MILNER FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 47 



ber, weakens tbe force of the theory that the aeration of the water 

 is the necessity that brings them to the shore of the hike in the snmnier 



Professor Agassiz, in his tonr of the north shore of Lake Snperior, in 

 184:9, found the white-fish scarce along the shore .and at the rapids, in 

 the month of August. Among the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, and 

 u most of the deeper portions of the lakes, no scarcity is observed at 

 this season of the year. At the i'apids they so entirely abandon the 

 locality in August that the supply of fish for the hotels has to be ob- 

 tained from Point Detour, at the head of Lake Huron. 



It was a disputed point among the Waukegau fishermen whether the 

 migration was directly in from deep water or along the shore. The fact 

 that, in some instances, the schools of fish struck the nets at one point, 

 and afterwards entered the nets in succession along the line of the shore, 

 was thought by many to prove a littoral migration. But the fact was 

 that, in all likelihood, the advance portion of a school would touch the 

 shore at some point and then move in either direction along its line. 



The presence of large white-fishes in numbers at certain localities on 

 the north shore of Lake Michigan, of a size that are never taken at other 

 parts of the lake, would indicate a local habit, with no disposition to 

 range through long distances. 



Another observation, sustaining the probability of this, is the fact that 

 there are many localities on the lakes where the x)0und-uets, a few years 

 ago, found prosperous fishing, and in the first few years took the white 

 fish in great abundance, but found afterwards a decrease from year to 

 year until the locality was abandoned, while fifty miles away the busi- 

 ness still continued successfid. 



The well-known local instincts of the salmon would, to a slight extent, 

 confirm the probability of like instincts in its related genera. 



The fact that certain types of the white-fish are peculiar to particular 

 localities, as the north shore of Lake Michigan, the Sault Ste. Marie 

 Eapids, Bachewauna Bay, on Lake Superior, indicates a local habit 

 through many generations until certain characters of a race have become 

 established. The same fact has been stated for the shad on the Atlan- 

 tic coasts. 



Some observations made in 1871, perhaps indicate the opposite of all 

 the foregoing statements. 



In the early part of the season there had been very few fish caught 

 On the west shore of Lake Michigan, between Chicago and the Door 

 Islands. South of Chicago, at the mouth of Calumet River, the run 

 of white-fish was in excess of anything had for years. But, about the 

 15th of June, the schools of fish left Calumet, and a few days later there 

 was a decided improvement in the catch at Evanston. About June 22, 

 the lifts at Waukegau began to be heavier than they had been before. 

 During the first week of July the fishing was observed to improve at Mil- 

 waukee, Manitowoc, and Bailey's Harbor, and, a little later, at the Door 

 Islands. 



