164 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



in similar occupations, to add his meed of praise to retiring merit. To his friend- 

 ship and liberality I owe the acquisition of this and three other trouts, taken in 

 Regent's Inlet on his last expedition. The Salmo Rossii is so extremely abun- 

 dant in the sea, near the mouths of the rivers of Boothia Felix, at certain seasons, 

 that three thousand three hundred and seventy-eight individuals were obtained at 

 one haul of a small-sized seine. They varied in weight from two to fourteen 

 pounds, and rather exceeded, in the aggregate, six tons. In some the colour of 

 the flesh was of a dark red, in others it was very pale, the dark ones being the 

 firmest and best flavoured. As an article of food this salmon was much relished 

 by the crew of the Victory. The malma, or golet of the Russians, which enters the 

 rivers of Kamtschatka, agrees with the Salmo Rossii in its comparatively slender 

 cylindrical form, scarlet spots on the sides, and the colours of some other parts; but 

 we cannot, from the short notice of the malma by Pennant, offer an opinion respect- 

 ing the identity or difference of the species. The habits of the two are evidently 

 unlike, if it be true that the malma never congregates in shoals *. The Green- 

 landers give the same name to the Salmo carpio of Fabricius, that $. Rossii 

 receives from the Esquimaux of Boothia Felix ; viz., Eekalook. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Of a dried specimen from Regent's Inlet. 

 Form, as compared with the Common salmon, more slender, with a straighter back, much 

 less arched forehead and shoulders, and slightly larger head. The remarkable length of the 

 under jaw, and the truncated snout, give a peculiar appearance to the fish, and in conjunction 

 with the nature of the scales, and the colour of the skin, readily characterise the species. 

 Head, when viewed from above, appearing broad and flat, there being very little convexity 

 either longitudinally or transversely. The snout is very obtuse. The head, measured as 

 usual from the tip of the snout, is one-fifth of the whole length to the end of the scales on the 

 caudal, and if the measurement be made from the tip of the lower jaw, which is an inch longer 

 than the upper one, five lengths of the head reach to the extremities of the caudal. In the 

 dried specimen there is a smooth median ridge extending from between the eyes to the nape, 

 and an even lateral ridge on each side, commencing at the nostrils and curving down behind 

 the orbit. A series of pores runs along the lateral ridge, and down the scapular bones to the 

 lateral line; a row crosses the nape, another runs down the preoperculum, and lastly, one, 

 beginning at the nostrils, curves under the orbit, and upwards to the middle of the lateral 



* " The malma, or golet of the Russians, grows to the weight of twenty pounds, and to the length of about twenty-eight 

 inches. It is the most slender and cylindrical of all the genus. The head resembles that of a trout : the scales are very 

 small : the back and sides bluish, with scattered spots of scarlet red : the belly white : ventral and anal fins red : tail 

 slightly forked. It is sporadic, going dispersedly and not in shoals, ascends rivers to their very sources, feeds upon the 

 spawn of other species, and grows very fat. The natives salt those they take in autumn, and preserve frozen those which 

 are caught when the frost commences." (Arct. Zool. Intr., i., p. cxxvi.) 



