In May, 1904, S. A. Barrett, then a graduate student in Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, personally observed and photographed Central Pomo from Yokaia rancheria collecting a larval insect food which he described as an "army worm," known as li to the Central Pomo. With allowance for somewhat inexact reporting, casual field observations of variation in larval coloration, it seems likely that Barrett's "army worm" is, in fact, the noctuid Homoncocnemis fortis.

Ethnographers at times are more concerned with reporting data than interpreting them. As a result, ethnographies often have the appearance of being little more than collections of facts organized by a generally standardized topical outline. Synoptic surveys may result from an effort to synthesize a particular trait, custom, or complex, and from these there often results a deeper insight into the function and purpose of what, in unanalyzed form, seem to be cultural practices which are illogical or meaningless. We attempt here to review native ritual, belief, and ceremony connected with anadromous fish in the northern part of the state in the effort to determine what logical and functional significance these had in terms of Native California life and survival.