ZOOLOGY. 
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America, bring vast quantities of these fish with them when visiting the white settlements on 
Puget Sound. The fish thus brought are for the consumption of the strangers during their 
stay, and have been simply dried, without salt, and for convenience in drying or transportation 
have been strung on sharp, pliable sticks which are passed through the heads. 
In July, 1856, Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, chief factor of the Hon. Hudson Bay Company, 
a. gentleman well known to naturalists for his interest in science, presented me with a bunch 
of dried eulachon, which he had obtained from some of the ‘ 1 Northern’ ’ Indians. Dr. Tolmie 
also gave me the following memoranda: “These fish were caught at the mouth of Nass river, 
which empties into salt water near latitude 54° 40' north. The Indian name of the species is 
almost unspellable. Formerly they were quite abundant between the 46th and 49th parallels 
of north latitude. They are now but seldom caught south of latitude 50° north in any great 
number. North of that point they are still taken by the savages in vast quantities, and are 
smoked and dried for trade and home consumption. When eaten after being thus prepared 
they should be either steamed or broiled.” When thus cooked they are very palatable, and 
some that I have eaten, which had been salted like “ Dutch herring” or “Yarmouth bloaters,” 
as food are equal to any salt fish that exists. These fish are so fat that when dried the Indians 
frequently use them as substitutes for candles, as they burn when set on end with a clear, 
brilliant flame. 
Several eulaclion in the recent state were obtained by me from different portions of the lower 
end of Puget Sound and the straits. I am particularly indebted to Lieutenant Murden, of the 
United States revenue service, for a.pair of excellent specimens of these, as well as for many 
other objects of natural history which he was often kind enough to collect for me. 
Eulachon, like trout and salmon, are frequently so fat that strong alcohol destroys them. Any 
person who will discover a preservative fluid which will keep fish of this family in good 
anatomical condition, and to a certain extent (for that is all we can hope for) without effacing 
the natural colors of the fish, will confer a great favor to ichthyologists. I have tried various 
solutions but think my experience is in favor of strong alcohol diluted with one-third its bulk 
of fresh water, with a little common powdered alum added. The alum is thrown in for the 
same purpose that housewives frequently put it in their pickle jars, for the sake of what they 
call “fastening the colors” of the articles to be preserved.* Using a solution as above upon a 
handsome salmon trout, I had the opportunity of examining the fish one month afterwards 
when it was in a very good state of preservation, the red spots being almost of natural hue. 
I then sent the fish on its perilous voyage to Washington city. This voyage, which has so 
frequently blasted my endeavors ichthyological, was, as usual, disastrous , the specimen, with 
many others, never having been heard from. 
* Care should be taken that too much alum is not added, as it is apt to attack the bones. 
