ZOOLOGY. 
329 
included. Indeed, the specimens of the species of Salmonidm from the Pacific coast of America, 
now in the Smithsonian collection, vary so much in regard to the arrangement of the teeth on 
the vomer that I have no hesitation in rejecting, for the present, the genus Fario of Valencien¬ 
nes. It is very probable that the arrangement and number of the vomerine teeth depends greatly 
on the age of the individual, and may also ordinarily vary much in individuals otherwise alike. 
The female obtained by me from the Straits of Fuca had a very short, small head, forming 
about one-thirteenth of the total length of the fish. Female salmon usually have smaller heads 
than the males, but I do not remember ever seeing those of any species so small, compared to 
the total length of the body, as in the present instance. The under jaw was received nicely 
and accurately within the upper. The labial, inferior maxillary, and vomerine teeth are very 
uniform in size, and quite small, those of the intermaxillary larger, but still small. 
The name given to the species by the Klallam Indians is Klutchin. 
While residing at Puget Sound I collected the following information from the Indians 
respecting the salmon known to the Nisquallies as the sJcwowl, which I consider identical with the 
Klutcliin of the Clallums, a specimen of which has served as the typical example of the present 
species. This fine salmon is second to none in beauty, size, or excellence. It arrives in the 
bays and estuaries of Puget Sound about the middle of autumn, and towards the first of 
December commences to run up the larger rivers emptying into the sound. Their ascent of 
these streams continues through December and January. This arrival of the species in fresh 
water is not as simultaneous, neither do they arrive in such great numbers at any one time or 
in “schools,” as is the case with the sTcourtz and several other species, but the “run” being 
somewhat more “drawn out” affords a steady moderate supply to the Indians during its con¬ 
tinuance. In the fall and winter large numbers are taken by the Indians from the salt water 
by trolling with hook and line in the bays and coves of Puget Sound. The bait used is 
generally a small kind of herring, a little larger than the common sardine of commerce. After 
entering the rivers it is taken by the Indians in nets, traps, baskets, &c., and also by spearing. 
Its flesh when cooked is of a beautiful salmon red, and, as a table delicacy, when fat, as it 
generally is when “fresh run,” ranks equally with that of the S. solar, the satsup , or the 
quinnat. The Cowlitz river, (a branch of the Columbia,) situated not more than sixty miles 
from the head of Puget Sound, has salmon of various species entering it at regular periods 
annually. Indians of intelligence have told me that the species under consideration is the only 
kind common to both these waters. How far we can place reliance on their statements is 
difficult to determine. 
The distinguishing characters which strike the eye at a glance are its short and small head, 
the small weak teeth in the jaws, and the shape of its tail, which is truncated—not forked. 
I obtained a fine specimen of the Klutchin , at New Dungeness, Straits of Juan de Fuca, during 
the last week of January, 1857. The measurements were as follow : 
Upper measurement. 
Inches. 
Total length. 
. 29J 
Head from tip of snout. 
Nose to first dorsal fin. 
12| 
Nose to adipose dorsal. 
. 22 
Length along the lateral line from 
nose to 
base of tail. 
. 28 
Lower measurement. Inc , 
Nose to tip of tail, total length. 30| 
Nose to pectoral fin • .. 3| 
Nose to abdominal fin. 14 
Nose to ventral. 20| 
Nose to base of lowermost caudal rays, 
about. 27 
42 Q 
