1897.] The Swamps of Oswego County, N. Y. 793 



Lily Marsh, and the third is near Baldwinsville in Onondaga 

 County. 



The mud of the swamps gives a decided character to the 

 streams of the region.- Whether a stream rises in the lake or 

 flows through it or any other part of the swamp, the water is 

 colored by the mud a dark yellow or wine color. This color 

 of the water of many of the streams led to the application of 

 appropriate names, such as Wine Creek, Mud Creek and Black 

 Creek. 



THE LAKE FLORA, 



While the flora of the lakes present many interesting fea- 

 tures, the plants are much less unique than those of the sur- 

 rounding moor. Aquatic plants have long been noted for 

 their wide distribution. Darwin has pointed out that this de- 

 pends upon the distribution of their seed by birds. While we 

 are ready to accept this as one of the means by which the 

 plants disseminate themselves, we must also assert that the 

 ultimate causes of this is the similarity of conditions presented 

 by aquatic conditions generally. The conditions are very 

 much the same in our lakes as in other similar bodies of 

 water, such as slow flowing streams and lakes with hard shores. 

 Aquatic floras are, however, quite distinct from terrestrial ones 

 of the same region. The moors surrounding our lake come 

 very near aff'ording aquatic conditions. Nevertheless the 

 shore line between lake and moor is a pretty definite one. The 

 following are species representative of the lake flora : 



The Naiadace^e aff'ord a characteristic group belonging here. 

 None of them find congenial conditions outside the bounds of 

 the lake, and most of them are confined to water several feet 

 deep. Potamogeton amplif'olius, P. lonchites and P. Jteterophyllus 

 are in the latter class, while Naiasflexilis and P. foliosus ap- 

 proach nearer the shores. 



Vallisneria spiralis is a plant which does not appear very 

 near the shores. 



Eleocharis mutata must be considered, at least in this region, 

 a lake plant, as at Lake Neahtahwantah and Paddy Lake, our 

 only stations for it, it grows only in water. It seems essential, 

 however, that its roots only should be submerged ; the culms 



