FISHES OF DOUGLAS LAKE, MICHIGAN. 

 Table V. — Records of Lepomis paludus Taken in Douglas Lake. 



233 



This species was taken only in shallow water and in vegetation. Although our 

 records are from but three localities, the fish is taken on the hook wherever there is vege- 

 tation. 



In size our specimens accord with the 5 to 8 inches of the systematic descriptions. 

 The food of the 4 specimens examined is unusual and is therefore given in detail. 



No. 5 had in its stomach 6 terminal buds and leaf whorls of Elodea, 2 terminal buds 

 and leaf whorls of a Chara, numerous detached leaves of Elodea, and some brown, half- 

 decayed fragments of vegetation, most of them long, like leaves of one of the Potamoge- 

 tons. The intestine was crammed with partly digested plant fragments, on some of 

 which were bryozoan statoblasts, and with numerous heads, wings, and legs of insects, 

 apparently dipters, all imagoes. No. 6 contained in the stomach a mass of vegetation 

 but no animal food. The vegetation was apparently water milfoil. The intestine 

 held the same material in addition to one or two small insects. No. 7 had the stomach 

 filled with unrecognizable plant fragments, on which were statoblasts. The intestine 

 contained plant debris, together with two hydrachnids and two or three ostracods. In 

 no. 8 the stomach was empty, but the intestine was filled with plant debris with numerous 

 fragments of insects. Some of these appeared to be dipterous imagoes. 



The fact that the plant fragments form so large a part of the food and that they con- 

 sist in so many cases of succulent terminal buds and leaf whorls indicates that plant 

 tissues form a normal part of the food and are not merely taken adventitiously with 

 other food. Hankinson (1908) found only animal food in the stomachs of specimens 

 examined by him, while Forbes and Richardson ( 1 908) record the occurrence of 24 percent 

 of plant food in some of their specimens, a percentage much less than in our specimens. 



EuPOMOTis GiBBOSUS (Linnaeus) , piimpkinseed, is one of the commoner fishes in the 

 vegetation of the lake. Our data concerning it are given in table vi. 



Table VI. — Records of Eupomotis gibbosus Taken in Douglas Lake. 



