The great Muscular Power of' Salmon. 193 



ascertained already the existence of six distinct species of true 

 salmon in this river ; five of these I have seen and preserved ; 

 the periods of spawning of each are different. From what in- 

 formation I have collected regarding their habits, this is the 

 country to study this singular fish. It is found at the very 

 sources of the Columbia, notwithstanding the apparently insu- 

 perable rapids and cataracts which must be passed. Almost 

 every where the natives assert that the fish which ascend the 

 stream never return to the sea, nor were the young salmon ever 

 seen to descend to the ocean. This last is certainly incorrect, 

 and must arise from the fry being still so small as to elude the 

 observations of the natives. The former is not unlikely, from 

 the circumstance of the salmon, in the months of November and 

 December, being found at the heads of all the streams dying by 

 thousands, and completely choking up the current with their 

 bodies. They have often been seen with their noses fairly worn 

 down to the bone, and in the last stage of emaciation ; yet still, 

 by some unaccountable impulse, striving to ascend the stream 

 to the very last gasp. It is singular that the salmon pass by 

 some of the tributary streams in their passage upwards, and 

 prefer some of these to others. Few or none, for instance, are 

 ever got in the Kowalitit and Kanagun, or Deasis rivers. 

 They seem to delight in those streams where their progress is 

 impeded by rapids and cascades ; and it is remarked that, in 

 Fraser's River, no sooner have they emerged from the rapid 

 waters of the main stream, into the still waters of Stuart's Lake, 

 and the other lakes, than they become flabby and of inferior 

 flavour. The muscular power of this fish is truly astonishing, 

 even in a class of the animal kingdom remarkable for the vi- 

 gour of their movements ; for they are seen to ascend channels 

 at the Kettle Falls, into which a stone as big as a man's head, 

 when dropped, is shot downwards with the swiftness of an ar- 

 row, and where it is impossible by any force to push a pole even 

 to an inconsiderable depth. 



14. Respiration of Birds: — In a paper read to the French 

 Academy of Sciences, by M. Emili Jacquemin, the author 

 comes to the following conclusions : 1 . Organized beings exhibit 

 three principal modes of respiration. The first consists of a 

 simple and simultaneous gaseous exhalation and absorption, 



VOL. XIX. NO. XXXVII. — -JULY 1835. N 



