204 



TURKEY LAKE* AS A UNIT OF ENVIRONMENT, AND THE 

 VARIATION OF ITS INHABITANTS. 



First Keport of the Indiana University Biological Station. By C. H. 



ElGENMANN.t 



Introductory. — At the last meeting of the Academy I outlined a plan for 

 the future work of the zoological section of the biological survey of Indiana. It 

 was in brief, to study some lake as a unit of environment and the variation of its 

 inhabitants. This plan has materialized, and I present this as the Biological Sta- 

 tion's tirst report. 



To select a suitable site I visited, in February, 18ilo, lakes Maxinkuckee, Eagle 

 and Turkev. The lakes were frozen over, and I liad a good h)ng walk over Max- 

 inkuckee and a sleigh ride over Turkey Lake. Turkey Lake seemed well suited 

 for a starting point for the work in hand. In March I again visited this lake to 

 look for a suitable laboratory and quarters. A laboratory was found in a large 

 boat-house belonging to Mr. T. J. Vawter, the owner of Vawter Park. The boat- 

 house is directly on the water's edge, in about 86° 18' east longitude and 41° '23.5^ 

 north latitude. In March the lake was still frozen over with but a narrow rim of 

 free water near the shore. When I again visited the lake, to make the final ar- 

 rangements, on the 30th of May, and captured snakes, turtles, frogs, and two spe- 

 cies of spawning fishes, all within a hundred feet of the laboratory door, I was 

 convinced that no mistake had been made in the selection of a locality. Deep 

 water near the laboratory, a spring at the laboratory door, the situation of the 

 laboratory nearly equidistant from either end of the lake, high land all about the 

 laboratory, the nearness of such large bodies of water as Lake Tippecanoe of an- 

 other river system, and a large number of smaller lakelets within a mile of Turkey 

 Lake, all contributed to make the location selected as near perfect as could be ex- 

 pected 



'•'The only recorded name of this lake seem-' to be Turkey. It appears so in the govern- 

 ment surveys of 1838, and on all the maps published sinee that time. I am told that it re- 

 ceived tliat name from the fancied resemblance of the general outline of the lake to a 

 Thanksgiving turkey. During the last few years the lake has been known to those person- 

 ally acquainted with it as Lake Wawasee, and there seems to be a laudable ambition that 

 this latter name should supplant the homlier, but more significant, name of Turkey. The 

 lower lake is locally known as Syracuse Lake. 



The following letter was received from the Director of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology : In response to your letter of December 6th last, I beg leave to inform you that 

 the word " wa-wvt-see," " wa-wii-si " or " wa-wa-sing,'' signifies " at the bend of a river." 



Yours with respect, J. W. Powell. 



tContributions from the Zoological Laboratory of the Indiana University, No. 14. 



