336 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



outer circumference is oval. In Salmo namaycush the ventrals are 

 far more backwards than in S. Siscowet. The pectorals are very 

 long, yet still they leave a certain distance between their extremity 

 and the commencement of the dorsal. 



Br. 13 ; D. 12 ; A. 12-14 ; C. 6, I., 9, 8, 1., 5, V. 9 ; P. 14. 



The scales, generally small, are a little larger on the lower region 

 of the body behind the ventrals. Their general form is elliptical, 

 their greatest diameter in the direction of the length of the fish ; 

 their smallest diameter measures one-eighth of an inch on specimens 

 of two feet in length. Those of the lateral line are proportionally 

 more narrow, and perforated with a large canal, which renders this 

 line very conspicuous. It follows the middle of the body upon the 

 caudal region and rises gradually in advancing towards the head, so 

 that in the anterior region it approaches much more to the back than 

 to the belly. 



The color varies according to the feeding ground on which it is 

 caught, and is brighter during the breeding season, as is gener- 

 ally the case among all species of this family. The young have 

 transverse bars, -which disappear \vith their growth, like those of 

 other species of salmon. 



This also is a fish of high and rich flavor, but so fat as to be almost 

 unfit for food, the greater part of it melting down, as it were, in the 

 process of cooking. This renders its preservation in alcohol very 

 difficult, if not impossible. All the specimens which I brought from 

 our excursion have decomposed. They were caught at Michipicotin, 

 and occur everywhere along the northern shores. They are particu- 

 larly abundant about Isle Royale. 



COREGONUS, Artedi. 



We shall not treat here of the history and the characters of the 

 genus Coregonus in its whole extent. For this I refer my readers to 

 the twenty-first volume of the Histoire Naturelle des JPoissons. I 

 shall merely criticise the North American species, which I have been 

 enabled to study in nature, refraining from offering conjectures on 

 those which remain imperfectly known to me. To delay their revision 



