GREAT LAKES COREGONIDS 



503 



and whitefish have recollections of seeing herring in the pot before the net is lifted 

 during most of the pound-net season. As no herring are taken for commercial pur- 

 poses during the summer, nothing else is known of the abundance of these fish at 

 that season. 



My records show that occasional specimens occurred in the pound nets on the 

 north shore of the lake in Black Bay on July 20, 1922, in Moffat Strait and off Armour 

 Point on August 10, 1922, on the east shore in Batchawanna Bay on June 17, 1922, 

 and on the south shore in Marquette Bay on August 9, 1921 (records 15, 24, 25, 

 29, and 5). During the summer season my 2% and 2% inch nets, which were set for 

 deep-water Leucichthys, recorded a few stragglers at depths of 10 to 100 fathoms, 

 namely, on June 14, 1922, 10 miles NW. by W. % W. of Point Iroquois Light in 

 Whitefish Bay in 38 fathoms (record 1); on August 5, 1921, 31 miles N. % E. and on 

 August 11, 1921, 18 miles NE. by N. of Marquette, Mich., in 100 to 80 fathoms 

 (records 4 and 6); on August 24, 1921, 21 miles west, and on August 25, 1921, 6 miles 

 NNW. of Ontonagon, Mich., in 15 to 45 and 20 to 38 fathoms, respectively (records 

 9 and 10); on July 11, 1922, between Cat and South Twin Islands in 15 to 20 

 fathoms (record 11); on July 17, 1922, 20 miles NE. by E. of Duluth, Minn., in 30 to 

 40 fathoms (record 12); on September 15, 1923, off Silver Island in 14 fathoms and 

 in Thunder Bay off Thunder Cape in 31 fathoms; on September 17, 1923, in Thunder 

 Bay inside the Welcome Islands in 11 fathoms; on September 19, 1923, in Thunder 

 Bay off Sawyer Bay in 49 fathoms (records 17 to 20); on October 4, 1921, off Bread 

 Rock in 80 to 90 fathoms (record 22); on September 25, 1923, in Moffat Strait in 

 13 to 14 fathoms (record 26); and on June 26, 1922, off Alona Bay in 60 fathoms (rec- 

 ord 28). A few specimens were taken, also, entangled in the 43^-inch trout nets on 

 August 16, 1921, 54 miles W. by N. of Ontonagon, Mich., in 25 to 80 fathoms; 

 on June 19, 1922, in 15 to 35 fathoms, 6 miles northeast off the east end light of 

 Michipicoten Island (records 8 and 27). 



It has been pointed out before on preceding pages that fish may become entangled 

 in the netting while it is sinking to the bottom, and the occurrence of individuals of 

 the species in nets at extreme depths is therefore possibly accidental. Whether or 

 no, many instances can be cited of stragglers of a shallow-water form occurring out- 

 side their normal depth range, and it would not be surprising if it were found that the 

 herring at times do frequent profound depths. 



All the accumulated data show that the herring come ashore in the fall and are 

 present in commercial quantities from about the first or middle of November until 

 early December. (It is noteworthy that the migration is later than or as late as in 

 the lower lakes of the Great Lakes series, where the water probably cools more 

 slowly.) In most localities they depart from the shores before winter and generally 

 are not pursued thereafter until the following fall on account of the presence of more 

 valuable species. An inshore migration in early summer is reported for some locali- 

 ties, and it is probably general, but at any rate the consensus of opinion of the fisher- 

 men and the meager data I personally have collected indicate that the schools do 

 not go far below the surface during the warmer months. In the lower lakes the her- 

 ring avoid the shoals only in the warmest weather and in winter, but in Superior the 

 shoals probably seldom become warmer than is pleasant for them, and for this reason 



