76 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
18 . Alosa sapidissima (Wilson). Common Eastern Shad. 
During the salmon fishing season of 1896 in the Siuslaw River about a dozen shad were taken — 
one in a salmon gill net near Mapleton about the middle of October, the others in salmon seines at 
Acme in September and October. The specimen caught near Mapleton is a male 18 inches long and 
weighing about 2J pounds. The spermaries are hut slightly developed, indicating that the spawning 
season would he some months earlier than when this fish was taken. Head 4; depth 3; orbit 4J-; 
snout 4| ; maxillary 2; gill-rakers 35+68 on the left and 36+68 on the right. 
The first planting of shad on the Pacific coast was made in 1871 by Mr. Seth Green, who liberated 
about 10,000 fry in the Sacramento River 275 miles above Sacramento. The second plant was made in 
July, 1873, by Mr. Livingston Stone, who placed 35,000 fry in the Sacramento River at Tehama. Vari- 
ous subsequent plants have been made by the U. S. Fish Commission in California, all at Tehama, the 
last plant having been made in 1880. Besides these plants made in the Sacramento River, 60,000 fry 
were placed in the Willamette River at Portland and 10,000 in Snake River in 1885. In 1886, 550,000 
fry were. liberated in the Willamette River at Albany, and 300,000 in the Columbia at Wallula Junc- 
tion. In 1884, 1885, and 1886, 2,651,000 shad fry were placed in the Colorado River at The Needles, 
Arizona. No investigation has ever been made for the purpose of determining the result of the plant- 
ings made in the Colorado River and it is not known whether any of the fry survived. The results 
from the plants made in California and Oregon, however, are little less than marvelous, as shown by 
Dr. H. M. Smith in a recent paper. * 
From the Sacramento and Columbia rivers shad have spread to Los Angeles County, California, 
on the south, and Wrangell Island, Alaska, on the north. They had spread from San Francisco to the 
Columbia River as early as 1880, and by 1882 had been taken at various places along the Washington 
coast. The only passages through which the planted shad could reach the sea are the mouth of the 
Columbia River and the Golden Gate. From these points they have spread up and down the Pacific 
coast a distance of more than 1,300 miles. This is greater than its range in latitude on the Atlantic 
coast. Not only have they spread to these distant points, hut shad have been reported from a number 
of intermediate places, among which are Monterey Bay, Drake Bay, Klamath River, Rogue River, 
Umpqua River, Siuslaw River, Fraser River, and the north end of Vancouver Island. 
These facts in the distribution of the shad on the Pacific coast are of extreme interest and 
importance as bearing directly upon the belief, still more or less prevalent, that anadromous fishes 
possess a mysterious geographic instinct which leads them back to the stream in which they were 
spawned. While the number of shad entering the Columbia and San Francisco Bay is far greater than 
that for all the other rivers combined, it is nevertheless true that many shad have found their way to 
other and distant streams. The extent to which this has occurred seems to us fully sufficient to 
disprove the possession by the shad of any “special geographic instinct.” We believe the same to 
be true of the various kinds of salmon and other anadromous species. The question is in need of further 
research, but investigations already made indicate that anadromous fishes, like migrating birds, are 
guided in their movements by landmarks or other tangible physical features or conditions. 
The young shad hatched in any given stream go down to the sea, but probably do not ordinarily 
wander far from the mouth of that particular river. When they become mature, and physiological 
unrest, due to the development of the reproductive organs, comes on, they begin to search for suitable 
spawning-beds, and the chances are they will find the river in which they w#re hatched. The 
majority will find this stream, while those that wandered farthest from its mouth may find others 
which they will enter. 
19 . Coregonus williamsoni Girard. Roclcy Mountain Whitefish. 
Common throughout the Columbia River basin. Specimens obtained from Alturas, Pend d’Oreille, 
and Wallowa lakes, Des Chutes River at Sherar’s Bridge, and Big White Salmon River. A specimen 
10 inches long, taken in the gill net in Alturas Inlet July 27, has the head 5; depth 44 ; eye 4f; snout 
3J; maxillary 3jj ; D. 12 ; A. 11 ; scales 86. 
Another example, a female, 12£ inches long and with well-developed roe, was taken with the hook 
at Sherar’s Bridge August 30. Head 5; depth 4|; eye 5; snout 3+ maxillary 3jq D. 13; A. 11; scales 
88. In this specimen the adipose fin is remarkably large, its base being half length of head, its 
height 64 in head. This species spawns in October at Big Payette Lake, in Idaho, but the condition 
of the ovaries of the specimen taken at Sherar’s Bridge indicates a much earlier spawning period. 
* A Review of the History and Results of the Attempts to acclimatize Fish and other Water Animals 
in the Pacific States, in Bull. U. S. F. C. 1895, 407. 
