DESCRIPTION OF THE SALMON, 93 



head is smooth, his body scaly. His dorsal fins are two in 

 number, the first supported by soft rays, the second adipose or 

 fatty, without rays ; he has teeth on the A^omer, both palatine 

 bones, and all the maxillary bones. His branchiostegous rays 

 vary in number, generally, from ten to twelve, but are irregular* 

 and do not always coincide on the two sides of the head. The 

 teeth on the vomer rarely exceed two in number, and there is 

 frequently but one ; a sign which is thought to distinguish him 

 from the Salmon Trout, and other connected species. 



The length of his head, to the whole length of his body, is as 

 one to five ; the eye small and nearer to the point of the nose 

 than to the posterior edge of the gill-cover. The pectoral fin is 

 two-thirds the length of the head, and has twelve fin-rays. The 

 ventral fin lies in a vertical line under the middle of the dorsal 

 fin, and has nine rays ; the anal fin commences about half-way 

 between the origin of the ventral and caudal fins, and has nine 

 rays ; the caudal fin, or tail, has nineteen rays ; when the fish is 

 very young, it is much forked, but as it advances in years, the 

 central caudal rays grow up ; and it becomes nearly square by 

 the end of the fourtli year. The first dorsal fin has thirteen 

 rays, all of which, with the exception of the two first, are 

 branched. The body is long, and about equally convex above 

 and below ; the lateral line dividing the body nearly equal, and, 

 to a certain degree, parting the dark hue of the back, and 

 silvery whiteness of the belly. 



The form of the gill-covers, shapes of the fins, and relative 

 proportions of the whole fish, will be readily understood by 

 reference to the cut at the head of this article, which will eive 

 a more correct idea than any written description. 



