the deep waters of the lakes. In the fall, and just before the spawning season, — 
various minute shell-fish would appear to constitute the bulk of their food. - 
The places selected for spawning grounds are honey-combed rocks or ~ 
gravelly bottoms, in water of 30 to 50 feet depth, the crevices in which afford a — 
safe place of iodgment for the eggs and protect them to a certain extent from — 
tne watchful spawn-eaters, the suckers, lake herring and lake lizards or Meno- 
en NS > > 
r 
— aS a Wone 
C= pt ie — 
“iP 2 
Fig. 12.—CANADIAN LAKE LIZARD, OR MENOBRANCH. (Wectwrus maculatus.) 
branchs (fig. 12). On the north shore of Lake Superior the mouths of the gteat 
rivers, like the Michipicoten and Neepigon, are favourite places ; possibly a relic of 
a former anadromous habit, such as characterises other Salmonoids, To cope 
successfully with the destructive spawn-eaters large numbers of eggs are deposited, 
although many of them are destined to destruction. It has been calculated that 
a female Whitefish sheds 10,000 for every pound of her weight | 
It is possible that the spawning habits in the rivers and lakes differ, the 
fish exhibiting greater activity in the former than in tbe latter. In both, how- 
ever, they pair, the male being uniformly much smaller than the female. In the 
Detroit River the fish are described as jumping in pairs at night, the male swim- 
ming along beside the female with his snout up towards the pectoral fin, and 
both suddenly leaping from the water, spawn and milt running from them the 
while. In Lake Ontario, on the other hand, the female has been described as 
ploughing a nest in the gravelly bottom, where she remains for two or three 
days until all the eggs are deposited. Possibly the spawning habits of the vari- 
ous species differ, but sufficient attention has not been given to the subject. 
ln contrast with the short period of development described for the Clupeoids 
(p 445) the Whitefish eggs require about 100 days to hatch out at the natural 
temperature of the water. They thus escape from the egg about the beginning 
of April, and have entirely absorbed the yolk-sac by the end of that month, 
when they have reached the length of half an inch. 
The little minnows thereafter make for deeper water, but it is stated that 
the fish do not seek the greater depths until they have attained a weight of over 
-a pound; many of these immature fish are therefore caught in pound-nets, while 
the gill-nets secure no fish under a pound in weight. 
The principal enemy of the Whitefish after it has attained maturity is the 
‘Lake Trout, but the small fry are undoubtedly eagerly eaten by the Bass and 
JPercoid fishes, as long as they remain within their reach. | 
Occasionally Whitefish have been observed to die in large numbers. Prof. 
A. C. Lawson brought me specimens of a parasitic crustacean (Argu/us coregoni ?) 
some years ago which was obviously the cause of death of immense numbers of 
whitefish in the Lake of the Woods, and a similar phenomenon is recorded from 
lakes in Minnesota. Whether this is a frequent cause of such epidemics remains 
still to be investigated. 
