SALMONOIDE.E. 195 



ages, I think it probable that it may have been the young of the Thymallus sig- 

 nifer. The subjoined imperfect description is all that I have to guide me in 

 forming a judgment on this matter now, as I neglected to prepare a specimen in 

 the autumn, when this small fish was plentiful, and none were seen in the spring. 

 The Lesser grayling rises eagerly at the artificial fly. The stomachs of those 

 which we opened Avere filled with sand and black earth. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Of a recent specimen taken in Winter River, August, 1820. 



Form. — Body compressed with a lanceolate profile, belly rather broader than the back. 

 The dorsal fin has, like Back's grayling, from twenty to twenty-four rays, but the posterior 

 ones do not branch out so much, and scarcely exceed the others in height ; the three first rays 

 only being shorter : the height of the fin is one inch. Ventrals situated under the middle of 

 the dorsal. 



Colour. — Sides bluish-grey with purplish reflections, belly white. The scales have a bright 

 pearly lustre. The head is hair-brown, and the gill-covers exhibit some purplish tints. Dor- 

 sal fin dark bluish grey, with several rows of purplish spots bordered by lighter red. Ventrals 

 streaked with opake white. 



Fins.— Br. 8; D. 23—0; P. 17; V. 9; A. 10; C. 19|. 



Length, excluding the caudal, eight inches and a half. Distance between the tip of the 

 snout and anus six inches. 



[75. J 1. Salmo (Coregonus) albus. The Attihawmeg. 



Family, Salmonoideae. Genus, Salmo. Linn. Sub-genus, Coregonus. Cuv. 

 Salmo lavaretus (Gidniad and Tickomeg). Penn., Arct. Zoo/., Intr., p. 298, 



and ii., p. 293, excluding synonymes. 

 Coregonus albus. Le Sueur, Journ. Ac. Sc. Phil., i., p. 232. Cuv., Reg. An., ii., p. 308. 

 White fish. Fur Traders. Poisson hlanc. Canadians. 

 Attihhawmegh. Cree Indians. 



Plate 89, f. 2, A and B, half nat. size. 



Several species of this sub-genus have been celebrated for the delicacy of their 

 flavour, but none have been more justly so than the Attihawmeg, which is an in- 

 habitant of all the interior lakes of America, from Erie to the Arctic Sea. Several 

 Indian hordes mainly subsist upon it, and it forms the principal food at many of 

 the fur posts, for eight or nine months of the year, — the supply of other articles 

 of diet being scanty and casual. Though it is a rich, fat fish, instead of producing 

 satiety it becomes daily more agreeable to the palate ; and I know, from experience, 



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