14 ILLINOIS BIOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS [112 



at this place would be quite normal for the life of mussels and other bottom 

 animals. (See the chapter on sewage pollution.) 



Several other river systems have their beginning near Urbana and 

 Champaign, on the southwest side of the Champaign moraine. These are 

 the Embarras, which has tributaries rising south of Urbana; the Kaskaskia, 

 which has its inception northwest of Champaign near the village of Rising; 

 the Little Vermilion, which rises in the southeastern part of Champaign 

 County; and the Sangamon, which rises in the extreme northwestern part 

 of Champaign County not far from Gibson. Only the last stream has been 

 examined for its mussel fauna for the purpose of making comparisons with 

 the fauna of the Big Vermilion River. 



The Sangamon River has a length of about 180 miles and a drainage 

 basin of some 5670 square miles. It rises on the south side of the Blooming- 

 ton moraine in McLean County, "at an elevation of 850 feet above sea 

 level, and cuts through two moraines in its course, the Champaign and the 

 Shelbyville. The river channel is tortuous and meandering and the flood 

 plain in many places very wide. The banks of the stream are low for the 

 most part and wooded in spots. The stream has been examined carefully 

 at only two points, Mahomet and west of White Heath, the first locality 

 receiving the most attention. Near Mahomet the river is notably mean- 

 dering, the banks are high, the Champaign moraine rising 90 feet above 

 the water level near the village. The river bank is usually five or six feet 

 above the stream, which has cut vertical clifif-like banks in many places. 

 Below Mahomet the woodlands are abundant, extending well back from 

 the river in some places. The river varies in width from 40 to 50 feet. 

 The bottom alternates between riffles with sand and gravel bottom and 

 deeper back water stretches with mud bottom. The former habitats are 

 a foot or so in depth and the latter habitats two to four feet in depth in the 

 summer. In the spring the river is ten to twelve feet deep and very swift, 

 at times becoming torrential. The average fall of the stream is 2.3 feet 

 per mile. Many logs and other debris thrown up on the flood plains attest 

 the power of the river during spring floods. 



West of White Heath, for a mile above the I. C. railroad bridge to 

 two miles below, the river has been examined, though no systematic 

 collecting comparable to that carried on at Mahomet has been done. The 

 stream in the portion of the river valley examined is similar to that near 

 Mahomet in its general physiographic features. The banks of the stream 

 are on the whole lower than farther up the river near Mahomet. Studies 

 of this stream similar to those carried on in the Big Vermilion and its 

 tributaries would doubtless yield interesting and valuable results. The 

 Sangamon is a characteristic mussel stream and should contain a much 

 larger mussel fauna than at present known and listed. 



