QUINNAT SALMON. 887 



nsaal in this genus, strongly forked, on a rather slender caudal peduncle ; flesh red and 

 rich in spring, becoming paler in the fall as the spawning season approaches; head 4; 

 depth 4J; B. 15- 16 to 17-19, the nnmber on the sides usually unlike ; D. 11 ; A. 16 ; gill- 

 rakers usually 9-14 (i, e., 9 above the angle and 14 below) ; pyloric ccBoa 140-160 ; scales 

 usually 27-150-20, the nombar in a longitudinal series varying from 140-155, and in 

 California specimens occasionally as low as 130-155. Length, 36 inches. Usual weight 

 in the Columbia River 22 pounds, elsewhere 16-18 pounds, but individuals of 70 pounds 

 have been taken. 



Habitat, Ventura River to Alaska and Northern China, ascending all large streams ; 

 most abundant in the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers, where it is the principal Sal- 

 mon. Upwards of 35,000,000 pounds are now taken every spring in the Columbia River, 

 most of them canned for exportation. It ascends the large streams in spring and sum- 

 mer, moving np without feeding until the spawning season, by which time many of 

 those which started first may have travelled nearly a thousand miles After spawning, 

 most of them in the upper waters perish from exbanstion. Pt is by far the most valua- 

 ble of our Salmon. It has been introduced by the Fish Commission into many eastern 

 streams. 



Diagnosis. — The Quinnat Salmon at any age, may be known at once from 

 the Salmon and Trout native in the Great Lake Region, by the long anal 

 fin, which contains about 16 developed rays. 



Habits. — The following account of the habits of the Quinnat Salmon 

 may be interesting in view of the attempts now being made to natura- 

 lize the species in Ohio waters. This account was originally written 

 for the Popular Science Monthly and published (May, 1881, pp. 1-6) under 

 the title of " Story of a Salmon ;" 



"In the realm of the Northwest Wind, on the bouudary-line between the dark 

 fir-forests and the sunny plains, there stands a mountain, a great white cone two 

 miles and a half in perpendicular height. On its lower mile, the dense fir-woods cover 

 it with never-changing green ; on its next half mile, a lighter green of grass and bushes 

 gives place in winter to white; and, on its uppermost mile, the snows of the great loe 

 age still linger in unspotted parity. The people of Washington Territory say that this 

 mountain is the great "King-pin of the Universe," which shows that, even in its own 

 country, Mount Rainier is not without honor. 



"Flowing down from the southwest slope of Mount Rainier is a cold, clear river fed 

 by the melting snows of the mountain. Madly it hastens down over white cascades and 

 beds of shining sands, through birch-woods and belts of dark firs to mingle its waters 

 at last with those of the great Colambia. 



"This river is the Cowlitz, and on its bottom, not many years ago, there lay half- 

 buried in the sand a number of little orange-colored globules, each about as large as a 

 pea. These were not much in themselves, bat, like the philosopher's monads, each one 

 had in it the promise and potency of an active life. In the water above them, little 

 suckers and chubs and prickly soulpins were straining their mouths to draw those 

 globules from'the sand, and vicious-looking crawfishes picked them np with their blun- 

 dering hands and examined them with their telescopic eyes. But one, at least, of the 

 globules escaped their scientific curiosity, else this story would not be worth telling. 



"The gun shone down on it through the clear water, and the ripples of the Cowlitz 



