312 NATURAL HISTOEY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



some specimens a bluish line extends from posterior base of eye to anterior border of operculum, and 

 a second line shows on the upper part of operculum, but in others these lines are obsolete. The 

 flesh of female is white. 



Hexagrajimus decageammus (Pallas). 



32863. (7.) Unalaska, May SO, 1877. 



A single specimen brought in May 30. This specimen, 17 inches long, has almost exactly the 

 shape of a codfish. The ground color is a pale livid blue, which extends up about one-third the 

 distance on the dorsals and caudal. The lower third of the fins is spotted with golden-brown spots, 

 which occupy nearly all the surface of the upper two-thirds, leaving a few blue spots along the rays. 

 The blue is more prominent on the posterior dorsal. The tail rays are a dull livid blue, becoming yel- 

 lowish at end with brownish membrane. The pectorals are a dirty yellowish, the upper half much 

 the brighter, the lower half becoming a dingy bluish with a yellowish shade. The ventrals are a 

 dirty pale bluish at base and becoming very dark at tips. The anal is a dirty ochery -yellow 

 throughout with slightly fleshy tips. The under surface is pale dirty whitish, purest along the 

 anal, a dirty yellowish tint obscuring the white on lower surface of head, chest, abdomen, and sides. 

 The lips are dull olive-brown, the nose having the.same tint, which makes it darker than the rest 

 of the head. The entire upper surface is covered with small golden-brown spots, which are so 

 numerous that the ground color has the appearance of reticulating lines. 



Pyloric coeca, 18. Intestines short, equal to length of body. The ovaries Were undeveloped 

 in the above specimen May 30. 



A^MMODYTES PEESONATUS Girard. 



32933. (147.) Saint Michaels, fall, 1878. 

 Silver-sides. (Saint Michaels, fall of 1878). It is occasionally washed ashore by the waves. 



32970. (283.) Saint Michaels, September, 1880. Arrow-fish. 

 At every very low fall tide great numbers of these fish were washed on shore or confined in 

 little pools left by the retreating tide. These and Sticklebacks were the common species that were 

 bro\ight to their young by the Sea Parrots at Stewart Island, on September 8, 1879. 



Esox LUCIUS Linn. Pickerel (ChiiJc'-ichulc). 



3-2938. (94, 95, 96, 97.) AnOraevsky, Yulion River, winter, 1877-' 



Dallia pectoealis Bean. Blackfish (I-man'-ulc). 



32834. (88.) Andraevsliy, Yukon River, winter, 1877-'78. 



32885. (90.) Andraevsky, Yukon River, winter, 1877-'78. 



32886. (92.) Andraevsky, Yukon River, winter, 1877-78. 



32887. (93.) Andraevsky, Yukon River, winter,' 1877-78. 



" Blackfish" of the natives. Very numerous in pools along the l^ev Yukon. 



32947. (267, 268. ) Mouth of Tanana River, spring of 1380. 

 32976. (89, 91.) Andraevsky, winter, 1877-78. 



[For an account of the " Blackfish " see Nelson in Fishery Industries, U. S., Section 1, 1^4, 

 page 46G.] 



This species, though individually insignificant, exists in such numbers in all the sluggish fresh- 

 water streams and shallow lakes from the vicinity of Kotzebue Sound on the north to the mouth of 

 the Kuskoquim Eiver on the south, and extending up these streams as far as suitable surroundings 

 permit, that it forms a very important source of food-supply. I have been informed of their 

 presence as far as the mouth of the Tanana, on the Yukon, and know by personal observation of 

 their occurrence for over 100 miles up the Lower Kuskoquim and throughout the intermediate 

 region. It is in the low country last mentioned that they are most abundant. 



A native jjopulation of nearly three thousand persons rely upon this fish for one of their most 

 abundant and certain sources of food-supply. The fish is caught in wicker-work traps set in their 

 haunts with a wicker fence leading into it on either side. In many of the muddy and grass- 



