154 



THE MUSEUM. 



anywhere else upon the ridge. From 

 the top of this elevation, an old lake 

 beach of Lake Michigan, we could look 

 out over Calumet Lake. Between our 

 point of observation and the lake was 

 a level stretch of country fully three- 

 quarters of a mile wide, and apparent- 

 ly perfectly dry. At the base of the 

 ridge we found a number of fresh water 

 forms in a little ditch. Limncca pains- 

 tj'is, L. Capcrata, L. Cuhcnsis, Plan- 

 orbis parvus and Scguicntina anni- 

 gcra were very abundant, and also very 

 large and fine. From this point our 

 troubles began and did not cease for 

 over two hours. As 1 stated before, 

 the level stretch of country between 

 the ridge and the lake appeared to be 

 perfectly dry when viewed from the 

 former place. Such, however, was 

 not the case; it was covered with wa- 

 ter from a few inches to several feet in 

 depth. Here and there were a num- 

 ber of dry places, and we concluded to 

 try to reach the lake by following these 

 dry spots. 



All went well for a short time and 

 distance; but soon we came to a place 

 where these dry spots were entirely 

 absent. We hesitated here and hard- 

 ly knew what to do. Looking back 

 we saw that we had accomplished 

 about half the distance, and it seemed 

 a shame to walk over the same ground 

 and lose the time so carefully spent in 

 reaching our present position. We 

 therefore decided to go on even at the 

 risk of getting our feet wet. Among 

 these small bodies of water, snakes 

 were common. As we were crossing 

 one of these lakelets, my companion 

 shouted "snakes" and I saw a large 

 specimen of the garter snake {Eutivnia 

 .j;7-^!'?//.j)rapidly making his way through 

 the grass. I quickly placed my foot 

 on him and reached down to pick him 

 up. As I did so he made a vicious 

 spring and fastened himself to my in- 

 dex finger. Shaking him off, I made 

 a sudden "grab" and succeeded in 

 catching him just behind the head. 

 After catching him, the nevt problem 

 was where to put him, for we were out 



for snails and not for larger forms of 

 life. I finally discovered a good-sized 

 tobacco box in my collecting bag, and 

 we placed him in this. We now waded 

 through, at one time only wetting the 

 soles of our feet, and at another, sink- 

 ing knee deep in mud and water, and 

 finally reached the shore of the lake. 



At this point another disappointment 

 met us. The shore was choked up 

 with dead cane stalks, and not a mol- 

 lusk could be found. After searching 

 in vain for some time, we concluded to 

 walk around the head of the lake to a 

 big ditch which connects Lake Calu- 

 met with Calumet River. The fields 

 which we were obliged to cross were 

 swampy, and before very long we 

 were pretty badly wetted.' At one 

 point we encountered a patch of water 

 almost waist deep, and concluded to 

 wade through rather than go around. 

 Here am amusing incident occurred. 

 My companion discovered a Wilson's 

 snipe {Galliiiago dclicata) in the mid- 

 dle of a small patch of water, which 

 seemed to be hurt in some manner as 

 if did not fly when approached, but 

 simply swam and ran. Thinking to 

 catch it alive, he ran (or jumped) after 

 it, and, when he made his last jump, 

 he landed right on top of the bird, at 

 the same time sinking almost up to 

 his waist in mud and water, and com- 

 pletely burying the Snipe from sight. 

 Ten or fifteen minutes were spent in 

 hunting for the bird, but without avail. 

 As my companion remarked: "He 

 must have gone through to China." 

 This small patch of water was filled 

 with very fine specimens of Liuincoa 

 palustris, and the eggs of this mollusk 

 were seen on almost every water plant. 

 Several additional garter snakes were 

 also seen at this locality. 



About noon we reached a fine grove 

 of elm trees, situated on an elevated 

 piece of land, very dry, and I proposed 

 that we rest here and eat our lunches, 

 to which proposition my companion 

 readily agreed. It was certainly de- 

 lightful, sitting beneath the trees eat- 

 ing our lunch, our appetites whetted 



