THE SALMON FAMILY. 39 



region, the lakes of New Hampshire, and thence 

 northwestward to Alaska, abounding in cold deep 

 waters, its range apparently nowhere coinciding 

 with that of Coregoiius williamsoni. 



The common White-fish {Coregonus cltLpeiformis) 

 is the largest in size of the species of Coregonus, 

 and is unquestionably the finest as an article of 

 food. It varies considerably in appearance with 

 age and condition, but in general it is proportion- 

 ately much deeper than any of the other small- 

 mouthed Coregoni. The adult fishes develop a 

 considerable fleshy hump at the shoulders, which 

 causes the head, which is very small, to appear 

 disproportionately so. The white-fish spawns in 

 November and December, on rocky shoals in the 

 great lakes. Its food, which was for a long time 

 unknown, was ascertained by Dr. P. R. Hoy to 

 consist chiefly of deep-water crustaceans, with a 

 few moUusks, and larvae of water insects. **The 

 white-fish," writes Mr. James W. Milner, " has 

 been known since the time of the earliest explorers 

 as pre-eminently a fine-flavored fish. In fact, there 

 are few table-fishes its equal. To be appreciated 

 in its fullest excellence, it should be taken fresh 

 from the lake and broiled. Father Marquette, 

 Charlevoix, Sir John Richardson, — explorers who 

 for months at a time had to depend on the white- 

 fish for their staple article of food — bore testimony 

 to the fact that they never lost their relish for it, 

 and deemed it a special excellence that the appe- 

 tite never became cloyed with it." The range of 

 the white-fish extends from the lakes of New York 

 and New England northward to the Arctic Circle. 



