discharge their waters into the Arctic Sea. The sturgeon fishery at Cumberland
House is most productive in the spring and summer, but some are caught occasionally
in the winter. Considerable differences in the intensity of the colour of the body,
and in the length and acuteness of the snout, exist amongst the individuals caught
there, but they seem to be all referable to this species. A fish of sixty pounds
weight is esteemed to be large. To the westward of the Rocky Mountains, sturgeons,
weighing'several hundred pounds, are common. These are probably of the species A.
huso, L. The sturgeon, in the Saskatchewan, generally spawns in June, but individuals
are found at all seasons, containing roe.
Salmo Heamii. Copper-Mine River Salmon.
Sub-genus salmo. Cue. Reg. A n. ii. p. 160.
Salmo, maculis cameo-rubris, squamis parvis multurn nitentibus, maxillis aaqualibus, cauda integri.
Shape, that of the common salmon, but the head rather larger in proportion.
The colour of the back is olive green, of the sides pale,, of the belly bluish-white ;
and there are several longitudinal rows of flesh-red spots, of which those on the sides
are largest, and about the size of a pea.
The scales are very small, but possess much lustre, and adhere very firmly to; a
mucous skin.
The head is destitute of scales. The cheeks are unprotected by bone, but, together
with the opercula, have much pearly lustre. The eyes are small, and situated
about half an inch from the middle of the margin of the mouth. The nostrils are
double, being composed of two small evalvular openings on each side, which are
placed superiorly and anteriorly to the eye, or about half way between that organ and
the mouth.- The jaws are of equal length; the upper one is emarginated, and
receives the knobbed extremity of the lower one into the notch.
Mouth.—The intermaxillary bones project a little to form the snout, but enter
only, in a small degree, into the composition of the margin of the mouth. The
snout thus formed, is separated from the vault of the palate by a thin membrane,
which arises from the maxillary bones, lies in a plane parallel to that of the palate,
and has its crescentic edge directed towards the pharynx. The maxillary bones are
oblong, and form the sides of the upper jaw ;. their lower extremities play upon the
outside of the inferior jaw. The limbs of the lower jaw meet in an acute angle, and
form a knob at the symphysis.
Teeth.—The upper and lower maxillaries are furnished sparingly with small
subulate teeth. A solitary tooth, similar to these, is placed on each side of the
notch, formed by the intermaxillaries. There are also rows of teeth on the palatine
bones, and a few on the anterior part of the vomer, and some stronger ones on the
tongue, aU subulate.