158 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[62.] 2. Salmo Scouleri. (Richardson.) Observatory Inlet Salmon. 



Family, Salmonoidese. Genus, Salmo. Cuvier. Sub-genus, Salmo. Id. 



Plate 93. 



Fig. A, entire fish, one-third nat. size. B, head, and C, roof of the mouth, nat. size. 



I am indebted to Dr. Scouler, of the Dublin Institution, for a specimen of this 

 very interesting salmon, which lie obtained when on the north-west coast of Ame- 

 rica, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. It was taken in the month of 

 August in Observatory Inlet, and Dr. Scouler remarks that " this arm of the sea 

 was frequented at the time by such myriads of tlie salmon, that a stone could not 

 have reached the bottom without touching several individuals, their abundance sur- 

 passing the efforts of imagination to conceive. The little brook that empties itself 

 into the inlet was swarming with the fish ascending to spawn, and in the course of 

 about two hours we killed sixty with boarding pikes. The hump before the dorsal 

 fin consists of fat, and appears to be peculiar to the males, who acquire it after the 

 spawning season, when their snouts become elongated and arched." Having 

 directed Dr. Scouler's attention to Pennant's notices of the Kamtschatka salmon, he 

 favoured me with the following second communication. " I will endeavour to answer 

 your questions seriatim. I think the Observatory Inlet salmon comes nearest to 

 the gorbuscha * of Kamtschatka. According to the best of my remembrance, the 

 colour of the belly is white, inclining to yellow, and the back is of a bluish leaden 

 colour. Nothing can be more different than the appearance of the two sexes in the 

 spawning season. The female is round and beautiful, with the jaws of equal 

 length ; while the male is compressed laterally and lias a long arched snout with 

 powerful teeth. The flesh of this salmon is red, and we thought it excellent, quite 

 equal to that of the English salmon, — no one on board objected to it." " The na- 

 tives of the Columbia use two modes of cooking salmon. One consists of steaming, 

 which is accomplished as follows : A number of heated pebbles are thrown into a 



* " The gorbuscha, or hunch-back, ascends the rivers in July. In form it resembles the Grayling: never exceeds a 

 foot and a half in length: is of a silvery colour, and unspotted: the tail forked; the flesh white. After it has been some 

 time in fresh water it changes its shape (the male especially) in a most surprising manner. The jaws and teeth grow 

 prodigiously long, especially the upper, which is at first shortest, hut soon shoots beyond the under, and grows crooked 

 downwards : the body becomes emaciated and the meat bad : but what is most characteristic, an enormous bunch rises 

 just before the first dorsal fin, to which it owes its name. Its flesh is bad, so that this fish falls to the share of the dogs. 

 Rays. D. 14—0 ; P. 15 ; V. 11 ; A. 18." (Penn., Arct. Zool., Mr., p. cxxv.) 



