SALMON TRIBE. 



503 



nets." Dr. Guillemard adds that " every year the various kinds of salmon arrive 

 at the mouths of the Kamschatkan rivers with surprising regularity. The date of 

 the advent of these different species extends from May to mid-August ; but each 

 has its own time of arrival, which, from its constancy, 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, a few get back to the sea." 

 The Oriental salmon (0. orientalis) of Kamschatka commonly grows to a weight of 

 from 50 to 60 Ibs. ; and the flesh is said to be superior in flavour to that of any 

 other member of the family. 



The beautiful and delicately flavoured little fish known as smelts 

 are represented by three species, one of which (Osmerus eperlanus) is 



Smelts. 



COMMON SMELT (| nat. size). 



an inhabitant of the seas and many fresh waters of Northern and Central Europe, 

 while the second (0. viridescens), which is perhaps only a variety, is confined to 

 the opposite side of the Atlantic, and the third (0. thaleichthys) is found on the 

 coasts of California. These fish form a kind of connecting link between the 

 salmon and its allies and the under-mentioned Coregonus, but internally differ 

 from both, the appendages to the intestine being short and few in number, and the 

 eggs small, while the teeth are strongly developed. The scales are of moderate 

 size ; the cleft of the mouth is wide, with the maxillary bone extending nearly or 

 quite to the hinder margin of the eye ; the teeth of the upper jaw are much smaller 

 than those of the lower; the vomer is armed with a transverse series of teeth, 

 several of which are tusk-like ; the palatines and pterygoids bear conical teeth ; 



