46 William B. H 



erms 



generally a part of the drift. Needham ('oo) gives a very com- 

 prehensive list of insects found in the insect drift on the shores of 

 Lake Michigan, how^ever, under extraordinary conditions. 



Every high surf brings in debris of the above general character 

 which is usually proportional to the intensity of the surf. There 

 are always a few fish being cast up on the beach somewhere, 

 though the writer has walked miles on three successive days with- 

 out finding a single dead fish on the sand or in the edge of the 

 water. Thus it can be seen that the scavenger insects of the 

 beach must depend on the surf for their food. This is especially 

 true for this location, because of the peculiar form of Cedar Point, 

 which extends in a northwesterly direction into Lake Erie for 

 about six miles a* a narrow arm of sand not more than one-fourth 

 of a mile wide at the widest point and that at the tip. It is the 

 impression of the writer that the flesh flies and other scavengers 

 would not readily retreat to the mainland for food when there 

 is a lack of it on the Point. 



In order to gain a fair estimate of the number of fish in particu- 

 lar that are thrown up by the waves from time to time, several 

 early morning trips were taken along the beach. All fish which 

 had been washed up during the night previous, for the distance 

 of a mile, were weighed with a balance. The first trip was made 

 July 9, 1905. The surf had begun to rise late in the afternoon 

 of the previous day and was running fairly high by 5 o'clock, 

 when dead fish began to appear. The weighing was begun at 

 4 o'clock, a. m., and gave the following results: 



Fish cast up during the night of July 8, igo^, from about 5 p. m. to 4. a. m., 

 July g, iQOj;, surf flowing fairly high all night. Distance — One mile of 

 beach 



Saugers 14 



Minnows , 10 



Bass and perch 15 



Mooneye 2 



Cat 3 



Carp I 



Total 45 



Total weight, 4.65 kilograms. 



