SHIRAS EXPEDITIONS TO WIIITEFISH POINT. 149 



The pike is a ^vell-kno^^^l predator. Notes on its food are given by 

 Forbes 78, '88, and '88a, Kirsch '94, Marshall and Gilbert '05, and 

 Reighard '13a. Besides fish they sometimes eat crayfish, other crus- 

 taceans, water insects, and leeches. 



Residents of the Vermilion region seldom use the pike for food; its 

 flesh is said to be "wormy." The large specimen caught in the marsh 

 lakes had flesh of the usual good (|ualit}' for the si:)ecies, and no para- 

 sites were evident in it. Pikes are said to be detrimental in the region 

 by catching wild ducklings and young muskrats. 



The marshes about the small lakes must furnish excellent breeding 

 places for pikes in the early spring, and according to information given 

 by residents many frequent these places at that time. 



21. Fundulus diaphanus menona (Jordan and Copeland). Barred 

 Killifish. — Seven (1-3 inches) were caught from two diverse and separ- 

 ated regions; five from the Mason's Creek pools and two from the 

 west end of Mitten Lake. The species is poorly represented in the 

 region. 



22. Eucalia inconstans (Kirtland). Brook Stickleback. — The brook 

 stickleback is very common and generally distributed in the Whitefish 

 Point region. It was found in all of the bodies of water examined, 

 except Shelldrake River and Lake. Only two, very small ones were 

 taken in Lake Superior. They were numerous in the beach ponds 

 connected with Mason's Creek, and the pool beneath the beaver dam 

 here appeared to have optimum conditions. Many were also ob- 

 served in Vermilion Creek, where they prefer deep, quiet pools 

 with much algae and other vegetation. While they are numerous in 

 Beaver Lake and others of the west group, thej^ are scarce in the east 

 group, the beaver dam at Station 110 apparently marking the limit of 

 their eastward extention in this system of small lakes. They are very 

 common in Little Lake, at least at its north end. 



The sticklebacks were easily seen and distinguished in the water, and 

 they were usually suspended, apparently motionless, off the bottom. 

 When the ])ottom soil is disturbed they ciuickly gather al)out the cloud, 

 evidently looking for food. They appear to be insectivorous in the 

 region for insects with a little algae made up the stomach contents of 

 the few opened. 



The two hundred or more specimens collected were from .7 to 2.7 

 inches in length. 



23. Pygosteus pungitus (Linnaeus). Nine-spined Stickleback. — 

 This species was not found elsewhere than in Lake Sii])erior, where it is 

 exceedingly a})undant, outnumbering by far all other kinds of fish 

 found there. Th(> (niormous schools came shoreward in quiet, warm 

 weather, where the}- remained a short distance out from shore in about 



