208 



Sport and Life. 



Referring to the first large consignment of Eraser river salmon 

 that reached the London market, Dr. Giinther says : 



These fish were packed in cases, each holding about a dozen, separately 

 wrapped in paper, frozen hard as stone, but beautifully preserved and 

 looking as fresh as if they had been caught an hour. ago. Their size and 

 weight varied (judging by the eye, from 81b. to i81b.), but otherwise they 

 were singularly alike ; not showing any of those variations of form and 

 colour which so often puzzle those who critically examine a lot of British 

 sea trout, or even salmon. However, among about twenty specimens 

 inspected, I found one which differed from the other fish, and which, on 

 closer examination, proved to be a different fish altogether, viz., a so-called 

 " steelhead," a kind of sea trout very much akin to the British species. 



ANAL FIN OF THE EUROPEAN 

 SALMON (Salmo). 



ANAL FIN OF QUINNAT 



(Oncorhynchus) . 



A question having arisen whether these fishes were salmon or trout, in 

 the sense and with the limits in which and with which these terms are 

 applied to salmonoids of British waters, the answer is that they are neither. 

 No one would call a charr or a trout a salmon. They all belong to the 

 family of salmonoids or Salmonidce ; but this family comprises several 

 distinct divisions (or genera), and the fishes in question belong to one of 

 them, that is very different from any salmonoid which we have in European 

 waters, or, indeed, in any river flowing into the North Atlantic. 



They are so easily recognised that no One could be at fault who has to 

 determine their origin. The anal fin (that is, the fin behind the vent) tells 

 the whole story. In the salmon and trout (genus Salmo} this fin is short, 

 composed of only nine or ten long rays, whilst in the fish from the Eraser 

 river it is supported by sixteen rays, and is therefore much longer. (See 

 illustrations above.) 



