880 FISHES.—SALMONID&. 
out reference to the presence or absence of the females ; others still are of the opinion 
that they precede only to wait for the females, and do not commence milting until 
spawning begins. The latter opinion is undoubtedly the true one, for Mr. Milner has 
established the fact that the act of spawning in the female and milting in the male is 
carried on at the same time, and with a slight though decided orgasm. The males have 
_ been accused of lingering for the purpose of feasting on the spawn, but this is contrary 
to nature and undoubtedly a slander. The most careful of observers assures me that the 
males who linger on the beds are employed in covering the spawn.” 
‘¢ The White-fish has been known since the time of the earliest explorers as pre-emin- | 
ently a fine flavored fish. In fact, there are few table-fishes its equal. * * To be 
appreciated in its fullest excellence, it should be taken fresh from the lake and broiled. 
Father Marquette, Charlevoix, Sir John Richardson, explorers, who for months at a 
time had to depend on the White-fish for their staple article of food, bore testimony in 
their writings: to the fact, that they never lost their relish for it, and deemed it a 
special excellence that the appetite never became cloyed with it.”— Milner. 
Food.—The food of the White-fish was for a long time an unsolved 
problem, as nothing but slime is usually found in their stomachs. It is 
now known that they feed mainly on small Crustacea and Mollusks in-. 
habiting deep waters, organisms which are digested in the stomachs of 
those fishes taken in the pound nets, before the fishes are taken from the 
water. : 
Mr. Milner observes (Rept. Comm. Fish and Fisheries, 1872-73, p. 
44): | 
‘¢To Dr. P. R. Hoy, of Racine, we think, belongs the credit of first discovering the 
character of their food. On opening the stomachs of numerous White-fish, he at first 
failed to determine the character of the stomach-contents, until after washing the half- 
digested mass in a basin of water, he found the sediment to be full of smatl crustacea, 
whose existence in the lake had never before been suspected. 
‘¢ My examination and preservation of the stomach contents from all quarters of the 
lakes, confirmed Dr. Hoy’s observations and discovered a few other smali forms of life as 
the food of the White-fish. 
‘¢ The invertebrates found were, of Crustaceans, species of the families Gammarvide and 
Myside ; of the Mollusks, species of the genus Pisidium; and certain insect-larvee,” 
The White fish very rarely takes the hook, and is in no sense a game- 
fish. It is taken in all the great Lakes in very great numbers, formerly 
with seines, but now chiefly by means of giil-nets and pound-nets. Among 
the fishes of Ohio, it is the most important both as to quantity taken and 
quality as food. Attempts at artificial propogation have been very suc- 
cessful. The fullest and best account of the habits of the Whiite-fish is . 
to be found in the Report of the U. 8. Comm. of Fish and Fisheries, 
1872 8, pp. 43-64, written by the late Prof. Jas. W. Milner. To this 
report, the reader is referred for further details. 
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