WHITEFISH OF THE LAKE OF GENEVA 



little fin, known as the " second adipose dorsal ", on 

 the back, near the tail, behind the first and true dorsal 

 supported by strong rays. 



The trout, with patches of black on the sides and 

 back; the char, of lighter hue and with more delicate 

 scales, contrast with the whitefish. A powerful head, 

 a large mouth cleft to the eyes, give them a greedy 

 look, which the whitefish have not. The latter have 

 a smaller snout, a narrower mouth, and smaller teeth, 

 and are pale silvery in hue. Their scientific name is 

 Coregonus Schinzii /era. In the family to which they 

 and the trout belong, they form part of the section of 

 whitefish which dwell in lake waters. 



We eat their flesh, and it serves for our nourishment. 

 They, in their native waters, have been obliged to 

 nourish themselves in the same way, to form the flesh 

 of their bodies by eating the flesh of other creatures 

 which live in the same lake. They must find in it 

 the prey they need. Their existence, which we turn 

 to our own advantage, is determined by that of the 

 creatures upon which they feed. Our nourishment 

 depends on theirs. So, beginning with our own needs, 

 we discover a cycle of nutrition which connects us 

 with the animals hunted by the trout and the white- 

 fish, and in this respect, makes us one with them, 

 though they live their lives far away from us. 



What are the creatures which are so useful to us, 

 and how do they live? We find our answer in the 

 fisherman's net. All I need to do is to clean the fish 

 when the nets are pulled in, and examine the contents 

 of their stomachs before the process of digestion has 

 gone too far. So I discover what they have been 

 eating and the nature of the creatures upon which 

 they feed. In the trout and the char with the broadly 

 cleft mouth I generally find traces, heads, vertebras, 

 and other bones, which have belonged to different 

 kinds of fish, often fairly big fish, caught in the open 

 waters. On the other hand, in the stomach of the 



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