240 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



during the day they may be seen in pairs and small schools, pok- 

 ing along the shores, but at night they come in thousands and 

 lieep up a constant loud splashing and fluttering, very strange 

 ^nd weird on a calm night. Two years ago I carefuly counted 

 the ova from a ripe fish 2J pounds in weight, and found there 

 were 23,700, closely resembling whitefish eggs in appearance, but 

 somew^hat smaller. After spawning the fish are very thin, lank, 

 dull in color, and quite unfit for human food. 



James Annin jr furnished me the following notes on the 

 spawning of the tullibee in Onondaga lake, N. Y. 



They generally commence running up onto the shoals about 

 ^November 15, and the season extends into December. They come 

 up to the banks or gravelly shoals and spawn in from 3 to 6 and 

 7 feet of water. They have never been caught with the hook 

 in this lake; and an old fisherman told me that he had tried 

 :almost every kind of bait, and had used the very finest gut and 

 the smallest hooks baited with Gamma rus (fresh- water 

 shrimp) and other kinds of natural food — that is, he supposed 

 the food was natural to them. At the same time, he claims he 

 -could see them in large schools lying in the water 8 or 10 feet 

 from the surface. 



A female tullibee was sent from Onondaga lake by Mr Annin 

 ^ov. 18, 1895, and another of the same sex Nov. 25, 1896. 



The following notes relate to the female obtained Nov. 18, 

 1895. 



Inches 



Length to end of caudal. 18i/4 



Length of upper caudal lobe 2% 



Length of middle caudal rays 1 



Lfeast depth of caudal peduncle 1% 



Depth of body at dorsal origin 4% 



Length of head 3^ 



Length of maxilla ,. % 



Diameter of eye % 



Length of longest gill raker t% 



The mandible projects slightly. B. 8; D. 11; A. 11; V. 11. 

 'Scales 8-75-8; gill rakers, 17+27. 



The female received Nov. 25, 1896, is 15 inches long. 



New York is well supplied with Coregonidae, having seven of 

 the 16 North American species. 0. quadrilateralis is 

 the frostfish of the Adirondacks and the Great lakes. C. 

 clupeiformis, the common whitefish, inhabits the Great 

 Hakes and Lake Champlain; it is very abundant also in the 



