MILNEE FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 49 



are found in both salt and fresh water. The Gorcyonus qnadrllateraUs 

 Eich., of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, was found by Eichard- 

 son in the Arctic Ocean. 



The white-fishes, throughout the hirger portion of the lakes, come 

 mto shallow water, to deposit their spawn, about the middle of Novem- 

 ber, just at the time when the salmon-trout has finished spawning and 

 is retiu'ning to deep water. At this season they come in froiii deeper 

 water, in vast schools, and are taken in large quantities by the nets. A 

 notion, prevalent among the fishermen in some localities, that the 

 female fishes arrived first, and were followed, a few days later, by the 

 male, was not confirmed by my observation. 



The bottoms on the spawning-gromids vary in character in different 

 localities; rock, sand, clay, and mud being used indifl'ercntly for the 

 spawning-beds. 



The depths at which they spawn range from eight feet to fifteen 

 fathoms; the larger number probably spawning in depths of about 

 eight or ten fathoms. 



In the Sault Ste. Marie Eiver, and in the Detroit Eiver, in the fixll 

 of the year, they congregate in great numbers, for the purpose of spawn- 

 ing. In a number of rivers emptying into Green Bay, the white-fish 

 was formerly taken in abundance, in the sp av.ai in g- season. Saw-mills 

 are numerous on all of these streams at the present day, and the great 

 quantity of saAvdust in the streams is ofi'ensive to the fish, and has 

 caused them to abandon them. In one or two rivers of the north shore 

 of Lake Michigan they are still found iu the autumn. 



The Michipicoten Eiver of Lake Superior, on the authority of Major 

 Long, who commanded an expedition to this region in 1823, and George 

 Barnston, Esq., of Montreal, Canada, formerly of the Hudson Bay 

 Company, is a favorite spawning-ground of the white-fish. The ISTepi- 

 gon Eiver, which our steamer entered while returning from the north 

 shore of Lake Superior, about the middle of October, was said to con- 

 tain schools of white-fish, which had probably entered the river for the 

 purpose of spawning. 



There is a probability that there was a time when the white-fish 

 ascended many of the clear rivers of the northern lakes, though that 

 this was a universal habit is not probable, at any rate since the white 

 man has been in the country. 



The fishermen, with their gill-nets, follow in shore the migration of 

 the white-fish in the month of October, and a few days before the middle 

 of ISTovember the spawn is ripe in a few fishes, and by the middle of the 

 mouth is running freely, so that boats and nets are covered with the 

 spawn and milt. Just at the time the ova are beginning to ripen 

 the lake-trout, Sahno Jiamayews/t, has finished spawning, and is leaving 

 for deep water. The white-fish continue to spawn until the last week of 

 November or the first week of December, when they, too, leave the shore 

 and seek deeper water. 

 S. Mis. 74 4 



