The Californian Salmon. 45 



and no salmon he had seen caught in fresh 

 water had any trace of food in its stomach or 

 intestinal canal. In salt and brackish water, 

 however, they take the bait freely. The river 

 becomes quite offensive from the quantity of 

 dead fish floating down the stream. An in- 

 creasing population will, no doubt, remedy this 

 evil before long by reducing the numbers of 

 this wonderfully prolific fish within bounds, 

 and restoring the balance which has been 

 upset by its vigorous vitality. 



Enormous quantities of the Salmo quinnat 

 are tinned, and also preserved in casks with 

 brine. It is stated that, in 1875, 16,000,000 lbs. 

 of tinned salmon were prepared for exporta- 

 tion, on the Pacific coast of the United States, 

 besides a large quantity cured otherwise. If 

 sold at the rate of eightpence per lb. this 

 would amount to over £533,000, as the annual 

 produce of only one branch of the preserving 

 industry. 



The fact here stated, that the Californian 

 salmon is nearly, if not quite, equal in quality, 

 for the table, to the English variety, is con- 

 trary to several statements that have been 

 made to me. In fact, one gentleman went so 



