234 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



head without snout. The ventral begins under the middle of 

 the dorsal, its longest ray two thirds of length of head. The 

 pectoral is slighth^ longer than the ventral. The anal base 

 equals the length of its longest ray, which is nearly one half 

 the length of head. The adipose dorsal is slender, its width 

 one half its hight, and about one half the length of eye; 25 

 to 30 gill rakers below the angle of the first arch. D. 11; A. 10 

 (counting only divided rays in dorsal and anal); V. 10. Scales 

 9-80-8. The upper parts are greenish or bluish black; the 

 sides silvery and with narrow pale streaks along the rows of 

 scales, specially above the lateral line. 



This species is known as the lake herring or cisco. The name 

 €isco is applied more particularly in the small lakes of Wiscon- 

 sin, Indiana and New York. The lake herring is most abun- 

 dant in the Great lakes, extending northward into British 

 America; eastward it has been obtained from Labrador. It 

 becomes variable in certain parts of its habitat, notably in 

 Labrador and in the lakes in which it is known as cisco. In 

 1885 more individuals of this species were taken in Lake Erie 

 than in all the other Great lakes put together, more than 

 19,000,000 pounds having been caught there out of a total of 

 less than 26,000,000. , 



The average length of this species is about 1 foot, and the 

 weight 9 to 12 ounces, but examples measuring 19 inches in 

 length and weighing 2 pounds have been recorded. 



The lake herring frequents shoal waters moderately, and 

 occurs in enormous schools, as one may judge from the quan- 

 tity captured in Lake Erie. Its food consists of insects and 

 crustaceans. During the spawning season of the whitefish, how- 

 ever, it feeds exclusively on the eggs of this species and proves 

 very destructive. The lake herring will take the hook, and has 

 been caught with live minnows. Spawning takes place about 

 the end of November in shoal waters. 



As a food fish this species is inferior to the whitefish, but it 

 is in great demand over an extensive area of the country, and 

 is shipped in the fresh condition many hundreds of miles east 

 and west. I have elsewhere referred to the enormous number 



