FISHES OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. 5 
spathula and Salvelinus namaycush, are preserved in the Oberlin 
College Museum. 
Lorain County is wholly within the lake watershed, all its 
streams flowing northward into Lake Erie. The streams are all 
small, the largest being Black River, navigable for about three miles, 
and Vermillion River, having only about a mile of safe water. 
But these are important as harbors for the lake trading vessels and 
fishing boats. The land is quite flat, with a gentle slope toward 
the lake, and the streams are mostly shallow and sluggish, the ex- 
ceptions being found in the parts that cross the ‘‘ridges” or old 
lake beaches, and a few of the small streams that are tributary to 
the Vermillion. Some of these are quite brisk and have worn for 
themselves deep channels in the shale. 
Spring Brook is one of these, and deserves special mention. 
It is the little stream that rises (see map) near the center of Hen- 
rietta township and flows northwest; it is spring-fed and does not 
run dry, though so small that it can be stepped across at almost 
any part of its course. The first half mile meanders through a 
meadow, and in this part there is a colony of red-bellied and red- 
sided minnows, species not detected elsewhere in the county. A few 
suckers, seven other kinds of minnows, a few green-sided sunfish, 
Johnny darters, and a few star-gazers are the only other fish noticed. 
Catfish, pickerel, gars, etc., seem to be excluded by a series of 
small water falls in the lower part of the stream. ‘That the 
minnows are not hindered by these falls I surmise from the 
observation of excitement exhibited by a lot of red-bellied 
and red-sided minnows placed under a hydrant in a pail. As 
soon as the water began to splash they acted as if they had springs 
in them, leaping out of the pail a foot or more. 
The streams may be divided into ‘‘head waters,” the slower 
portions back from the lake; ‘‘the riffies,” where the streams are 
more broken by cutting through the shale beds, and the ‘‘lower 
parts,” comparatively deep and still, where the depth of water is 
influenced by the direction of the wind on the lake. Each of these 
is characterized by certain kinds of fish, though some species are 
found in all waters. Mill-dams in both of the rivers also form 
well defined limits for certain species. 
Lake Erie where it touches Lorain County is shallow, reach- 
ing a depth of about 55 feet 3 miles from shore, and is free from 
islands. Not even a rock breaks the surface two rods from low- 
bb) 
