No. VI.] 



NOTICES OF THE FISHES. 



709 



Fins.— -*The dorsal fin is situated opposite the ventrals, and about its own length, 

 nearer to the caudal fin than to the snout. It is sub-quadrangular, higher than long, 

 and gradually diminishes in height posteriorly. It contains twelve rays, of which the 

 first is three inches and a quarter long, and is supported anteriorly by three shorter 

 ones closely applied to its base. The adipose fin is small and lingueform. The anal 

 fin is sub-quadrangular, deepest anteriorly with a slightly crescentic margin. It occu- 

 pies rather more than half the space between the anus and caudal fin. The first ray 

 is supported by three minute ones. The caudal fin is large, forked, with the lower 

 lobe very slightly larger than the upper one ; the scales, a little diminished in size, 

 encroach somewhat upon the fin, and terminate by a well-defined semicircular line. 

 B. 10. P. 17. D. 12|. V. 12. A. I5f. C. 22£. 



The length of the specimen described was eighteen inches, or, including the caudal 

 fin, twenty inches and a half. 



This fish grows to the size of thirty or forty pounds, or upwards. Its flesh is white, 

 and when in season agreeable ; but it is rather soft, and proves palling when used as 

 daily food, differing in that respect from the attihawmegh. The Indians report 

 that it comes from the Arctic Sea. We have no account of its being found anywhere 

 except in M'Kenzie's River, and in the lakes and rivers which flow into it. Its most 

 southerly habitat is at the Salt River, the cascades on Slave River preventing it from 

 ascending higher. It agrees in some points with the descriptions given of the 

 S. peled, S. leucitchys, Nov. Com. Petrop. xvi., and S. autumnalis, L. ; but appears to be 

 distinct from all these, not only from the differences in the number of the rays in the 

 fins, but also in the teeth. This fish does not arrange well in any of Cuvier's sub- 

 genera of the genus salmo. 



Salmo Fario. L, 



Sub-genus Salmo. Cuv. Reg. An. p. 161. 



Namaycush, Pennant's Arctic Zoology, Introd. p. ccxcviii. 



Namacush, Penn. Arc. Zool. Vol. ii. p. 392. 



Trout, Perm. Arc. Zool. loco citato. Hearne and Mackenzie, passim. 



Among the trout, which abound in every lake and river in the northern parts of 

 America, there exist innumerable varieties, differing in size and colours. The Indians 

 have no names to denote the varieties, but class them all under one general term ; 

 the Crees under that of nammaecoos, the Chipewyans of thlooees-inneh, and the 

 Esquimaux of oerkallook. I took descriptions of several of the varieties, but did 

 not observe any difference of structure, whereupon I could found specific characters. 

 The vividness of the spots seemed to change with the season, and with the condition 

 of the individual ; and the colour of the flesh, which varied from white to pale red, 

 may also be ascribed to some accidental cause, perhaps to the river in which they 



