Memorial of Ulysses Orange Cox. 47 



Tlnited Slates Fish ('oimuission in couiR-ctlou with tlie exploration of livors 

 ami lakes. He built and equipped the house-boat "Megalops" with which hi- 

 nuulo a trip down the Mississippi River for the Minnesota Geological and 

 Xiitural History Survey. In 1893 he was with the writer on an investiga- 

 tion of the streams of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming for the United 

 States Fish Commission. In 1896 he studied Lake Pend d'Oreilie and cer- 

 l;.in streams in the State of Washington, and in August of that year he and 

 I went with tlic Mazanias (a club of mountain climbers, chiefly of Port- 

 l.iiid. Oregon I to Crater Lake, Oregon, where we made certain investiga- 

 tions for the U. S. Fish Commission. These investigations included the 

 making of several soundings and the taking of serial temperatures at 100- 

 foot intervals from surface to bottom of the 2,000 feet of depth of that 

 very wonderful lake. 



Another investigation he made for the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries was a 

 study of the freshwater mussels (Unicmidte) of the lower Wabash River. 

 In a small latuu-h, towing a barge on which to carry their collections, he 

 and our good mutual friend, the late Dr. J. T. Scovell, examined the Wabash 

 critically from Terre Haute to Vincennes, with si>ecial reference to that 

 sjjecies of mussel known as the "mucket" (Lampsilis ligamentinus) , which 

 is one of the best in pearl button making. Just at that time Professors 

 Cicorge Lefevre and W. C. Curtis of the University of Missouri were carry- 

 ing on their brilliant investigations on the artificial inoculation of fishes 

 with the glochidia of Unioiiidie. They desired a large number of fine muck- 

 ets. and Professor Cox was able to supply them with abundant and excel- 

 lent specimens from the Wabash. In a letter to Professor Cox, Dr. Lefevre 

 wrote : 



"I want to thank you for your kind assistance in securing for our 

 recent experiments at La Crosse such a fine lot of muckets and yel- 

 low backs. They were received in excellent condition and furnished 

 us with an abundant supply of glochidia for the infection of the fish. 

 Twenty-two of the muckets contained ripe glochidia and fifteen of the 

 yellowbacks, yielding altogether a sufficient quantity for the infection 

 of nearly the entire lot of fish which we had on hand, namely, about 

 25,000. 



"There was no indication that the muckets were not at the height 

 of the breeding season, as the pouches were gorged with glochidia in 

 every specimen containing them, but the yellowbacks appeared to be 

 on the decline, as we found quite a number of completely spent fe- 

 males. The experiments were highly successful in every way. and 

 we are gi-eatly indebted to all who contributed their assistance to the 

 work." 



Soon after his election as head of the department of Biology in the Indi- 

 ana State Normal School, the State Legislature i>rovided for the teaching 

 of agriculture in the public schools. Provision for instruction in that 

 subject in the Normal was at once made, and Professor Cox was placed 

 in charge. This was in addition to his other numerous duties. The rooms 

 in the basement, then occupied by the department of Biology, were soon 

 outgrown and. largely through the efforts of Professor Cox, a new Science 

 Hall, adequate in its ai)pointnients and architecturally beautiful, was soon 



