286 . NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OP 



females increases till after a week or ten days, when they are two, 

 three, and four times as many as the males, after which the females 

 slowly disappear, and the males last leave the spawning ground. 



The best opinion seems to be that the males precede the females 

 only to prepare the ground, especially as they at that time assume an 

 extraordinary roughness of the scales, and employ themselves con- 

 stantly in scraping up gravel on which the spawn is subsequently 

 deposited. Some, however, believe that the mere inclination to milt 

 causes them to seek the proper positions without reference to the pres- 

 ence or absence of females. Others still are of opinion that they pre- 

 ceed only to wait for the females, and do not commence milting till the 

 spawning commences. The males have been accused of lingering on 

 the spawing ground to feast on the spawn ; but this is contrary to nature, 

 and, undoubtedly, a slander. The most careful observers assure me 

 they are employed in coverijig up the spawn. 



Seining during the spawning season is the most productive of ail 

 fishing. Twenty barrels with a seine one hundred rods long is a com- 

 mon haul. One hundred and forty-seven barrels have been taken at a 

 single haul. But there are very few places adapted to it. The only 

 situation adapted to it is a smooth sand or shingle beach, a bottom free 

 from rocks and surrounded by rocky reefs. 



Herring {Coregonus). — Herring are taken in the same manner as 

 whitefish; also in gill nets, set under the ice in winter. They are 

 usually the first taken in the spring. I have not been able to learn 

 their spawning season ; and their habits have been very httle observed. 

 When heavy winds prevail, they seek shelter in quiet bays, and in the 

 lee of the various islands. Flocks of gulls hover over them continually, 

 and carnivorous fish pursue them wherever they go, even into the nets. 

 They are killed by a very slight touch. Indeed, they seem to be the 

 prey of everything that eats fish. 



The average weight of dressed herring is not above one pound. 

 They are usually pickled in the same manner as whitefish, and not 

 unfrequently sold under tliat name, but are too small to be desirable. 

 When scalded and smoked, after the' Scotch mode, they are equal to 

 any ever found in market, and are remarkable for fatness. Labor is 

 too dear to justify saving them in this manner. 



I have never compared them anatomically with salt-water herring, 

 and therefore do not know whether these are genuine herring. But 

 from flavor and general appearance, I presume they are. [They are 

 entirely different. — S. F. B.] 



Herring, whitefish, and trout, are found of several varieties, diftering 

 materially in their qualities, and something in their appearance and 

 habits. But we have no names for the several varieties, and their 

 peculiarities have not been noted. 



Suckers {Catastomuf). — The lake suckers, though similar to the 

 fish of the same name in most ot^ the western rivers, are very superior 

 in quality for eating. For this reason, and to avoid the ill repute of 

 the name "swc/cer," they are usually sold under the name of "lake 

 shad," a name founded merely on caprice, and used for purposes of 

 fraud. They are not supposed to bear any resemblance to the shad. 



Suckers are usually taken with seines, early in the spring, at the 



