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



The late F. C. Gilchrist was the first to describe the habits of the Tullibee, and 

 this he did in Forest and Stream in the following language: 



In September they will again be found gradually nearing the shoal water, 

 feeding heavily, and plump with fat and the now swelling ovaries. Later on they 

 appear to eat little or nothing and devote all their time to playing until about the 

 25th of October, when they have settled down to the business of propagation, 

 which they have finished by November 10. They prefer shallow water close to 

 shore with clean sand to spawn on, and during the day they may be seen in pairs 

 and small schools, poking along the shores, but at night they come in thousands 

 and keep up a constant loud splashing and fluttering, very strange and weird on a 

 calm night. Two years ago I carefully counted the ova from a ripe fish, aj/ pounds 

 in weight, and found there were 23,700, closely resembling whitefish eggs in appear- 

 ance, but somewhat smaller. After spawning the fish are very thin, lank, dull in 

 color, and quite unfit for human food. 



James Annin, Jr., furnished me the following notes on the spawning of the 

 Tullibee in Onondaga Lake, N. Y. 



They generally commence running up onto the shoals about November 15, and 

 the season extends into December. They come up to the banks or gravelly shoals 

 and spawn in from 3 to 6 and 7 feet of water. They liave never been caught with 

 the hook in this lake ; and an old fisherman told me that he had tried almost every 

 kind of bait, and had used the very finest gut and the smallest hooks baited with 

 G^rt?;/;«rtr?« (fresh-water shrimp) and other kinds of natural food — that is, he sup- 

 posed the food was natural to them. At the same time, he claims he could see them 

 in large schools lying in the water 8 or 10 feet from the surface. 



A female Tullibee was sent from Onondaga Lake by Mr. Annin November 18, 

 1895, and another of the same sex November 25, 1896. 



The following notes relate to the female obtained November 18, 1895 : 



INXHES. 



Length to end of caudal, ----- ... 18^ 



Length of upper caudal lobe, - - ..... 2^ 



Length of middle caudal rays, ........ i 



Least depth of caudal peduncle, ...---. i|/8 



Depth of body at dorsal origin, -------- ^y^ 



Length of head, --.--.---. ^i^ 



Length of maxilla, ..---..-.. ^ 



Diameter of eye, -.-...-..- ^ 



Length of longest gill raker, --..-.-. y/,6 



