WHITEFISHES, LAKE HERRINGS, AND INCONNU. 491 
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deposits from 10,000 to 75,000 eggs, the number depending on the size 
of the fish, The spawning capacity can be approximately gauged by 
allowing about 10,000 eggs for each pound of body weight. The spawn- 
ing time is in the late fall, chiefly in the month of November. During the 
summer they retire to the deeper portions of the lakes, but as the time for 
spawning approaches they come into shoal water about the islands and in 
the bays and coves. In Lake Ontario they first appear on their spawning- 
grounds late in October and the season extends into December. The prin- 
cipal spawning-grounds are in Chaumont Bay, Three-mile Bay, and on the 
gravelly bars about the head of Fox Island and across to Point Peninsula. 
The bottom selected seems to be of gravel or of the peculiar rock known as 
‘finger rock’ or ‘ honeycomb,’ at a depth of 20 or 30 feet. In Lake Erie 
the principal spawning-grounds are among the islands in the western end of 
the lake. 
“The Whitefish makes regular migrations analogous to the movements 
of anadromous fishes in the coast rivers. These occur chiefly about the 
spawning season and are impelled by the reproductive instinct. There are’ 
also more or less regular movements at other times, but these are not well 
understood. 
“The Whitefish rarely takes the hook. Its small mouth necessitates the 
ingestion of minute food, and examination of the stomach contents has 
shown that it subsists chiefly on crustaceans, mollusks, and insect larve. 
“Dr. S. A. Forbes, of Illinois University, has made a careful study of the 
first food of the common Whitefish in Lake Michigan, and has reached the 
following conclusion : — 
‘‘¢ We are compelled to conclude that the earliest food of the Whitefish 
consists almost wholly of the smallest species of Entomostraca occurring 
in the lake, since the other elements in their alimentary canals were evi- 
dently either taken accidentally, or else appeared in such trivial quantity as 
to contribute nothing of importance to their support. In fact, two species 
of Copepoda, Cyclops thomasi and Diaptomus sicilis, are certainly very much 
more important to the maintenance of the White-fish in this earliest stage 
of independent life than all the other organisms in the lake combined. As 
the fishes increase in size, vigor, and activity they doubtless enlarge their 
regimen by capturing larger species of Entomostraca, especially Daphnza 
and Limnocalanus.’ 
“The common Whitefish is generally regarded as one of the best food 
fishes of North America. In the regions in which it is taken it is usually 
