REPROnrniON OK TI1F. HI KHOT. 



239 



\^r 



separate ami loose upon tin- river or lake bottom. They are vri v small anil numerous. According 

 to tin- calculation of lian.n ('. (1. < Yderstrom, a medium-sized female contained 160,000 (by esti- 

 male. l.V.i,77i) e^s. This result nearly coincides with that of a more recent estimate, viz, that 

 tin- average female Contains 1 78,000 eggs. (Skaml. Fiskar. vid., p. 41.) Some eggs are clear, some 

 \ello\v, all nearly colorless, and both kinds are capable of development. In some cases the eggs 

 commence tn hatch in tlncr \\.-eks; generally, however, an. additional week is required. At the 

 .ml of tin- first day after tin- 1 '; s have been deposited cleavage of the yolk commences. The eyes 

 appear in fifteen or sixteen days, and in about two days more small star-like spots may be observed 

 on tht> surface of the embryo. At that period, also, the beating of the heart can be plainly dis- 

 cerned. and I have alternately counted fifteen, thirty, and fifty pulsations in successive minutes. 

 The evolutions of the etnliryo are now more distinctly seen, and it will be noticed that the anterior 

 end of the embryo is the heavier. In many cases the eggs appear to have been prematurely 

 hatched, and assume the shape of a ring. These move but seldom, and always in a circle. A great 

 many die early ; others are developed. The fish with straight tails are very lively, moving with 

 a tremor of the body, usually toward the surface of the water, whence they passively fall to the 

 bottom. When fully developed, the operation of swimming is accomplished by a quick movement 

 of the pectorals." 



MODE OF CAPTURE. The Burbot is taken on hooks, chiefly at night. It is also captured 

 largely in pounds and gill-nets. In Lake Winnipiseogee it is caught with the hook through 

 holes in the ice. At Fort Ouster, Montana, it takes the hook freely. In the Yukon Kiver it is 

 captured in h'sh-traps. 



FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS. The Burbot is carnivorous and voracious, having a craving and 

 wonderfully distensible stomach, which makes the fish an efficient dredge in securing bottom fishes. 

 Through its medium was obtained the rare sculpiu-like fish Trit/lopsia Thomsoni. The Burbot feeds 

 upon various small fishes and Crustacea, frequenting the bottom, and devouring more particularly 

 fishes with habits like its own. 



Forster gives the following notes in the " Philosophical Transactions," ' which were furnished 

 him by Mr. Andrew Graham : " [The Marthy is] extremely voracious, eating fish, the pike, and the 

 tickomeg (Salmo), and other fish, carrion, putrefying deer, and even stones. Mr. Graham took a 

 stone weighing a pound from the stomach of one. . . . It does not masticate its food." 



Pennant says that the Marthy "is so voracious as to feed even on the tyrant pike; will devour 

 dead deer or any carrion, and even swallow stones to fill its stomach." 



The Burbot seems to feed principally at night. Pennant states that it is caught with hooks 

 after nine o'clock at night. Charles Lanman states that "in the Saint John River, Jfew Bruns- 

 wick, some hundreds are taken annually by night-lines, dropped through the ice at the beginning 

 of winter. Many are thus taken near Fredericton, but the best fishing ground is on the sand- 

 bars, a little above the mouth of the Oromocto Kiver, where this fish resorts previous to spawn- 

 ing, which operation takes place in February or March. This fish is not unlike the eel in many of 

 its habits, concealing its food under stones, waiting and watching for its prey. It feeds principally 

 at night, and is, therefore, generally taken by night-lines." 



The specimens obtained by the National Museum from the Great Lakes always contained in 

 abundance the common species associated with itself in that region, such as Perca americana,& 

 species of Lcpomif;, &c. 



According to Mr. Dall, the Burbot in the rivers of Alaska feed upon whitefish, lampreys, and 

 other species. 



'Vol. Ixiii. 



