which, from its constancy, appears to be more or less inde- 



