342 ZOOLOGY. 



and bodies become much bruised and injured, giving rise to sores and ulcerations. The fins 

 become much worn also. The impoverished fish have hooked snouts and j^ale whitish flesh. 

 At no time is it seen with the bright salmon-red flesh common to other kinds; but on the first 

 arrival, when in good order, they are found with flesh which, when cooked, has a pinkish buff 

 color, and is not, in my estimation, bad. 



Like several other species of salmon they are very regular in the periodical arrivals at the 

 mouths of the rivers. In 1856 they arrived in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom on the 3d of 

 October, and by the 7th were in such vast numbers that a small boy, with a pole armed with a 

 gaff hook, could readily take one or two hundred pounds weight in an hour. 



The Nisqually Indians say that these salmon, although entering fresh water later than the 

 skotvifz, {S. Scouleri,) return earlier, their stay being shorter. Thej^ state also that the greater 

 number go back to the sea, after spawning, more than those of any other species of large 

 salmon; the hunch-back all dying, and but few of the skowitz surviving. 



Mr. Gibbs says of this species: "The common dog-salmon is preferred by the Indians for 

 drying, because there is but little fat upon it. It has a hooked nose, and very large hooked 

 teeth, both increasing with age. When "fresh-run" the meat of the female is red, but soon 

 becomes white. The Indians do not dry them until they have been in fresh water some time, 

 and have lost what little fat they had. They arrive about October 1, and last until late in the 

 winter. The Indians split them ver}' thin, take out the back bone, and dry all parts." 



3. SALMO SPECTABILIS, Grd. 



Red-Spotted Salmon Trout. 



Spec. Char — Body sub-fusifomi in profile, very much compreBsed, the head forming about the fourth of the total length. 

 Maxillary bone curved, extending to a vertical line passing somewhat posteriorly to the entire orbit. Anterior margin of 

 dorsal fin a little nearer the extremity of the snout than the base of the caudal. Brownish gray above ; silvery beneath. 

 Dorsal region and upper poition of the flanlss spread over with light spots ; those on the sides briglit red, as in 5. fontinalis. 

 Syh. —Salmo apcctalihs, Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. VIII, 1856, 218.— Ibid. Pacific R. E. Keports, Fishes, p. 307. 

 Red spothd salmon trout, Oregon settleks; pussutjch, Nisqually; ccmmahmah, Clallam. 



Dr. Glrard says: "The only specimen which we have before us being in a rather precarious 

 state of keeping, our description of the species must, of course, remain incomplete. All the 

 fins being broken off from their very bases, the length and shape of the caudal could not be 

 ascertained. The abdomen itself is ruptured, and all the viscera are lost." 



As Dr. Girard suggests, the colors of this fish were very much altered by the preservative. 

 The specimen upon which the specific characters of the species were based is, as yet, alone in 

 the Smithsonian collection. It was obtained by me, in the year 1854, at Fort Dalles, Oregon, 

 [not from the St. Mary's Mission, as stated in the general report,) where the species is not 

 uncommon.* It is said by the inhabitants to be more partial to particular streams, and to be 

 quite plentiful in a small rivulet called Dog river, which, arising on the north side of Mount 

 Hood, empties into the Columbia about ten miles below Fort Dalles. It comes late in the 

 summer, and for this reason I suppose it to be anadromoiis. This is certainly the case if it is 

 identical with the red-spotted salmon trout so abundant in the bays and rivers of Puget Sound 

 in autumn, which is known to the Nisqually Indians as the pussutch, and is taken in moderate 

 numbers throughout the summer, and in immense quantities in autumn. The colors of the 

 species are, as near as I can remember, as follows: Back and upper parts pale brownish olive; 



'^ Many fine specimens of the pussutch were obtained by me at Fort Steilacoom, and forwarded to Washington, but never 

 reached their destination. 



