LAKE MOON-EYE. 883 
Diagnosis. —F rom our other White fish this species may be known by 
its slender, herring-like form and projecting lower jaw. 
Habits.—The Lake Herring is found throughout the lake region in 
enormous numbers. It inhabits comparatively shoal waters and goes 
about in vast schools, ‘crowding into the pound-nets in masses until the 
cribs are filled to the surface of the water. In Lake Hrie frequently a 
corner of the net is lowered, and a large proportion of them allowed to 
escape before the remainder are thrown into the boat. Although they 
have been taken in this way for years, there is no apparent diminution 
in their numbers. Perhaps the little disposition on the part of the fish- 
ermen to catch them, in some measure accounts for this fact, though 
there must be as well some natural advantages in their prolificity and 
in the tenacity of life of the ege. They are little sought after, because 
they are not a favorite fish in the market, being rather deficient in qual- 
ities as afresh or salt fish, though having no objectionable flavor. They 
are small and thin when opened, and become shrunken when pickled. 
meeps et The profit on them to the fishermen is less than any © 
other fish handled from the lakes, because of the low price they com- 
mand in the market, and the expense of dressing and packing is much 
greater than in White-fish, Trout, or Pike, because of their smaller size. 
Differing from the White-fish in the construction of the mouth, it being 
terminal, they more readily take a bait, and may be fished for with hook 
and line with a suitable bait. Insects are the best for this purpose, 
though they are frequently taken with aminnow. The contents of the 
stomach have been obtained in but a few instances, the fish being taken 
almost exclusively in the pound nets, and in these they have generally 
remained long enough to digest the stomach contents. A few specimens 
from seines in the Detroit River were found to contain insects and a few 
of the Gammaride, but no remains of vertebrates, though the Herring are 
frequently taken with a minnow bait. They are found, by examination 
of their stomachs during the spawning season, to be spawn eaters of the 
worst character, their stomachs being crammed with White-fish ova, and 
considering the great numbers of the Herring and their vicinity to the 
spawning grounds, the destruction they effect must be very great.” 
(Milner.) 
The spawning season is about the last of November. It is thought 
that this species does not migrate for the purpose of spawning, but re- 
mains in the shoal waters, where it is commonly taken. | 
In the deep lakes of Northern Indiana (Tippecanoe, Hagle, etc.), and 
in similar lakes in Eastern Wisconsin (Geneva, the Oconomowoc Chain, 
etc.), a fish is found, known as the Cisco, which is generally thought to - 
