52 



have been found to contain ova. Dead salmon are often found 

 in the shallows of the upper courses of the rivers, having died before 

 they could reach deeper water. 



Some adventurous individuals follow the Columbia into the Terri- 

 tory of Montana before they succumb. 



The color of the flesh of a salmon does not indicate its species^ 

 since the same individual which had bright red flesh when in the 

 ocean, and at the commencement of its run, will become nearly 

 white at or after spawning. It is clear from what has been said that 

 the flesh of the"kelts," as the salmon after spawning are called in 

 England, can scarcely be fit for consumption by human beings. 

 Covered with wounds upon which fungus spores find a suitable 

 nidus, many look sufficiently repulsive. It is probable that the sto- 

 ries of so called " poisonous" fish and other marine animals arise 

 entirely from the injudicious eating of such creatures when exhausted 

 with spawning, or when afflicted with some disease, the outw^ard 

 symptoms of which we do not -recognize. 



In the smaller rivers of the coast the run of salmon takes place in 

 the autumn, thus, in Eel River, it commences when the first rains 

 have caused the waters to rise. Thus the canning season upon the 

 Coquille, Eel, and other small rivers, commences after that of the 

 Columbia River is over. Some quinnat run up the Columbia in the 

 autumn, and it is to this fact that we owe the preservation of the 

 species, in spite of the immense numbers taken. The fishing is car- 

 ried on during the spring run only, from April to July, during 

 which season some 1,500 boats are perpetually engaged in it, so that 

 from the bar up to off Mount Ranier there is an almost continuous 

 web of nets, effectuallj^ preventing the ascent of by far the greater 

 portion of the fish. Professor Jordan is, however, of opinion that 

 the autumn run is sufficient to counterbalance the destruction. In 

 Klamath, Eraser, Sacramento, and Rogue Rivers there is also a 

 spring run. An ordinary full grown quinnat weighs about twenty- 

 five pounds, but individuals attain a much greater size, reaching as 

 much as sixty pounds or even seventy. Those found in the Sacra- 

 mento are, as a rule, smaller than those of the Columbia, not aver- 

 aging more than eighteen pounds. In Puget Sound the ^imma^ are 

 also smaller and less fat than in the Columbia. 



The quinnat has from fifteen to eighteen branchiostegals, or small 

 bones supporting the gill membranes ; and has the body, dorsal, and 

 caudal fins spotted with round spots. On the approach of the spawn- 

 ing season it becomes darker and sometimes, but not always, acquires 

 a reddish tinge. The scales become covered with a coating of 

 mucus so that the fish cannot readily be scaled. The pyloric coeca 

 are xery numerous, varying from a hundred and fifty to two hun- 

 dred, so that it may be readily known by an examination of the 

 stomach from 0. nerka, which has about seventy-five very small 

 cceca, and 0. keta, which has from sixty to eighty large and thick ones. 

 In this character 0. kisutch and 0. gorbuscha are near quinnat, but 

 the branchiostegal rays of these species, like those of nerka and keta, 

 are only thirteen or fourteen in number. 0. keta has fewer spots 

 than quinnat ; the caudal has a few spots on its upper rays, and the 

 dorsal a few on its first rays. 0. nerka is immaculate as is 0. kisutch. 



Oncorhynchus keta, Silverside Salmon^ Cohoe Salmon — The tsuppitch 

 of Dr. Richordson has at length been identified by Professor Jordan 

 as the keta of Walbaum. It turns out to be a salmon of the genus 



