MILNER FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 61 



Jfish, ill large imiubers, that will average four pounds in weight. A 

 specimen was obtained of one of them this season weighing twelve 

 pounds. 



The white-fish from the greater portion of Lake Michigan will average 

 lower than those of Lake Superior. A locality on the north shore of 

 the lake has a very large type of white fish, of which the average of 

 lifts I have seen brought to the shore could not be less than four pounds. 

 I was informed that eleven white-fish had been put into a package 

 weighing one hundred and seven pounds and shipped to a man at Charle- 

 voix, whom I afterwards saw and heard him repeat the fact. The gill- 

 net mesh in use at this point was one-half inch larger than that of most 

 points on the lake. Two specimens obtained at Point aux: Barques 

 weighed respectively ten and eleven pounds. 



Lake Huron white-fish are moderately large. From the western end 

 of Lake Erie a large t^^pe of fish are taken. Those ascending the Detroit 

 River in the fall of the year average two and a quarter pounds. From 

 the eastern jjortion of the lake the white-fish are smaller. The average 

 of Lake Ontario fish is small. 



{22 j.) Ranges as to depth favored by young n^hite-Jish. — It is quite evi- 

 dent that the young and immature white-fishes confine their range en- 

 tirely to the shallow waters near the shore. The pound-nets set in from 

 twenty to forty-five feet catch numbers of small fishes seven or eight 

 inches in length weighing only a few ounces. The capture of a white- 

 fish as small as seven or eight ounces is a very rare occurrence with the 

 gill-nets, for which twelve or fifteen fathoms is the least depth ordinarily 

 employed. Though making this a special point for observation during 

 the tour of Lake Michigan, not a single specimen as small as eight- 

 ounces was seen among fishes taken from the gill-nets, and the percent- 

 age of fish as small as one pound in weight before dressing was incon- 

 siderable. 



A further confirmation of the inshore range of young white-fish is in 

 the fact that the catch of a pound-net set on a thirty-six-foot shoal, six 

 miles from the land at Bay de Noquet, (contained only Nos. 1 and 2 fish. 



The head and mouth of the white-fish are so constructed that it is 

 to a slight extent better guarded against entanglement in the mesh than 

 its congeners, the lake herring and the cisco, so that there is a possibility 

 that the small fishes pass through the meshes and escape capture. Still 

 it is likely occasional ones would be taken, as all species taken by the 

 gill-uet are frequently found entangled about the body and fins, without 

 any threads fastened in the mouth or even in the gills, and this often with 

 the slender herrings and ciscos. 



The fact already referred to, that no young-white-fish were found in 

 the stomachs of the lake-trout, has an application here. The range of 

 the trout in the warm season is in deep water, and as it is altogether 

 likely the trout would make food of the smaller white-fishes if they w^ere 



