NORTHERN INLAND FISHES. 309 



deed, they are said to inhabit all the interior lakes of America from 

 Lake Erie to the Arctic Sea. The whitefish abounds in all the 

 •Eagle Lakes, at the head of Fish River, in Maine, which is a tribu- 

 tary of the St. John ; in the St. Francis Lakes, at the stream's head ; 

 in Lake Temiscouata, in Canada (P. Q.) ; and in the Madawaska, 

 Restigoucheand various other rivers, v/here it is netted and speared 

 by the Indians. It is known to the Canadian voyageurs as the 

 " gizzard fish," its stomach much resembling the gizzard of a fowl. 

 Charles Lanman, Esq., of Georgetown, D. C, has published an 

 interesting paper on the whitefish of Maine and New Brunswick, 

 describing their habits, in which he speaks of having frequently 

 taken them with rod and line ; as has also the writer of this paper. 

 They are most abundant in July and the first part of August, and 

 are then often taken in Lake Champlain with a natural fly, locally 

 known as the shad-fly, the fish themselves being called shad by 

 many persons. They spawn in October. In Chateaugay Lake they 

 have been taken with the red ibis fly, and in Seneca Lake are often 

 taken on set lines. In other waters they are taken with minnow 

 in the fall on shoals where they congregate to spawn in company 

 with the lake herrings. 



Otsego Bass ; Otsego Shad-Salmon. — Coregonus otsego. — De Kay. 



Although called a bass, this is a true whitefish. It belongs to 

 the family salmonidse, and not to the family percidse. Locally it 

 is known as the shad-salmon. We append the following descrip- 

 tion from De Witt Clinton : 



"Body elongate, subcylindrical compressed; back arched; 

 scales very small ; lateral line distinct, straight. Mouth small, with 

 a protuberant bifid upper lip. No teeth in the maxillaries, intermax- 

 illaries, vomer, palatines or pharyngeals. Dorsal fin with nine (.'j 

 rays, three of which are imperfect, adipose, filamentous at the tip, 

 caudal forked. Color. Dusky above the lateral line ; silvery be- 

 neath it. Dusky lateral stripes, as in the Labrnx lineatus, or 

 striped bass ; these are about six or eight in number. Pupils black ; 

 irides silvery, opercles silvery, spotted with yellow. It spawns in 

 autumn." The small mouthed black bass, (Micropterns salmoi' 

 des. Gill) does not fill this bill at all, although there is great liability 

 to confound it with the Otsego bass, from the fact that it is itself 



