THE FOOD OF THE WHITE FISH. 515 



investigations in the past two years did not result in any confirmation of this notion, and it would 

 not accord with the habits of any species of the family of fishes to which the lake White-fish belongs." 



A list of the precise contents of the stomachs of individuals examined by Mr. Milner is now 

 appended : 



"Specimens from Onter Island, Lake Superior, contained great quantities of Mysis rclicta, 

 Pontoporeia Hoyi, and Pisidium abditum, var. abyssorum ; and with these were a few specimens 

 of dipterous larva? of the genus Chironomus, a small worm (Lumbricus lacustris), Daphnia 

 galeata, D. pellucida, and a small species of Planorbis. 



"From Sand Island, Lake Superior, Pontoporeia Hoyi ; larvae and pupa? of CUironomus; 

 Valvata sincere, and Gyraulus parvus. 



" From Sault Ste. Marie, one lot contained scarcely anything but small shells. Among these, 

 Valvata tricarinata, V. sincera, var. sMateUa, Amnicola generosa, A. palida (?), Gyraulus parvtis, 

 and a species of Limncca were in abundance ; while there were fewer specimens of Goniobasis 

 lirescena, Physa vinosa (?), young, Sphcerium striatinum, and Pisidium compressum. 



" Other specimens contained nothing but the remains of insects, among which were the 

 images of two species of Diptera ; larvae and pupa? of Chironomus; larva? and pupae of some 

 specimens of Epliemeridce ; great numbers of the larva?, pupa?, and subimagos of a species of 

 Hydropsyche, aud the larva? of a species of some other genus of Phryganeidce. 



" From Ecorse, Michigan, specimens contained a species of Hydrachna, the leg and the scales 

 from the wing of some lepidopterous insect, and a species of lAmncea. 



"White-fish which I examined at Isle Royale, in August, 1871, contained scarcely anything 

 but Mysis relicta and Pontoporeia Hoyi. 



"Ecorse, Michigan remains of a small fish and several specimens of a species of water- 

 boatmen (Corixa). 



" Specimens of Coregonus guadrilateralis from Madeline Island, Lake Superior, contained a 

 number of specimens of a leech (Nephelis fervida) and a neuropterous larva allied to Perla. 



"These few observations are sufficient to show that the White-fish, like the different species 

 of Trout, feeds on a large number of species belonging to very different groups of animals. In 

 this brief enumeration, twenty-five species are mentioned nine of insects, four of Crustacea, one 

 worm, and eleven of mollusks ; and these are undoubtedly only a sm;>ll part of the species upon 

 which the White-fish really feeds." 



Much difficulty was experienced by Mr. Milner in his attempts to discover the food required 

 for the sustenance of some young White-fish which had been sent to him. His experiments, 

 together with a letter written to him by Mr. Briggs, editor of the " Lens," Chicago, with regard to 

 the contents of the stomachs of embryo White-fish, are here reproduced : 



" Food of embryonic White-fish. The young fish reached Waukegan in safety, and were placed 

 in five quart glass jars, and an experiment begun in attempting to supply them with suitable food. 

 A numbered label was pasted on each jar, so as to keep them distinct. Knowing that the larger 

 White-fish fed largely on crustaceans, an attempt to feed them on food of this character was 

 thought worth a trial. A few crawfish were procured and pounded to a paste, and small portions 

 put into jar No. 1 ; the young fish ate it readily. They were fed at night, and the next morning 

 every one of them was found to be dead. Jar No. 2 was supplied with bread-crumbs, and the fish 

 were seen to take small particles in their mouths; they did not die so suddenly. Jar No. 3 was 

 supplied with sweet cream, but no evidence was afforded that the occupants fed upon it. A 

 quantity of rain-water was exposed to the rays of the sun for the purpose of generating minute 

 forms of life, and a teaspoonful was poured into jar No. 4, morning and evening, in hopes that 



