51 



gest a change of habit in the fish ; but, in view of the fact that new 

 species of fish and Crustacea are continually being brought in, and 

 that this is known to be caused by the search of the fishermen in new 

 fishing grounds, it is more probable that the quinnat have always 

 been there, but that the fishers have failed to find them until lately. 

 But it must not be supposed that all the quinnat go to the Bay of 

 Monterey. Examples have been taken far southward of this point, 

 and a few run up Ventura River every year. 



South of this river our coast does not present any streams running 

 freely into the sea, as the rivulets terminate in lagoons separated 

 from the ocean by sand bars. The quinnat has evidently the most 

 southern range of any of the species of Oncorhynchus, and possibly 

 becomes less abundant northward, the most abundant salmon of 

 Fraser River being 0. nerka, the blue-back of the fishermen. Yet it 

 is thought that the large "King-salmon" of Alaska is this species. 



Notwithstanding the study that has been given to the habits of 

 salmon, there are yet many points in their life history which are not 

 cleared up. They are hatched in clear running brooks accessible 

 from the ocean; they run down to the ocean when three or four 

 inches long, and they return to the rivers to spawn. This much is 

 certain, and it is certain also that the greater portion of the return- 

 ing fish are large, and of the age of about four years. As smaller 

 individuals, containing spawn, are sometimes taken, it is not unlikely 

 that some run up the river and spawn once or twice before their final 

 and fatal journey. However this may be, it appears that when full- 

 grown, the salmon approach the coast, where, meeting with currents 

 of fresh water from the rivers, they become irresistibly attracted, 

 and follow them up until fairly within the stream. When at 

 sea they feed freely and bite vigorously at a hook, but as soon as 

 they are fairly within a river, they cease to feed and cannot be 

 tempted to bite. The proof that they do not eat lies in the fact that 

 the stomach of those taken in the river is always empty. Once in 

 the river, they become impressed with an irresistible desire to pene- 

 trate further and further, and in obedience to this impulse, they 

 mount rapids, spring up small cataracts, and flounder through shal- 

 lows until, spent with exhaustion, battered and wounded by contact 

 with rocks and other obstacles, and still further worn out by the process 

 of spawning, the greater portion die. All spawn before they die. and as 

 the strength of the individuals differs, they spawn at various points all 

 along the river and its tributaries, but always in comparatively shal- 

 low and clean water. In spawning, they pair off; the female depos- 

 its her spawn upon the gravel, and the male pours out upon it the 

 fertilizing milt. As the males mount up the river, a great change 

 takes place in the form of the head. The jaws commence to enlarge 

 and to curve, the upper forming a hook directed downwards, the 

 lower a similar hook directed upwards. Coincident with the growth 

 of the jaws, is that of the group of teeth upon their lips, which 

 become relatively immense. The result is a " dog salmon" with a 

 physiognomy utterly unlike the straight-jawed, neat looking indi- 

 viduals just arrived from the sea, and it is no wonder that such old 

 males have been described as distinct species. The males also 

 develop a more or less conspicuous hump upon the shoulder, but 

 this is not very evident in the species we are now considering. 



The females do not, at least as a rule, develop the hooked jaw, 

 although it is reported that some individuals with hooked jaws 



