BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 19 



foot against the steamship traffic as a means of chasing the herrings 

 from the coast. 



Greater weight might i^ossibly be attached to another reason advanced 

 in favor of a protective law, viz, that an nnlimited fishing season would 

 diminish the number of whales and seriously endanger the future of the 

 whale-fisheries. A reckless destruction of whales during the spawning 

 season would certainly be a most senseless proceeding; and if we con- 

 sider that last year no less than 145 whales were caught on a compara- 

 tivelj' small extent of coast, such a fear is not entirely unfounded. jSTot 

 long ago it has been found necessary to conclude an international con- 

 vention between Xorway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and England for 

 the purjiose of protecting the seal during its sj)awning season against 

 the war of extermination waged against it near Iceland, Greenland, and 

 Jan Mayen. It is to be hoped that it will be more generally recognized 

 that we owe it to the coming generations to protect the useful and inter- 

 esting animal life of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. 



THE FOOO OF ¥OUNO WHITEFISS— COREOOIVUS CliVPEIFORHIIS. 



By Prof. S. A. FORBES. 



Dear Sir : The letter to Mr. Frank J^. Clark which you kindly sent 

 me last summer, resulted in an arrangement by which he was to hatch 

 out a lot of whitefish eggs in January, and send me the young fry at 

 intervals for a study of their food. 



Having finished my study of these specimens, and thinking it prob- 

 able that you would like to know the result, I will give you a brief out- 

 line of the observations made. 



Mr. Clark writes me that these fry were divided into two lots, one 

 (hatched January IS) being kept in a small tank in the hatchery, and 

 the other (hatched January 20) in a perforated can in the stream from 

 a spring. The water in the hatchery varied in temi^erature from 31^^ 

 to 48°, but was usually at about 37° ; that of the spring was uniformly 

 at 470. 



These lots were examined from the spring water February 1, 15, and 

 25. There were 242 individuals in these three lots. Only 8 of these gave 

 any evidence of food in the intestine, and these in only trivial quantity. 

 It included a few common forms of filamentous algte, with smaller 

 amounts of desmids and diatoms. 



Samples of the water sent me contained an abundance of algoe, but 

 no animal life except protozoa and rotifera. The remainder of this lot 

 died late in February. 



From the hatching-house four lots were sent, numbering 340 speci- 

 mens, February 1, 15, and 25, and March 15. The last of these had 

 reached a stage of development little, if any, in advance of that of the 



