SALMONID^. 



There are generally a few dark spots dispersed along the body about 

 the lateral line ; and in the female fish the.se are more numerous and 

 conspicuous than in the males. 



The accompanying cut, facing page 54, is of a female, fresh run 

 from the sea, and is copied, by permission, from the figure by Son- 

 rel, in Mr. Agassiz's great work alluded to above. The individual 

 from which the figure is taken, was caught in the neighborhood of 

 Havre-de-Grace, in France ; but the Salmon of the two continents 

 are identical. 



I will here observe, en passant, that whenever it has been in my 

 power to obtain specimens, either living or in spirits, I have myself 

 drawn the figures from nature on the wood ; but where, from the 

 season of the year, or other causes, I have been unable to obtain that 

 advantage, I have copied my illustrations from the best authorities, 

 where I could find plates or drawings which I deemed satisfactory. 

 In the absence of either, I have left the fish unrepresented, in prefer- 

 ence to giving incorrect caricatures of the animal — such as disgrace 

 too many works of natural history, and, I am sorry to say, among 

 others, the great Natural History lately published by the State of New 

 Y'ork, the illustrations of which are below contempt as works of art, 

 and, in a scientific view, utterly useless, and uncharacteristic. 



After they have gained the upper and shallow parts of the rivers, 

 preparatory to the deposition of their spawn, the colors of the Salmon 

 are materially altered; the male becomes marked on the cheek with 

 orange-colored stripes, the lower jaw acquires a peculiar projection, 

 and turns upward at the point in a hard, hooked, cartilaginous excres- 

 cence, which, when the mouth is closed, occupies a hollow between the 

 intermaxillary bones. 



The body of the fish becomes greenish above, with the sides of an 

 orange hue, fading into yellowish-green on the belly, and the spots 

 assume a sanguine hue, the dorsal and caudal fins being more or less 

 spotted. The females at this season are even darker than on their 

 arrival in fresh water. 



The males are at this period termed Red-fish in Great Britain, and 

 the females Black-fish ; and they are so designated in the very salutary 

 enactments which, in that country, by protecting the fish during their 



