Salmonidse 65 



Lake in New York, celebrated by De Witt Clinton, is a local 

 form of the ordinary whitefish. 



Allied to the American whitefish, but smaller in size, is the 

 Lavaret, Weissfisch, Adelfisch, or Weissfelchen (Coregonus 

 lavaretus), of the mountain lakes of Switzerland, Germany, and 

 Sweden. Coregonus kennicotti, the muksun, and Coregonus nelsoni, 

 the humpback whitefish, are found in northern Alaska and in the 

 Yukon. Several other related species occur in northern Europe 

 and Siberia. 



Another American species is the Sault whitefish, Lake Whiting 

 or Musquaw River whitefish (Coregonus labradoricus} . Its 

 teeth are stronger, especially on the tongue, than in any of our 

 other species, and its body is slenderer than that of the whitefish. 

 It is found in the upper Great Lakes, in the Adirondack region, 

 in Lake Winnipeseogee, and in the lakes of Maine and New 

 Brunswick. It is said to rise to the fly in the Canadian lakes. 

 This species runs up the St. Mary's River, from Lake Huron to 

 Lake Superior, in July and August. Great numbers are snared 

 or speared by the Indians at this season at the Sault Ste. Marie. 



In the breeding season the scales are sometimes thickened 

 or covered with small warts, as in the male Cyprinida. 



Argyrosomus, the Lake Herring. In the genus Argyrosomus 

 the mouth is larger, the premaxillary not set vertical, but ex- 

 tending forward on its lower edge, and the body is more elongate 

 and more evenly elliptical. The species are more active and 

 predaceous than those of Coregonus and are, on the whole, in- 

 ferior as food. 



The smallest and handsomest of the American whitefish 

 is the cisco of Lake Michigan (Argyrosomus hoyi). It is a 

 slender fish, rarely exceeding ten inches in length, and its scales 

 have the brilliant silvery luster of the mooneye and the lady- 

 fish. 



The lake herring, or cisco (Argyrosomus artedi), is, next to 

 the whitefish, the most important of the American species. It 

 is more elongate than the others, and has a comparatively large 

 mouth, with projecting under-jaw. It is correspondingly more 

 voracious, and often takes the hook. During the spawning 

 season of the whitefish the lake herring feeds on the ova of the 

 latter, thereby doing a great amount of mischief. As food 



