NOTES ON THE FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
287 
is a sinking- illustration of what steam is doing for the extermination of the whale in the Pacific. 
There will he no restriction. The wliale fishery liy sailing vessels has for some time been unprolilable. 
What the sailing craft would not do in a lifetime of years the steam whaler will pretty effectually 
accomplish in a very few years. 
MINOR NOTES. 
A LARGE SKATE. 
At Astoria, on June 20, two salmon gill-net fisliermeji brought in a very large 
skate, Avhich had become entangled in their net at the mouth of the river. It was 
lauded at a cannery, and was said by a number of people who saw it to have been 
the largest skate ever lauded in Astoria. Its greatest width was 5 feet, its total 
length was a little over 0 feet, and its weight was 150 pounds. A Chinese salmon- 
dresser was engaged to open the hsh; its alimentary tract was found to contain a 
number of crabs (Cddccr magister), some of which were almost whole. The Chinese 
cannery hands watched the evisceration of the skate very intently, and when the 
opportunity came hastily madejoft with the intestines, which are, by them, considered 
a great delicacy. From a sketch made of this skate and an examination of the teeth 
the specimen has since been identihed as the big skate (Raia cooperi Girard). It is 
the largest reiiresentative of the genus on the Pacific coast, and is said by Jordan 
& Gilbert to have an egg case nearly a foot in length. According to those authorities, 
it is abundant from Monterey to Sitka. 
FISH IN LOS ANGELES MARKET. 
At Los Angeles, on June 5, the following meager representatives of the rich lish 
fauna of the coast of Los Angeles County were seen in the market, which is supplied 
by the fishermen of San Pedro : 
Seriola dorsali.s. Yellow-tail. One fish weighing 25 pounds. 
Orcynus alalonga. Albacore. One 'weighing 25 pounds. 
Sarda chilensis. Bonito. Two having weight of 8 pounds each. 
Haliclioeres semicinctus. Kelpjisk. Several weighing about a pound each. 
Sebastichthys, species. BoeJefish. A number of these fish, belonging to several species, were on sale. 
Leptocottus*armatu.s. Sculpin. A few. 
Paraliclithys californicus. Halibut. Several. 
Oncorhyncliu.s cliouicha. Salmon. A few from San Francisco. 
Microgadus proximus. Tomcod. Common. 
Some anchovies (/S'toicp/mrn.s rmpcibs-) prepared as “ Eussian sardines” were also 
seen. 
FRESII-WATER CRAWFISH. 
The business of takiug crawfish for market is of very recent origin, and their utili- 
zation is as yet limited. Several species of the genus Pofamohms are Ibuud in the west 
coast States, but they are taken only in a few localities. They may be seen exfiosed 
for sale in San Francisco and Portland. They are especially numerous in the sloughs 
of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, from which the greater part of the supply is 
now drawn, although they occur in great abundance in suitable situations throughout 
this region. On June 18 several hundred remarkably large and fine-looking crawfish 
were seen at a fish-stand in Portland. Some were somewhat over 0 inches in body 
length. 
