453 



ZOOLOGY. 



has fifteen or sixteen anal rays. The iSabno salar Linn. 

 sometimes weiglis eiglity pounds. It is common to Europe 

 as well as Northeastern America. In the autumn the salmon 

 ascends rivers to spawn, penetrating as near the source as 

 possible. During the breeding season tlie males differ de- 

 cidedly from the females, in the long, slender, hooked snout, 

 the body being tliin and high-colored. Tlie eggs are very 

 large, exceeding a jjca in size, and are laid in sliallow holes 

 made in the gravel of streazns. Tlie extreme young are 

 banded and called parr ; when about a year old, and of a 

 bright silvery color, before descending the rivers to the sea, 

 it is called a smoU ; after its return from the sea into fresh 

 water it goes by the name of grilse; and finally, after re- 

 turning a second time from the sea, it assumes its name of 

 salmon. The trout, Sahiio {Salceli)ius) fontinalis Gill and 



Fig. 412.— Tlie Smelt— (95/?ignf5mo/'(Z(M!— one half natural size.— From the Amer- 

 lean Naturalist. 



Jordan, also breeds in tlie autumn and early winter ; it is 

 not anadromous, living permanently in streams and ponds. 



An allied family embraces the smelts, Osmerus eper- 

 lanus Linn., and 0. mordax Mitchill, which live on both 

 sides of the Atlantic, and range from Nova Scotia to Vir- 

 ginia. Tlie capelin, Mallotus villosus Cuvier, is valuable 

 as bait in the cod fishery. It spawns in the summer. The 

 males are distinguished by a prominent lateral ridge along 

 the sides of the body and are more numerous than the 

 females. 



Belonging to the same suborder or group of families 

 as the SahnonidcB is the family Galaxiidm, represented by 

 Gakuias and Neoclianna (Fig. 413), in the latter of wliieh 

 tlie ventral fins are absent. 



