FISHES OF VERMONT. 589 



Family SALMONID51. The Trouts and Whitefishes. 



27. Coregonus quadrilateralis Richardson. Bound Whitefish; Menominee Whitefish; 



Shadwaiter. 



We obtained no examples of this whitefish in Vermont and Lave no absolutely 

 certain evidence of its occurrence in the waters of that State. We have seen speci- 

 mens, however, from small lakes in New Hampshire and in the Adirondack^. Iu 

 tho Adirondacks it is a common species, and wo have no doubt of its occurrence in 

 both Lakes Champlain and Memphremagog. 



28. Coregonus clupeiformis (Mitchill). Common Whitefish. 



Exact information concerning the presence of this and other species of white- 

 fishes in Lakes Champlain and Memphremagog is very much to be desired. There 

 is in the National Museum a single specimen of the true whitefish, said to have been 

 taken in Missisqnoi Ray. Under the name Coregonus albus (which he called whitefish, 

 or " lake shad") Mr. Thompson has the following: 



"This fish, though the same as the celebrated whitefish of the Western and North- 

 western lakes, is generally known in Vermont by the name of lake shad. Its Indian 

 name at the Northwest is attihawmeg. This fish is quite common in Lake Champlain, 

 and, in some years, is taken in the months of May and June in considerable quanti- 

 ties with the seine. It is also found in many of the small lakes in Lower Canada 

 connected with the St. Lawrence on the south side, notwithstanding the assertion 

 of Dr. Richardson* that it does not exist in tho St. Lawrence below the Falls of 

 Niagara. This is universally considered a most excellent fish, and nearly all are 

 disposed to acquiesce iu the opinion of Charlevoix that, 'whether fresh or salted, 

 nothing of the fish kind can excel it.' But few, I think, will agree with tho Baron La 

 Hontan, who says that it should be eaten without any kind of seasoning, because 

 'it has the singular property that all kinds of sauce spoil it.' In warm weather 

 this iish should be either cooked or salted soon after it is taken, as it quickly becomes 

 soft and is spoiled. It is excellent either boiled or fried. The mode of boiling at 

 the Northwest, according to Dr. Richardson, is as follows : 



'After the fish is cleansed and the scales scraped off, it is cut into several pieces, 

 which are put into a thin copper kettle, with water enough to cover them, and placed 

 over a slow fire. As soon as the water is on the point of boiling the kettle is taken 

 off, shook by a semi-circular motion of the hand backward and forward, and replaced 

 on the lire for a short time. If the shaking be not attended to exactly at the proper 

 moment, or be unskill fully performed, the fish, coagulating too suddenly, becomes 

 comparatively dry to the taste, and the soup is poor.' 



"The stomach of this fish is remarkably thick, and when cleansed and cooked is 

 esteemed a great luxury. The whitefish is very thick and lleshy, and on account of 

 the smallness of the head, fins, and intestines the waste in dressing is less than in 

 any other fish. The greater part of those taken in Lake Champlain are from 15 to 

 20 inches iu length, and weigh from 1 to 3 pounds, though smaller ones are often taken, 

 and occasionally larger ones, weighing from 3 to 6 pounds. They are usually 

 sold fresh as taken from tho water, and the price varies from 6 to 10 cents a pound. 

 The whitefish seems to subsist principally upon small molluscous animals. I have 

 sometimes found more than 100 univalve and bivalve shells in the stomach of a 

 single fish." 



Mr. Thompson does not give either the round whitefish (C. quadrilateralis) or the 

 Musqnaw whitefish (0. lal»-adoricus) as found in the waters of Vermont, but the 

 second of those species is undoubtedly found there and the other almost certainly 

 occurs in the Vermont lakes. It is evident that Thompson confounded two or three 

 species and that much of what he says of the common whitefish really applies to the 

 Mnsquaw whitefish. All the specimens of so-called "whitefish" or "shadwaiters" 

 which we were able to secure belonged to the single species C. labradoricus (the 

 Mnsquaw whitefish). The probabilities arc that there are four species of whitefish 



* Fauna l.oreali Americana, vol. in, page 196 



