ZOOLOGY. 321 



the fact that the very large specimens seen by me were but cursorily examined, and may, in 

 reality, have belonged to a distinct species. 



The discussions which have so frequently occupied the minds of British naturalists concerning 

 the real character and position of the small salmonidae, known to them as ^'smovlts," '^grilse," 

 &c., are of collateral interest to American ichthyologists. The study of this family, in America, 

 is much less trammelled b)^ a multiplicity of names for the immature fish, and, as suggested by 

 Sir John Richardson, may, for that reason, assist much in throwing light upon iDcrploxing 

 obscurities in which the subject is involved in Europe. Many valuable experiments have been 

 carefully instituted by gentlemen in England for settling these vexed questions. Young salmon 

 have been marked and then turned loose, which have been again taken at successive seasons, 

 until gradually a complete chain of evidence has been thus adduced, showing each change, step 

 by step, and link by link, from exteme youth to maturity. 



1. SALMO QUINNAT, Rich. 



Salmo quinnat, lUcH. F. B, A. Ill, 18.36, 210.— DeKat, N. Y. Fauoa, IV, 1842, 242.— Stober, Synopsis, 184G, 

 lOl). — Hekdert, Supplement to Frank Forrester's Fish and Fisliing, &c., 1S50, .SI.^Grd. in Proc. 

 A N. Sc. Pliil. VIII, 1856, 217.- Ibid. Pacidc R. R. Reports, vol. VI.— Ibid. Gen. Rep. Fishes, 

 306. 



Common Salmon, Lewis & Clark. 



FicuRE-s. — A young fish called by this name, and probably belonging to the species, has been figured under Dr. Girard's 

 supervision, and appears in the General Report on the Fishes collected by the United States Pacific railroad surveying 

 paities, Plate LXVII. 



Sp. Cii. — Adult: Head pointed and large, forming about a fourth of the length from the snout to the end of the pcales on 

 the caudal.^" Dorsal outline regularly arched. Caudal deeply cut out, (in the dried specimens /oriei. ) Snout cartilaginous, as 

 in S. solar. Chin pointed, a triangular bare projection extending beyond the teeth. Colorsrf "General tint of the back 

 liluish gray, chmging after a few hours' removal from the water into mountain green ; sides ash gray, with silvery lustre ; 

 belly white ; back above the lateral line studded with irregular rhomboidal or star-like black spots, some of them ocellated. 

 Dorsal fin and gill covers slightly reddish ; tips of the anal and pectorals blackish gray ; the dorsal and caudal thickly 

 studded with round and rhomboidal spots, back of the head sparingly marked with the same. Whole body below the 

 lateral line, with the under fins, desiUule oi spots." — (Gairdner m lU. Rich. F. B. A. Fishes, 220.) Scales large. Branchial 

 rays varying from 17 to 20. 



Young:? " Body fusiform in profile, compressed ; head forming aljout the fifth of the total length ; maxillary bone curved, 

 extending beyond the orbit ; anterior margin of the dorsal equidistant between the extremity of the snout and the insertion 

 of the caudal. Dorsal region olivaceous, studded with irregular black spots ; dorsal and caudal fins similarly spotted. 

 Region beneath the lateral line unicolor, silvery along the middle of the flanks, and yellowish on the belly. Inferior fins 

 unicolor. Head above blackish gray ; sides bluish gray." — Girard. 



In shape, and in many other particulars, this fish agrees with the description given in Pallas, 

 ZooG. Ross. Asiat. of the S. orientalis, and, as quoted by Brevoort in notes on some figures of 

 Japanese fish, like it, reaches a weight of sixty pounds; ascending the larger rivers only in tlw 

 months of April, May, and June; in having fleshy lips, and in gastronomic excellence. It also 

 has a large pointed head, with very similar jaws. It differs from Mr. Brevoort' s figure in 

 having the tail much more deeply cut out — almost forked — and in having spots on the back 

 and head. It also but seldom attains the large size given above, the average being usually 

 about twenty-five pounds. Valenciennes says that the >S'. orientalis has numerous crescent- 

 shaped spots above the lateral line. This remark is based on a drawing, taken by Mertens, of 



■- The size of the head of most salmon seems to vary in the two sexes, that of the male being larger, 

 t The colors, when given under the head of Sp. Ch. in this report, are always those of the fish fresh run from the sea, except 

 when the contrary is stated. 



41 Q 



