ZOOLOGY. 



325 



2. SALMO PAUCIDENS, Rich. 

 Weak-toothed Salmon. 



ftalmo paucidens, RICH. F. B. A. Ill, 222. HERBERT, Sup. to Fish Sf Fishing, &c., 1850, 36. 



S P . CH. This species, described by Richardson from the notes of Dr. Gairdner, and from some fragments received, I have 



not yet been able to obtain. The specific characters deduced from Richardson s description are as follows : Dorsal outline 

 nearly straight. Back of head and body bluish gray. Belly white. Tail and fins unspotted. Caudal forked. Teeth sparingly 

 scattered, and feeble.* 



They reach, according to Dr. Gairdner, an average weight of three or four pounds, and 

 ascend the Columbia in the spring, in company with the S. quinnat and S. Gairdneri. If not the 

 young of some other species already known, it must certainly be considered as distinct. Sir 

 John Richardson, in F. B. A., Part III, p. 223, seems to think it the same as the &quot;red-char&quot; of 

 Lewis & Clark, and supposes that the S. Scouleri may have also been thus named by those 

 travellers. It is very difficult to determine what species they really alluded to. They say: 

 &quot;The red-char are rather broader in proportion to their length than the common salmon; the 

 scales are also imbricated, but rather larger; the rostrum exceeds the under jaw more, and the 

 teeth are neither so large nor so numerous as those of the salmon. Some of them are almost 

 entirely red on the belly and sides , others are much more white than the salmon; and none of 

 them are variegated with the dark spots which mark the body of the other.&quot; 



As to the red color on the sides and belly, mentioned by those explorers, it is a mark of but 

 little specific importance, as the females, and occasionally the males of the S. quinnat, S. Scouleri, 

 S. canis, and probably those of several other species, become red, and sometimes purplish, 

 after remaining some time in fresh water. Indeed, it is one of the first indications of the 

 declining powers of the fish; and, instead of being an evidence of high vital action, seems to be 

 scorbutic in its character, forcibly reminding one of the redness caused in the human subject by 

 the peculiar cachexia which produces scurvy and purpura haemorrhagica. 



It seems, from this, not unlikely that the term &quot;red-char&quot; was applied to several species 

 when in bad condition. 



No Oregon salmon with which I am familiar agrees in the characteristics given of S. paucidens. 

 There is, however, a kind of salmon which runs up the small rivers below the &quot; Great Falls&quot; 

 (Dalles) that is said to be very bright and silvery, and called, in consequence, the &quot;whit esalmon&quot; 

 by the settlers, and a river which they ascend in great numbers by preference is named, from 

 that circumstance, the White Salmon river. It is possible that this &quot;white salmon&quot; may be the 

 silvery-white salmon-trout of Lewis and Clark, and perhaps identical with Dr. Gairdner s weak- 

 loothed salmon. (See beyond.) Lewis and Clark say: t &quot; Of the salmon-trout we observe two 

 species differing only in color. They are seldom more than two feet in length, and much nar 

 rower in proportion than the salmon or red-char. The jaws are nearly of the same length, and 

 are furnished with a single series of small subulate straight teeth, not so long nor so large as 

 those of the salmon. * * * * One of the kinds, of a silvery white color on the belly and 

 sides, and a bluish light brown on the back and head, is found below the Great Falls, and asso 

 ciates ivith the red-char in little rivulets and creeks. It is about two feet eight inches long, and 

 weighs ten pounds.&quot; * * * * &quot; The white kind found below the falls is in excellent order 

 ivhen tJie salmon are out of season and unfit for use&quot; 



c The young of most species of salmon have the tails forked. In the present case the small teeth, forked tails, and small 

 size may indicate the young of a species already known, or of which the adult is yet to be described, 

 f See quotation in RICH. F. B. A., Part 3, p. 163. The italics are our own. 



