448 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



139. Burbot; Lawyer; Ling (Lota inaculosa LeSueur). 



Gadus maculosus LESUEUR, Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 83, 1817, Lake Erie. 



Gadiis lacustris MITCHII.I , Am. Month. Mag., II, 244, February, 1818. 



Lota inornata Di.K,\v, N. V. Fauna, Fish., 283, pi. 45, fig. 145, 1842, Hudson River. 



Lota compressa DKK.AY, op. cit. 285, pi. 78, figs. 244, 245, 1842. 



Lota inaculosa DK.KAY, op. cit. 284, pi. 52, fig. 168, 1842; JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, 



U. S. Nat. Mus., , 1883; MEEK, Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci., IV, 315, 1888, Cayuga 



Lake; BEAN, Fishes Penna., 138, pi. 35, fig. 75, 1893; EVKKMVNN \ KENDALL, 

 Rept. U. S. F. C., 1894, 603, 1896; BEAN, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IX, 372, 1897, 

 Canandaigua Lake; JORDAN & EVKUMAXX, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., Ill, 2550, 

 1898; IV, pi. CCCLXIV, fig. 897, 1900. 



The color is dark olivaceous, reticulated with blackish ; the lower parts yellowish 

 or dusky ; the dorsal, anal and caudal fins with a narrow dark edge. 



BURBOT. 



The American Burbot was first described by LeSueur from Lake Erie in 1817, 

 and also from Northampton, Conn., under a different name. This commom fish has 

 received a great many names, including the following: Marthy, Methy, Losh, 

 Eelpout, Dogfish, Chub Eel, Ling, Lawyer, Lake Cusk, Fresh-water Cod, Aleby 

 Trout and Mother-of-Eels. 



The southern limit of this fish appears to be Kansas City, Mo. ; according to 

 Prof. Cope, it has been once taken in the Susquehanna near Muncy, Lycoming 

 County; it is extremely common in the Great Lakes; westward it ranges to Mon- 

 tana and northward throughout British Columbia and Alaska to the Arctic Ocean ; 

 it is most abundant in the Great Lakes and lakes of New York, New England and 

 New Brunswick; it abounds also in rivers and lakes of Alaska. 



The Burbot was sent from Canandaigua Lake by Mr. James Annin, Jr., in 

 November, 1897. It is hard to transport and still harder to keep alive in captivity, 

 being especially liable to attacks of fungus. 



Dr. W. M. Beauchamp, writing from Baldvvinsville, N. Y., April 9, 1879, sa 'd tnat 

 the Burbot is found in Seneca River and is abundant in Oneida Lake; that it is 



