mi: FOOD OF TIII-: wnm: nsn. 51 g 



investigations in the past two years did not result in any confirmation of tins notion, ami it would 

 not accord with the habits of any specie* of the family of fishes to which the lake White-fish belongs." 



A list of the precise contents of the stomachs of individuals examined by Mr. Milncr is now 

 appended: 



" Specimens from Outer Island, Lake Superior, contained great quantities of .Vi/.w'.s relicta, 

 Pontoporeia lloyi, and Pinidium abditum, var. abytsorum ; and with these were a few specimens 

 of dipterous larvio of the genus Chironomun, a small worm (Lumbricus lacustris), JJaphnia 

 galeata, J). jtellucida, and a small species of Planorbis. 



"From Sand Island, Lake Superior, Pontoporeia Hoyi ; larvae and pupae of Chironomus; 

 Valrata sincera, and Qyraulux parvut. 



" From Sault Ste. Marie, one lot contained scarcely anything but small shells. Among these, 

 Valrata tricarinata, V. sincera, var. striatella, Amnicola generosa, A. palida (I), Gyrattlun parvtu, 

 and a species of Limntea were in abundance ; while there were fewer specimens of Gonioba#i 

 livescens, Physa vinosa (1), young, Sphatrium striatinum, and Pisidium compresxum. 



" Other specimens contained nothing but the remains of insects, among which were the 

 imagos of two species of Diptera ; larvae and pupae of Chironomus ; larvae and pupae of some 

 specimens of Ephemeridce ; great numbers of the larvae, pupa-, and subimagos of a species of 

 Hydropsyche, and the larvae of a species of some other genus of Phryganeidce. 



From Ecorse, Michigan, specimens contained a species of Hydrachna, the leg and the scales 

 from the wing of some lepidopterous insect, and a species of Limncea. 



White-fish which I examined at Isle Koyale, in August, 1871, contained scarcely anything 

 but Mysis relicta and Pontoporeia Hoyi. 



Ecorse, Michigan remains of a small fish and several specimens of a species of water- 

 boatmen (Corixa). 



Specimens of Goregonus quadrilaterals from Madeline Island, Lake Superior, contained a 

 number of specimens of a leech (Nephelis fervida) and a neuropterous larva allied to Perla. 



"These few observations are sufficient to show that the White-fish, like the different species 

 of Trout, feeds on a large number of species belonging to very different groups of animals. In 

 this brief enumeration, twenty-five species are mentioned nine of insects, four of Crustacea, one 

 worm, and eleven of mollusks ; and these are undoubtedly only a small part of the species upon 

 which the White-fish really feeds." 



Much difficulty was experienced by Mr. Milner in his attempts to discover the food required 

 for the sustenance of some young White-fish which had been sent to him. His experiments, 

 together with a letter written to him by Mr. Briggs, editor of the "Lens," Chicago, with regard to 

 the contents of the stomachs of embryo White-fish, are here reproduced: 



" Food of embryonic White-fish. The young fish reached Waukegan in safety, and were placed 

 in five-quart glass jars, and an experiment begun in attempting to supply them with suitable food. 

 A numbered label was pasted on each jar, so as to keep them distinct. Knowing that the larger 

 White-fish fed largely on crustaceans, an attempt to feed them on food of this character was 

 thought worth a trial. A few crawfish were procured and pounded to a paste, and small portions 

 put into jar No. 1 ; the young fish ate it readily. They were fed at night, and the next morning 

 every one of them was found to be dead. Jar No. 2 was supplied with bread-crumbs, and the fish 

 were seen to take small particles in their mouths ; they did not die so suddenly. Jar No. 3 was 

 supplied with sweet cream, but no evidence was afforded that the occupants fed upon it. A 

 quantity of rain-water was exposed to the rays of the sun for the purpose of generating minute 

 forms of life, and a teaspoonful was poured into jar No. 4, morning and evening, in hopes that 



