SALMONID^. 29 



designated as the Salmo, the Coregonus, the Thymallus or 

 Grayling, the Mallotus or CapeUn, and the Os^nerus or smelt. 

 The genus Coregonus includes the Attehawmeg or whitefish, 

 of delicious flavor, which abounds in all the great lakes of the 

 Northwest, and is also found in Seneca and Cayuga lakes ; 

 the hennng of Lake Huron ; the herring salmon, found in Lake 

 Erie, the Niagara Eiver, Seneca Lake, and throughout the great 

 northwest, and generally known as the scisco of commerce; 

 and the misnamed " Otsego Bass." The Thymallus signifer, 

 or Arctic Grayling, is spoken of by one or two authorities as 

 a superb game-fish. Its average weight is six jiounds. It is 

 found m the Winter Eiver (62d parallel) and the waters 

 that flow from the Great Slave Lake into the Arctic ocean. 

 The whitefish is sometimes taken in Lake Champlain, in the 

 month of August, with what is known as the shad-fly. This 

 curious fly is lead-colored, about an inch in length, and makes 

 its advent in swarms like unto the flies of Egypt. It covers 

 the surface of the lake, and is washed upon the shore in wind- 

 rows three inches deep. The whitefish, or " shad " as they 

 are called by the local fishermen, take them with great a^dd- 

 ity. I have known this fish to take the fly in other locali- 

 ties. 



However, of the varieties named none are considered 

 " game-fish,'"' or known to the sporting world as such. Prac- 

 tically they are of no value to the angler. The Salmo alone 

 merits his attention ; he is an opponent worthy of his met- 

 tle, and the angler who would enter the lists with him must 

 prepare to undergo hardships and toil that will test his man- 

 hood and powers of physical endurance. His geographical 

 range is included within a belt of thirty degrees width that 

 girts the entire northern hemisphere. It lies between lati- 

 tudes iO° and 70°, and extends through Russian Asia, the 

 whole of Europe, and across the entire North American con- 

 tinent. He delights in cold water, and will thrive only 

 where the temperature is below 60° Fahrenheit. As has 

 been remarked, the variety of his species is remarkable. Not 



