338 ZOOLOGY. 



report, a species known, par excellence, to the inhabitants on the northwest coast as the ''hump- 

 backed salmon, ' ' which enters the rivers on alternate years. The S. Scoukri has a tendency 

 towards a hump, and might he called the "hump-backed salmon" if we had not a species 

 having that character so much more exaggerated. Besides differences in this respect, there 

 are other strong ones in the number and arrangement of the teeth, size of scales, color, total 

 length of fish, &c.* The gorbiischa, according to Pennant, never exceeds a foot and a half in 

 length. 



Dr. Scouler, in lit. to Sir John Richardson, says of this salmon: "This arm of the sea 

 [Observatory inlet] was frequented at the time by such myriads of the salmon that a stone 

 could not have reached the bottom without touching several individuals — their abundance 

 surpassing the efibrts of the imagination to conceive. The little brook that empties itself into 

 the inlet was swarming with the fish ascending to spawn, and in the course of about two hours 

 we killed sixty with boarding pikes. The hump before the dorsal fin consists of fat, and 

 appears to be peculiar to the males, who acquire it after the spawning season, when their 

 snouts become elongated and arched." 



From the wording of the last sentence I am inclined to think that two distinct kinds of salmon 

 u-erc entering the rivers at the same time; these being the *S'. Scouleri, of which he sent a specimen 

 Avhich was described and figured by Sir John Richardson, (from which description and figure 

 there is no difficulty in proving its identity with the skoiviiz of Puget Sound,) and the hump- 

 backed salmon or huddo. In Puget Sound the two species are found arriving at the same 

 season and months — the huddo, however, only coming in alternate years. Perhaps Dr. Scouler, 

 in confounding the two species as one, made notes on both, part of which apply only to the 

 hump-backed species; and having preserved specimens of the ^S'. Scouleri alone, confusion was 

 created not only in Sir J. Richardson's pages, but in the minds of others studying the subject. 

 Confusion, however, in regard to our northwestern salmon is perfectly pardonable, as we 

 ourselves can testify. 



Dr. Scouler again says, [this time probably referring to the true S. Scouleri:] "According to 

 the best of my remembrance the color of the belly is white, inclined to yellow, and the back 

 is of a bluish leaden color. Nothing can be more different than the appearance of the two 

 sexes during the spawning season. The female is round and beautiful, ivith thejaivs of equal 

 length; while the male is compressed laterally, and has a long, arched snout with powerful teeth." 

 [The italics are our own.] Dr. Scouler again remarks: "I am unable to say whether any 

 return to the sea or not; or whether the large teeth drop, and the incurvated snout returns to 

 its former dimensions. The females want the large teeth, and so do the males before spawiug, 

 at least I saw none with large teeth in the Columbia in April or May. We left that river in 

 June, and did not return until September." 



The teeth of all salmon apparently grow as the fish becomes emaciated. This is caused much 

 by the shrinking of the "gums," produced by the absorption of all superfluous fat. The 

 Doctor evidently again confounds distinct species, mistaking the S2mng kinds {S. quinnat and 

 S. Gairdneri) for this species. At the time he was in the Columbia (May and June) there were 

 no individuals of the present species to be found. September, the month in which be returned, 

 is the time when the S. Sco^deri comes from the sea in vast numbers. The diagnostic marks 

 between those species are well defined and cannot be produced by variations in condition. 



" Jhe subject of the identity of the gorbwscha, and the hump-hacked salmon of Puget Sound is spoken of more in detail, 

 under the head of Salmo proicm. 



