192 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
the fish swims upstream over the bed with a raj)id (|uivering motiou of the body ; during this act the 
body is always inclined to one side and the gravel is chiefly pushed in the other direction ; after swim- 
ming across the nest in this way, the lish circles around downstream and returns to the bed to rox^eat 
the same iirocess again and again, and keeiis it uj) for several days. During all tliis time the male 
follows closely behind tlie female, sometimes ([uiveriug and plowing through the sand and gravel 
in the same Avay and thus receiving mutilations of the same character. Often the back of the fish is 
turned against the gravel and becomes worn. On each sjiawjiing-bed are usually several suiiernu- 
merary males, and among them and the jiaired males there is much chasing about and some lighting, 
which results in still further mutilations. It nnaj^ therefore bo jiositively stated that the sores and 
mutilations seen on the redflsh at the Idaho sitawning-grounds are practically all received after the 
siiawning season begins. 
5. What hecomes of the redjish after they have finished spawning? 
Our observations made at Alturas and Payette lakes in 1894 and 1895, and particularly those at 
Alturas Lake in 1895, which have already been given with considerable detail, leave no doubt as to 
the answer to this question. The redflsh which siiawn in the inlets to the Idaho lakes never return 
to the sea, but all die at the close of the sx)awning season. The evidence is conclusive. On Sejitember 
6 there were about 1,000 redlish in Alturas Inlet. By Sei^tember 14 the number had been reduced to 
about 263, a net decrease of nearly 750 in one week. Two daj's later, September 16, only 213 fish were 
found in the entire stream, and on September 22 there were jirobably not over 25 lish left. That this 
decrease was caused by the death of the fish and not bj" their running downstream into the lake is 
certain. The gill nets near the mouth of the inlet would have jirevented them from returning to the 
lake had they desired to do so. But the daily insx)ection of the nets showed that there was little if 
any tendency on the part of the fish to return to the lake. The fish caught in the nets from above 
were usually dead or dying fish which were too weak to resist the strength of the current and were 
consequently carried against the nets. After the spawning season was well advanced, dead fish 
could be found any day along the stream; and the seriously mutilated condition of practically all 
the fish near the close of the s}iawning precludes the iirobability of their recovery. 
6. The question as to the relationshij) of what I have designated as the large and small forms of 
the redfish is an interesting one and not easj" to settle. The large form has been described as new no 
fewer than eight times, and the small one twice; The following is a list of the names, in order of 
date, which have been ajJXilied to the two forms: 
Large form : 
Sahnu nerka Walbaum, 1792. Kamchatka. 
Sahno hjcaodon Pallas, 1811. Kamchatka. 
Salmo 2)aucidens Richardson, 1836. Columbia River. 
Sahno tupdisma Cuvier &. Valenciennes, 1848. Kamchatka. 
Sahno arahatsch Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1848. Kamchatka. 
Sahno melampterus Cuvier A Valenciennes, 1848. Kamchatka. 
Sahno vooperi Suckley, 1861. Okanogan River. 
Sahno richardi Suckley, 1861. Fraser and Skagit rivers. 
SniaU form : 
Sahno Icennerlyi Suckley, 1861. Chiloweyuck Lake. 
Sahno warreni Suckley, 1861. Fraser River. 
In 1862 Dr. Gill made the small form the type of a new genus, which he called Hypsifario, the 
“comi)ressed body and x^rojecting snout” being the characters assigned. 
.Iordan &, Gilbert have regarded the small redfish as being sxiocifically identical with the large 
form. In 1891 Dr. Beau examined a number of specimens of the little redfish which the National 
Museum had received from Lake Washington, at Seattle, where they were obtained by Prof. O. B. 
Johnson, of the State University of Washington. An examination of these specimens, together with 
others from British Columbia, and the notes of Professor Johnson and Dr. Dawson, of Ottawa, con- 
vinced Dr. Bean that the little redflsh is a landlocked form and should rank as a subspecies, standing 
as Oncorhynchus nerka kennerhyi. The differential characters which Dr. Bean regarded as of value 
were (1) the difference in the number of gillrakers, and (2) the difference in the size of the fins. He 
thought that the smaller form had only about 30 gillrakers, while the larger had about 40. 
An examination of a large series of specimens of each form shows no difference in the gillrakers 
and none of imxiortance in the fins, as may be seen from the following table. Indeed, exeex^t in the 
matter of size, there seem to be no structural differences of any value whatever. In color the large 
ones are, at spawning time, usually a brighter and more uniform red, the females being quite as red 
