REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 145 



ill some places, which feed siiuill but clear and cool brooks, in which 

 trout have been abundant and in some of which they still exist. Nu- 

 merous bayous are found along- some of the larger rivers, to which the 

 young bass, pickerel, and suntishes resort, but owing to the greater or 

 less drying up of such places during the summer a great mortality 

 occurs among these species. The practice of seining out these young 

 fishes and planting them in the open streams, which has proved so effi- 

 cacious in Illinois and other States, was at one time resorted to in Iowa, 

 but it has since been abandoned. If it were again renewed upon a 

 proper scale, it would add greatly to tlie fishery wealth of the State. 



The total number of rivers, smaller streams, and lakes examined by 

 Prof. Meek was -41, and as many of these were visited at several places, 

 and at several difterent times, it is safe to conclude that the ijrincipal 

 chthyological features of the State have been brought out in his report. 

 The greatest number of species of fishes recorded from a single stream 

 was 85 from Cedar River: the smallest, 4 from Boyer Eiver. 



WISCONSIN. 



During 1S90 Prof. S. A. Forbes presented to the Fish Commission an 

 interesting report* upon investigations made in lakes Geneva and 

 Mendota, partly at the instance of Prof. Baird. The work was per- 

 formed between 1881 and 1887, but the completion of the report had 

 been deferred in the hope of obtaining more material that might throw 

 additional light upon the principal subject of direct practical import- 

 ance to which the paper relates — the fish mortality in Lake Mendota in 

 1884. Although no opportunity has yet occurred to add to Prof. 

 Forbes's original inquiries in regard to this matter, it has been deemed 

 advisable not to delay further the publication of his observations. 



Lake Geneva, situated in the extreme southeastern part of the State, 

 lies in a trough-like valley of the drift, the southern side of which 

 formed part of the terminal moraine of the great Lake Michigan glacier. 

 It is 7 miles long by 1^ miles in greatest width, and has an extreme 

 depth of about 132 feet. It drains by a small outlet into Fox River, 

 and thence into the Illinois. In his examination of the lake conducted 

 in 1881 and 1887, Prof. Forbes made a very comprehensive study of all 

 its characteristics, running lines of soundings to determine the contour 

 of the bottom, and collecting its animals and plants by dredging and 

 by the use of surface and other nets. While the investigation is not 

 considered as comi^lete, it is one of the most comprehensive and in- 

 structive examinations of such a body of water that has yet been made 

 in this country, and may well serve as a model for future studies of 

 the same character. Its usefulness consists in demonstrating very 



* Prelimiuary report upou tho invertebrate animals inhabiting lakes Geneva and 

 Mendota, Wisconsin, with an account of the iish e])i(leniic in Lake Mendota in 1881. 

 By S. A. Forbes. Bull. U. S. Fish Comni., viii, for 1888, pp. 473-487. Three maps and 

 diagrams. 



H. Mis. 113 10 



