498 AMERICAN FISHES, 
value is high, but its commercial importance is as yet very limited. In none 
of the Great Lakes is the fish at all common, but in the Lake of the Woods 
it is quite abundant, and considerable quantities are taken and shipped to 
Sandusky. In the provinces of Assiniboia and Manitoba the fish is taken 
in large numbers for local consumption, with gill nets and in traps made of 
brush and stones.” 
Mr. F. C. Gilchrist, of Fort Qu’Appelle, has observed the Tullibee in the 
lakes of the Western Territories of Canada, and given some information re- 
specting its spawning habits : 
“In September they will again be found gradually nearing the shoal 
water, feeding heavily, and plump with fat and the now swelling ovaries. 
Later on they appear to eat little or nothing, and devote all their time to 
playing until about the 25th of October, when they have settled down to the 
business of propagation, which they have finished by November 10. They 
prefer shallow water close to shore with clean sand to spawn on, and during 
the day they may be seen in pairs and small schools, poking along the 
shores, but at night they come in thousands and keep up a constant loud 
splashing and fluttering, very strange and weird on a calm night. Two 
years ago I carefully counted the ova from a ripe fish 2} pounds in weight, 
and found there were 23,700, closely resembling whitefish eggs in appear- 
ance, but somewhat smaller. After spawning the fish are very thin, lank, 
dull in color, and quite unfit for human food.” 
Mr. James Annin, Jr., the New York State Superintendent of Fish Culture, 
studied its habits in Lake Onondaga, and gave the following account: 
“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 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 Gammarus (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.” 
Other species of the genus are the “‘ Smelt” of Seneca, Skeneateles, and 
some other New York lakes (Argyrosomus osmeriformis), the “Least White- 
fish” of Alaska (Argyrosomus pusillus), the Great Bear Lake Herring 
(Argyrosomus lucidus), Lauretta’s Whitefish (Azgyrosomus laurette) of 
the Yukon, the Bloater Whitefish or Long-Jaw (Argyrosomus prognathus) 
