84 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The white-fish is of a flue organism, and, being entirely destitute 

 of teeth, is neither predacious nor yet very voracious in its nature, but 

 lives on the most simple fare, which consists principally of small worms 

 and insects that abound in great numbers among the plants and porous 

 rocks on the bottom. 



It is my candid opinion that the propagation of white-fish by artifi- 

 cial means would be attended with great difficulty, since when they are 

 hatched out the trouble would be to procure food for them ; but I see 

 no serious obstacle in the way of stocking lakes or rivers where the 

 aquatic plants and grasses closely assimilate those from whence the 

 parent fish is taken. In such case they should be moved in the fall or 

 early spring, since transporting them in a small qaantity of water for 

 any length of time in hot weather would be very likely to kill them. 



The ISTorth American white-fish is of the most delicate structure. It 

 is beautiful and symmetrical in form, always clean and healthy in ap- 

 pearance, and is free from any parasites, either internal or external. It 

 is unsurpassed in its delicious flavor and health}^ quality as an article of 

 food by any other fish. 



The greatest number of white-fish are caught during the month of 

 July. 



White-fish cannot be caught with hook and line at any season of the 

 year. 



I have the honor to be, sir, ycur most obedient servant. 



PETER KIEL, 



Msh Observer. 



Professor S. F. Baird, Washington, D. G. 



B— THE WHITE-FISH OF EASTERN MAINE AND NEW 



BRUNSWICK. 



By Charles Lanman. 



This fish, the celebrated attihawmeg of the great northern lakes, so 

 frequently described by Arctic voyagers as the most delicious of all 

 purely fresh-water fishes, is found in considerable numbers in Lake 

 Temiscouata, where many are taken every autumn by the French Cana- 

 dians, who come over from the Saint Lawrence to fish for them, and call 

 them poisson poinfu. The English lumbermen call them "gizzard -fish." 

 They are take-n occasionally along the Madawaska River, and the writer 

 has caught them with rod and line below the tails of that river, at its 

 confluence with the Saint John, in the early part of summer. At these 

 falls the inhabitants take about forty barrels every autumn, which are 

 cured in pickle for winter use. The white-fish abounds in all the Eagle 

 Lakes, at the head of Fish River, a tributary of the Upper Saint John, 



