THE MICHIGAN GRATLIK"G. 507 



them for insects falling upon the w.iter." In France they are said also to devour little mollusks 

 and the eggs of fishes. 



CuLTUKE. — The propagation of the Michigan Grayling was attempted as soon as its existence 

 was known. Mr. Fred. Mather and Mr. Seth Green, always pioneers io such enterprises, were the 

 first to attempt it, and they were soon followed by others. Mr. Mather was first on the field, 

 visiting the Ausable between March 25 and April 3, 1874; but he was too early, for the fish were 

 not ready for him. Mr. Green followed on April 28, but he was too late, the fish having finished 

 spawning. Not to be daunted, he dug over one hundred fertilized eggs out of the gravel where 

 the fish had left them, and took them home to his hatching house. In 1875 Mr. Mather visited the 

 river between April 6 and 12, and obtained eight thousand eggs, which were successfully hatched. 

 Young fish have been introduced into various streams in Michigan and Western New York. 

 Frank Buckland tried many years ago to introduce the English Grayling into the Thames by 

 transplanting its ova, but this experiment was a failure, and we have yet to learn that his Ameri- 

 can associates have been more successful in their efforts. An interesting fact observed in the 

 course of these experiments is that the Michigan Grayling is much more prolific than the Brook 

 Trout, yielding between three and four thousand eggs. 



There has been much discussion over the claims of the Grayling as a game-fish, and also its 

 excellence for food. It has many ardent admirers and detrsictors. The enthusiasm with which it 

 was greeted ten years ago has somewhat subsided, and it seems doubtful whether a vote of the 

 guild of American anglers would now place it in the first rank of noble fishes. 



"There is no species sought for by anglers that surpasses the Grayling in beauty. They are 

 more elegantly formed and more graceful than, the Trout, and their great dorsal fin is a superb 

 mark of loveliness. When the well-lids were lifted, and the sun's rays admitted, lighting up the 

 delicate olive-brown tints of the back and sides, the bluish-white of the abdomen, and the mingling 

 of tints of rose, pale blue, and purplish-pink on the fins, they displayed a combination of colors 

 equaled by no fish outside of the tropics." 



Mr. Mather describes the colors of the Grayling as follows: "His pectorals are olive-brown, 

 with a bluish tint at the end; the ventrals are striped with alternate streaks of brown and 

 pink; the anal is plain brown ; the caudal is very forked and plain, while the crowning glory is the 

 immense dorsal. This fin rises forward of the middle of the back, and in a fish a foot long it is 

 nearly three inches in length and two high, dotted with large, brilliant-red or bluish-purple spots, 

 surrounded with a splendid emerald green, which fades after death — the changeable shade of 

 green seen in the tail of the peacock." 



168. THE LAKE WHITE-FISH— COREGONUS CLUPEIFORMIS. 



From Notes of Ludwig Ktjmlien and others — By E. 1. Gbare. 



Names. — With the exception of the local name "Otsego Bass," said to be applied to this fish 

 ahrixit Otsego Lake, New York, we have never heard any other name for it than "White-fish." It 

 is found in all the Great Lakes, as well as in several of the smaller lakes tributary to them, and in 

 lakes of British America northward, perhaps as far as the Arctic Ocean. It is very abundant, 

 and is the most important food-flsh of the Great Lake region. In quality of flesh it stands pre- 

 eminent among our fresh-water fishes. The fle.<<h is white, tender, and juicy, and, unlike the flesh 

 of the Salmon, it does not produce satiety. 



Size. — The largest specimens of White-fish are found in Lake Superior, one having been 

 taken at Whitefish Point weighing twenty-three pounds, and at the same place out of seventy- 

 four half-barrels there was not one under six pounds in weight. At Duluth, White-fish weighing 



