THE WHITEFISHES OF NORTH AMERICA. 285 



have made the descriptions fuller and more explicit than would be 

 otherwise required. To prevent the descriptions from being needlessly 

 long, we have used the usual abbreviations and al nidged phrases well 

 understood by students of fishes ; and that these may be understood 

 by all, we give on plate 11 an explanation of such terms as may not 

 be at once intelligible to the lay reader. 



We present illustrations of all the American whitefishes, in the 

 thought that they will prove of assistance to fishermen and others 

 in identifying the different species. All of these except two have 

 appeared in the publications of the Fish Commission or elsewhere. 

 The drawings of the blackfin and the kieye were made by Mr. A. EL 

 Baldwin for this report. The desirability of bringing together in one 

 publication illustrations of all the species of the group will be at once 

 apparent to everyone. 



THE COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE WHITEFISHES. 



The whitefishes are found in great abundance in the northern parts 

 of North America, Europe, and Asia, and, viewed economically, are 

 the most important fresh-water fishes of the grand divisions named, 

 affording a larger food supply and supporting more extensive fish- 

 eries than any other group of fishes of the interior waters. 



All of the whitefishes are of sufficient size to have food and com- 

 mercial value, and in all settled communities they are utilized to a 

 greater or less extent for local consumption or export, or both. The 

 common whitefish and the lake herring are, however, so much more 

 important than all other species combined that they alone are sufficient 

 to give to this group the economic prominence which it has attained. 

 In certain waters the meuominee, the blackfin, the longjaw, the tulli 

 bee, and other whitefishes are of considerable importance. 



In the United States the fishery for the various species of whitefishes 

 is of great extent and importance, the value of the yield ranking 

 among that of such well-known fisheries as the halibut, lobster, men- 

 haden, haddock, bluefish, squeteague, alewife, sponge, fur seal, and 

 lake trout, and, at the present time, exceediug the fisheries named, 

 while the number of persons engaged in the fishery and the capital 

 invested therein are very large. If to the value of the whitefish fish- 

 eries of the United States is added that of the fisheries in the Canadian 

 provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territory, 

 the aggregate is enormous. 



While economic fishing of greater or less extent is carried on for 

 whitefishes in the Lake of the Woods, the Great Lakes, and numerous 

 lakes in the more northern parts of the United States and in Canada, the 

 fisheries in the Great Lakes far outrank those in other sections. 



For detailed accounts of the whitefish fisheries in the United States 

 waters of the Great Lakes, reference is made to the several reports 



