WHITE-FISH. 147 



CHAPTEE 7IIT, 



■WHITE-FISH. 



Voregonus Alius — Attihawmeg. — Altliougli included 

 in the salmon family by having the second dorsal adi- 

 pose, and the fin-rays soft, this fish differs totally from 

 either the trout or salmon. It has minute velvet-like 

 teeth, scarcely perceptible to the touch, except on the 

 gill-arches, where there is a row of long and slim ones, 

 like bristles ; the scales are large and the body com- 

 pressed like that of a shad, and it has been called the 

 Fresh- water Shad. The mouth is very small, utterly un- 

 suited for seizing the prey on which the trout and salmon 

 feed ; the color of the back is greyish blue, and the sides 

 white. 



Fin-rays, D. 13.0; P. 17; Y. 12; A. 13; 0. 19#, the 

 second dorsal being adipose. 



The proper appellation for this fish is the Indian 

 name, Attihawmeg, and if sportsmen would in all cases 

 follow the names used by the aborigines they would 

 show more sense than the common people of our coun- 

 try, who think every fish with a spiny back fin must be 

 a bass, and every other a trout. The Attihawmeg 

 abounds in Lake Huron, where it attains a weight of 

 twelve to fourteen pounds, and is tolerably abimdant in 

 Lakes Erie, Ontario and Michigan. It feeds on mussels 



