3S8 AMERICAN FISHES. 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGI1. SALMONIDjE. 



WEAK-TOOTHED SALMON. 



QUANNICH. 

 Sal mo Paucidens ; Richardson. ■ 



" This Salmon ascends the Columbia at the same time with the S. 

 Gairdnerii, and in equal numbers. It is taken in company with that 

 species and the Quinnat, and has an average weight of three or four 

 pounds. 



" ' Color. — Back of head and body bluish gray; sides ash gray with 

 a reddish tinge ; belly white. No trace of spots on the body or fins. 

 Form. — Commissure of the mouth very oblique, approaching to verti- 

 cal, dorsal profile quite straight, tail forked. Ventrals corresponding 

 to middle of tho dorsal, and adipose to posterior extremity of the anal. 

 Teeth sparingly scattered and feeble on the jaws, only a few short 

 weak ones on the anterior extremity of the vomer, and on the palate 

 bones. Fins.— Br. 13; P. 17- V. 12; A. 17; D. 12—0.' 



" From the labels having dropped off, I cannot refer the fragments 

 of any of the specimens to this species with certainty ; but I am in- 

 clined to think that the spine, containing sixty-six vertebrae, belongs 

 to it, and if so, the gill-cover is extremely like that of S. Scouleri, 

 and the bones of the head have the same fibrous structure which we 

 have noticed in the description of that species. None of the teeth 

 have been preserved; but those of the lower jaw appear to have been 

 fixed in cartilaginous sockets, which have separated from the bone, 

 leaving a rough surface. The palate and upper jaw bones are lost. 

 The union of the branchial arches at the root of the tongue is longer 

 and navxower than in the preceding two species, ana the gill-openings 

 consequently are more ample. Either this species or the S. Scouleri, 

 or perhaps both, are named ' Red Char ' by Lewis and Clarke " 



