54 Salmon at the Antipodes. 



after this time they begin to get thinner, 

 become less elegant in form, lose the changing 

 tints of their colouration, and the scales appear 

 larger and rougher. As to the flesh, it is 

 already noticeably deteriorated in quality. 

 The nearer the spawning time the thinner 

 they become ; their silvery lustre gives place 

 to a deep olive-green colour, and the scales 

 become imbedded in the skin, 'which gets 

 thickened and spongy. 



" The two sexes are then easily distinguished. 

 The females have their abdomens distended 

 with ova; the males, on the contrary, are 

 thin and narrow ; their heads are long, and 

 compressed laterally. 



" They have, according to L. Stone, a some- 

 what ferocious look, caused by the expression 

 of the eyes, and the presence in the jaws of 

 formidable rows of enormous pointed teeth, 

 sometimes half an inch in length. 



"As the season advances, these characters 

 become more marked up to the time of spawn- 

 ing, when both sexes become so weak and 

 emaciated that many of their number die of 

 exhaustion. 



" On account of the length of many of the 



