332 GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



authenticated specimen is recorded which weighed seventeen 

 pounds. [See Northern Inland Fishes.] 



Whitefish. — Coregonus albus. Le Sueur. 



Specific characteristics : Depth of body equals length of head, 

 which is two-ninths of total length, excluding caudal ; diameter of 

 eye less than length of snout, which is pointed. Color. Silvery 

 white, resembling the herring. 



Dr. G. A. Stockwell, of Port Huron, Michigan, gives the fol- 

 lowing most excellent description of the habits of this fish : " The 

 whitefish is among the best of lake fish, being second only to the 

 Siscowet, and by many pronounced superior to the great trout. 

 The spawning begins in November, terminating in December, and 

 is indicated by the fish leaving deep water and appearing in im- 

 mense num-bers on rocky shoals. Formerly they frequented the 

 streams for this purpose, but, at the present time, there are but 

 few streams emptying into the great lakes that are free from saw 

 mills and their attendant dust, which are offensive to these fish. 

 At the first day's netting on the spawning beds the catch is wholly 

 males, apparently well stocked with milt ; on the second, a few 

 females appear, plump with spawn. The proportion of females 

 increases day by day, until after a week or ten days, when there 

 are two or three and often four times as many females as males, 

 after which they gradually disappear, until the latter preponder- 

 ate, as they are the last as well as first upon the beds. The best 

 opinion seems to be that the males precede the females only to pre- 

 pare the ground ; especially as they at that time assume an extra- 

 ordinary roughness of scales, and employ themselves constantly in 

 scraping up gravel, on which the spawn is subsequently deposited. 

 Some, however, believe that the mere inclination to milt causes 

 them to seek the proper position without reference to the presence 

 or absence of the females ; others still are of the opinion that they 

 precede only to wait for the females, and do not commence milt- 

 ing until spawning begins. This latter opinion is undoubtedly the 

 true one, for Mr. Milner has established the fact that the act of 

 spawning in the female and milting in the male, is carried on at 

 the same time, and with a slight, though decided orgasm. The 

 males have been accused of lingering for the purpose of feasting 



