How to obtain it. 291 



year. It had then attained a weight of only six and a half pounds, 

 having in fourteen months just about doubled the weight gained 

 by the other in two months. 



During a recent visit to the United States I obtained a mass 

 of information concerning the habits of the various species of 

 salmon inhabiting the waters of North America. By the kindness 

 of Sir Julian Pauncefote, Her Majesty's Ambassador at Wash- 

 ington, to whom I had a letter of introduction, the way was made 

 easy for me to investigate many matters of the deepest interest in 

 connection with the fisheries. As a rule things in America are on 

 a much larger scale than they are here, and this is notably the 

 case with regard to the fisheries. A single catch of salmon, for 

 instance, on some of the Western rivers is sometimes as big as a 

 whole year's catch on a river over here. Seventeen species of 

 salmon are recorded as occurring in Alaska alone, and the largest 

 salmon of the world are credited to that territory. 



I am indebted to Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, who is a clever 

 ichthyologist, and holds an important position on the United 

 States Fish Commission, for his generous assistance in gathering 

 particulars respecting the fisheries and fish-cultural operations of 

 the United States. He has personally worked out upon the spot 

 a good deal of what is known of the salmon of Alaska. The nsh 

 have been traced as far north as Hotham Inlet, and Dr. Bean 

 says : " The marine life of the Alaskan salmon is unknown from 

 the time the young, in their newly-acquired silvery dress, leave 

 the fresh-water nursery to become salt-water sailors, until they 

 have ended their cruise, obtained their liberty and come ashore, 

 when, as in the case of so many other salt-water sailors, their 

 serious troubles begin. Salmon remain in fresh water until the 

 second or third spring of their existence, and, not having a 

 bountiful supply of food, they grow very slowly, and seldom 

 exceed eight inches in length when they start seaward. In the 

 ocean they feed on the capeling, the herring, and a small needle- 

 shaped fish called the lant. 



" As a rule, the fish remain at sea until they are about to 

 deposit their eggs, and then approach the coast in great masses. 

 A few young males accompany the schools every year, and may 

 or may not return to sea without entering the rivers. The adult 



