DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES,

228
fish, tullibee, pike, pickerel, perch, &o. In the Moose Mountains there are a number
of fine clear water lakes, some of which have pike in large numbers, pickerel and
ling. Some of the pike were large and plump with a great deal of internal fat. Ta
the stomachs of those I examined I found a species of minnow, commonly called
shiner, and sticklebacks in about equal quantities, and in one caught 4th December,
a large frog. Some of these lakes are deep, 30 feet or more, and are well adapted to
the growth of other and better fish. In the Touchwood Hills there are similar lakes
containing pike, and others with only minnows and swarming with insect life.
Many miles of the south branch of the Saskatchewan run through Assiniboia and in
its waters are found pike, pickerel, percb, sturgeon and nearer the mountains several
species of trout in its tributaries and the lakes from which they start. Great num
hers of these trout are caught during the spawning season.
South.west of Swift Current a person by the name of J. Carpenter has netted
large quantities of tullibee which he shipped along the line of the Canadian Pacific
Railway to the different towns. I saw a number at Regina and they were full of
ripe spawn. I am of the opinion that they were caught during the close season and
with small meshed nets, for the measurement of the twine mark around the shoulders
of many of the fish indicated a four.inch mesh. These lakes, as well as many others
in the same district, are full of both varieties of whitefish and should receive careful
attention immediately. I received information of a concern consisting of three men
and outfit, that was about to begin operations in two of these lakes that were alive
with whitefish. They calculated that by starting fishing about the 1st October they
would, by Christmas time, have killed thirty tons of whitefish, and I have no
doubt from what I know of the same lakes that they would have done so. I warned
them of the consequences of fishing during the close season and they desisted.
I give this as an instance of the piscine wealth of the country and the constant
danger in which it stands. Another concern is carrying on fishing operations l0&
miles or more north of Prince Albert, in some of the innumerable small lakes there.
They estimate that their shipments to the American market will aggregate thirty
tons or more, this winter, made up of trout and whitefish in about equal quantities.
The proprietor told me he would use nothing but five inch or larger mesh. The
whitefish average four pounds, the trout I saw, about fifty in all, ran about six pounda
each, but they catch them as high as thirty pounds. They were in poor condition,
the few I examined having very little or no internal fat. The following is a descrip.
tion of an eightpound trout, 3! inches long, spent and poor in flesh. It had been
caught three or four weeks before I saw it, was frozen and freighted 400 miles or
more. Its coloring therefore was not good, but I have been very careful in my des.
cription of its structural points, at least of those that are essential to its proper location
among the varieties to which it belongs. It belongs, I believe, to the species
commonly called Mackinaw salmon in Lakes Huron and Superior, where I have seen
great numbers of them. Head, back and sides above the lateral line are of a dingy
brownish olive, irregularly spotted with light paiches of same color; below the lateral
line, color palir and more yellow and marked with same spots and running into a
dull dead white, which is the color of the belly. Dorsal fin is same color as back
and irregularly marked with lighter spots, caudal is paler than dorsal and faintly
margined with dull red and irregularly patched with lighter colored spots. Pectoral
anal and ventral are of a bright red color. Fins are all large Second or adipose
dorsal is placed over hind end of anal, is l inch in length. Dorsal has 14 rays and
Is in the centre of the extreme length; anal has 11 rays; ventral 9 rays, is under
centre of dorsal; pectoral 14. broad and pointed and 6 inches long. The caudal had
19 rays, was 9 inches from tip to tip and deeply forked. Eyes large and one half
the distance from the snout to the nape of the neck. Tongue short, thick. with row of sharp teeth upon each side; vomer, a bunch of teeth near front end with a
double row extending back about one-half of an inch, 7 or 9 in all. Many sharp
curved teeth on the palatines, maxillaries, superior maxillaries and the point of the
lower jaw, which is the shortest and received into a cavity in the upper. The color
of the flesh was a very pale buff and quality, upon the table boiled or fried, inferior,.