ZOOLOGY. 
331 
SALMO GAIRDNERI, Ricli. 
Gairdner’s Salmon. 
Syn.— Salmo gairdneri, Rich., Fauna B. A., Fishes, 1836, 221.— DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, iv, 1842, 243.— Storer, Synop. 
18fl6, 196.— Herbert, Suppl. to Fish and Fishing of the United States, 1850, 34. (Non Fario 
Gairdneri, Grd. Pr A. N. Sc., Phil, viii, 1856, 219; sive Ibid, Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. vii ; et 
Gen. Rep Fishes; p. 313, Plate, LXXI, fig. 1—4.*) 
?Queachts, Chinook. 
Sp. Ch.— [Based on data given by Richardson, arid on the examination of two dried skins in the Smithsonian collection.]— 
Profile of dorsal outline nearly straight; tail terminating in a slightly semilunar outline. Ventrals correspond to commencement 
of dorsal, and adipose to end of anal. Jaws fully armed with strong hooked teeth, except a small space in centre of upper 
jaw. Vomer armed with a double row for two-thirds of its anterior portion. Back of head and body, bluish gray; sides, 
ash gray; belly, white; caudal, spotted with oval dark spots; snout, rounded, (much more blunt than in S. quinnat.) Head, 
short and comparatively broad. Under fins light colored. 
This salmon differs from the S. quinnat in the rounded not pointed muzzle, in lacking the 
sharp, toothless, triangular prolongation of the lower jaw, anterior to the teeth; in its shorter and 
thicker head, in being more slender, and in having the dorsal outline more straight. It also 
differs in its slightly lunated tail, in having the rows of teeth on the tongue diverging posteriorly, 
and having but 12 or 13 branchial rays. The teeth generally are smaller and of more uniform 
size than those of the S. quinnat of equal condition. The lips in the dried specimens do not seem 
as thick as in the last mentioned species, the teeth thus appearing nearer the outside margin. 
Dr. Gairdner says that the only traces of variegated markings found on this fish are ‘ 1 a few 
faint spots at the root of the caudal.” In the Smithsonian collection there are, at present, two 
dried skins which, upon careful comparison w T ith Sir John Richardson’s description of the 
present species, agree in so many respects, that we have no doubt of their identity with it. 
They were obtained recently from Mr. James Wayne, of Astoria, Oregon, and were caught at 
the same season of the year that Dr. Gairdner mentions that it is common in the Columbia. 
The only marked discrepancy, which I have found between these specimens and Dr. Gairdner’s 
description, is in his statement as above, of the absence of markings. In Mr. Wayne’s salmon 
the tails were profusely spotted with elliptical and roundish spots of a dark color. As before 
stated, I do not consider the occasional absence of spots is of specific value, but simply a mark 
of variety. 
Richardson says: “In this species the gill-cover resembles that of S. salar still more strongly 
than that of the quinnat does, the shape of the sub-operculum, in particular, being precisely 
the same with that of salar. The teeth stand in bony sockets like those of the quinnat, but 
are scarcely so long. Those of the lotver jaw and intermaxillaries are a little smaller than the 
lingual ones, and somewhat larger than the palatine or labial ones. The tongue contains six 
teeth on each side, the rows not parallel as in the quinnat , but diverging a little posteriorly. 
The pharyngeals are armed with small sharp teeth; the numbers of the teeth (excluding the 
small ones which fall off with the gums) are as follows: Intermax ., 4—4; labials , 21—21; lower 
jaw , 11—11; palate bones, 12—12; vomer, lost; tongue, 6—6. When the soft parts are 
* Plate LXXI seems to be taken from the young of some species either not yet recognized, or hitherto undescribed. It is 
■possible that the fish may have been a very young S. gairdneri; unless, as has been suggested, the number of rows of vomerine 
teeth be either variable, according to age or individual development, a wide difference would seem to exist between Dr. Girard’s 
specimen, which he includes under the genus Fario (and therefore has but a single row of teeth on the vomer,) and the descrip¬ 
tion given by Dr. Gairdner of the dental arrangement of the present species, which has a double row of teeth fpr tvyo-tbirds of 
the anterior portion of the vomer. 
