The Salmon of the Pacific Slope. 213 



hatcheries have been erected, but these, I am afraid, would have to be on 

 a gigantic scale to have any conspicuously beneficial effect. On the Fraser 

 river a weekly close time, besides other regulations, has been provided for 

 the protection of the fish, and I trust that the Canadian Government will 

 see fit to adopt Mr. Wilmot's wise recommendation of an annual close time 

 if they should not have done so already. 



So far Dr. Giinther, and if I venture to disagree on the following 

 points with him they are details which came under my personal 

 notice while living in British Columbia. 



Dr. Giinther says : " When the fish (quinnat) arrive in the lower 

 reaches of the rivers their flesh is of an intensely deep red salmon- 

 colour. . . . After the fish have been some time in fresh water the 

 flesh pales, and becomes unfit for canning purposes." If one who 

 has only such practical knowledge as was derived in the course of 

 fifteen years' travels on the Pacific Slope, in the course of which, I 

 may add, I have at times subsisted for months on end almost 

 exclusively on the finny subject of this correspondence, may 

 venture to differ from such an accepted authority, I would say, 

 firstly, that there is a white and a red-fleshed quinnat; secondly, 

 that it is only owing to a stupid prejudice entertained by 

 European consumers, who will persist in demanding red-fleshed 

 fish, that the white-fleshed fish is considered " unfit for canning 

 purposes." The white-fleshed fresh run quinnat is quite as good 

 as the red one ; in fact, the opinion that it has a more delicately 

 flavoured flesh is shared by many connoisseurs on the coast. An 

 enormous amount of waste is the consequence of this ignorant 

 prejudice, for all "white " fish are thrown away, and the sooner the 

 "European consumer takes these remarks to heart the longer a 

 business will last, the life of which, in spite of regulations and 

 hatcheries, is not likely to be a long one. 



Probably Dr. Giinther will be better satisfied of the correctness 

 of my statement if I quote the result of two scientific examinations 

 which were made on this head by well-qualified persons. 



Some years ago, Mr. T. Mowat, Inspector of Fisheries for British 

 Columbia, sent one white and one red-fleshed quinnat to Prof. 



