124 KAMSCHATKA. [chap. 



August ; but each has its own time of arrival, which, from its con- 

 stancy, appears to be more or less independent of seasonal 

 influences. A few fish apparently remain at or about the river 

 mouths during the summer, and eventually return to the sea, but 

 these are so few as to be scarcely worthy of mention. The vast 

 majority — practically all, in fact — ascend the streams to spawn, and, 

 having once done so, die. In the case of some species every fish 

 appears to perish ; in others, to which I shall refer, a few get back 

 to the sea. 



The kelts of these salmon exhibit, though in a far more 

 intensified degree, the changes that are noticeable in our own 

 salmon after spawning. The jaws are prolonged and hooked, and 

 the teeth much developed. The back becomes somewhat humped — 

 in one species enormously so — and the skin of that region so hyper- 

 trophied and spongy as to conceal the scales. Smiultaneously the 

 colour of the body surface changes, becoming livid or dusky, and 

 blotched with red patches, or even entirely red. The flesh gets 

 paler in colour and tasteless, and the whole aspect of the fish 

 denotes its unfitness for food. As they ascend the river the 

 salmon keep close together in large shoals, each fish keeping to 

 the shoal of its own species and not mingling with others. Later 

 in the year, after spawning-time, they of course become indiscrimin- 

 ately mixed. 



During our visit to, and journey through the country, we met 

 with at least six different species of the Salmonidfe in abundance. 

 That there were others I am quite sure, but in the following list I 

 have limited myself to noticing those only about which we personally 

 obtained information : — 



1. Oncorhynchus orientalis (Pall.) — Known to the Kamschatkans 

 as the Tchervitchi, this fish is the king of the Salmonidpe both as 

 regards size and flavour. On first arrival the Tchervitchi is silvery, 

 the back and upper surface dark, and marked with dark spots, which 

 also extend on to the dorsal fin and tail. The fish may have a 

 length of four feet or more, and are rather broad : their extreme 



