364 
ZOOLOGY. 
Indians as the Stole, and to the Skadgetts and Chemakums as Lose. 2. The Wash-oos (of the 
Skadgetts,) which has lately been scarce, was abundant formerly at Point Wilson and elsewhere 
about the sound. This is a summer fish, and, when plentiful, are found in such compact 
“schools” that the Indians frequently shovel them ashore with their paddles. 3. The Kwul- 
lusteo, or eulachon. 4. The Sliehd-zoos , found only at the Skadgett river. The last two kinds 
are related to the salmonidm, having adipose dorsal fins. Mr. Gibbs, writing from Port 
Townsend, Puget Sound, under date of March 24, again says : “The Indians have been taking 
herring in great numbers, quantities, rather, at Port Discovery, where the fishing is better 
than at Port Townsend. A very large weir of lattice-work, having but one entrance, was 
constructed on the flats. Within and around this weir a quantity of fir twigs were scattered, 
to which the spawn adhered. This is then dried on poles around the lodges. When dried, 
the substance, much resembling light brown sugar in appearance, is stripped from the twigs 
and carried off by the basket full. The fish entered the opening of the weir in great quantities, 
and when the tide fell the Indians went in and scooped them up. The weir was about eighty 
by fifty feet in extent. I am told that the Indians will take in this way as many as tfiree tons 
of fish at a tide. Sometimes, when pursued by dog-fish, &c., the herring crowd so much as to 
pile one over the other and roll in masses on the beach.” Again he says : “A friend informs 
me that there are three species (perhaps only three ‘runs’) of herring. One, of middle size, 
comes in February and March. Another ‘ run,’ in the beginning of April, is composed of 
larger fish, thicker in the body than the last, which is rather flat.* In June and throughout 
the summer a small kind, of the size of the sardine, is common. In August there is a very 
small silvery fish, three inches long, and not much larger than a lead pencil, which comes in 
immense numbers and is washed up by the tide. The Indians push them ashore with their 
paddles. This last species is probably the Wash-oos, already spoken of.”—(Gibbs in lit.) 
The present species of herring is quite common at Fort Steilacoom. The Indians, at certain 
seasons, take -them by throwing or scooping them out of the water with poles, along the sides 
of which, for two or three feet, nails have been driven in closely together and their ends left 
standing out in rows resembling the teeth of a comb. These fish average about six inches in 
length, and, despite the immense number of bones, are of excellent flavor, and may be considered 
an agreable table delicacy. The Indians eat great numbers, but they principally make use 
of them as bait when trolling for salmon. The herring is tied to a hook of the proper size, 
and gently trolled with a jerking motion. The natives, in this way, take many splendid salmon. 
HYODON TERGISUS, Lesu. 
Missouri Herring. 
Plate LXXY, Figs. 1 — 4. (By error, figs. 4—7.) 
Sp. Ch. —Head contained five times and a half in the total length; snout rounded, sub-conical. Posterior extremity 
of maxillar bone extending to a vertical line drawn posteriorly to the pupil. Eye very large, sub-circular; its diameter 
entering about four times in the length of the side ot the head. Anterior margin of dorsal fin somewhat nearer the tip 
of the caudal than the occiput. Base of anal fin entering about four times in the total length. Insertion of ventrals nearer 
the extremity of the snout than the terminus of the anal. 
Syn.-™- Hyodon tergisus , Lesu. in Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad . I, i, 1818, 366. —Richards. Faun. Bor. Amer. Ill, 1836, 
235.— Kirtl. Rep. Zool. Ohio, 1838, 170, and 195 ; &, in Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. V, hi, 1846, 338 —DeKay, 
New Y. Faun. IV, 1842, 265 : PI. XLI, Fig. 130.— Storer, Synops. 1846, 210.—Ccv. & Val Hist. Nat. Poiss. 
XIX, 1846, 309.— Girard, Gen. Rep. Fishes, P. R. R. Rep. X. 
Flat laterally ? 
