594 MR. J. A. MILNE ON THE 



flexible, that unless one saw how mvich they may become worn 

 one would hardly believe it possible. 



It will, I think, be news to most of those employed on the 

 hatcheries that the spawning Sockeye possesses scales at 'all. 

 Last year when I asked for scales from a hatchery, I was told 

 that it was well known that the Sockeyes absorbed all their 

 scales as food in the course of their run up the river and never 

 had any when they reached the spawning beds. I ai'gued the 

 point, and the hatchery people ultimately sent me the piece of 

 skin shown in text-fig. 108 taken from a Sockeye that had 

 spawned, to convince me that I was wrong. The scales were 

 there, but are by no means so clear in reality as they are in 

 the photograph. They are very deepl}^ imbedded in the skin, 

 and, in order to remove some of them for examination, it Avas 

 necessary first to soak it well and then to pull and stretch it so as 

 to open the skin-pockets. After that the scales were still invisible 

 and adhered closely to the skin which formed the top of the 

 pockets. It was possible, however, to remove them with a pair 

 of forceps without much further difliculty. So even those Avho 

 have handled spawning Sockeyes for years may be excused for 

 thinking them to be without scales.— How many fishermen in 

 this country know that eels are covered with scales ? 



The Quinnat {Oncorhynchus tschawytscha). 



The known range of the Quinnat on the American Coast is from 

 the Ventura River in California to Norton Sound, Alaska. It 

 probably really extends into Arctic regions. The Quinnat is also 

 known as the Chinook Salmon, the King Salmon, the Tyee, the 

 Red or the White Spring Salmon, and the Black Salmon. The 

 flesh is generally of a deep salmon-red colour, but in the south of 

 Alaska and down to Puget Sound, sometimes as many as one- 

 third of these tish have white flesh. Sometimes one half of the 

 body is red and the other white, and sometimes the flesh is 

 mottled. The white-fleshed flsh are of little use. All the scales 

 sent me and marked as from either Red or White Spring Salmon 

 are from fish which have spent three winters, and a considerable 

 part of the feeding season following the last winter, in the sea. 

 Analogy from the true salmon would lead one to suppose that 

 the white and mottled fleshed Quinnats might be fish that had 

 spawned, but I can find no trace of a spawning mai'k on any of 

 their scales. It has been suggested that the Red and White 

 Spring Salmon are distinct varieties and that the specimens 

 with mottled flesh are crosses, but upon this point I can oft'er no 

 opinion. Diflferences in food might account for much, as in the 

 case of the Brown Trout {Scdmo fcm-io). 



The name Black Salmon ai-ises from the colour assumed by the 

 Quinnat at spawning time. 



In 1909 the weight of Quinnats canned on the Pacific Coast 

 was 12,640,344 lbs. 



