86 College of Forestry 



COMPOSITION OF THE BOTTOM FAUNA OF 

 LOWER SOUTH BAY AND VICINITY 



Introduction 



In a previous paper (F. C. Baker, 'i6, pp. 120-133) ^" 

 attempt was made to roughly estimate the amount of food 

 available for fish in the western part of Oneida Lake. This 

 attempt was based on estimates of the total life furnished by 

 counting the animals in an area estimated to be one foot square. 

 While indicating in a general way the possible total amount of 

 food present, the work was necessarily faulty and inaccurate 

 because of lack of time and apparatus to properly carry on 

 detailed investigations. It was therefore decided that the work 

 of the 1 916 field season should be devoted exclusively to the 

 quantitative study of a portion of the lake, and as Lower South 

 Bay was easily accessible and was also a favorite resort for 

 fishermen and anglers, it was selected by Dr. Adams as a 

 promising field for carrying on this kind of investigation. The 

 partly enclosed character of the bay, as well as the variation 

 in depth and character of the bottom, also made it favorable 

 for statistical study. The physical characteristics, the vegeta- 

 tion, and the methods of secviring the data have been described 

 in the previous chapters. 



As has already been stated on a previous page the inspira- 

 tion for the present study was given by studies of the previous 

 year (Baker, '16, p. 316) and by the work of the Danish 

 zoologist, Dr. C. G. Joh. Petersen ('15, '16, etc.), who was the 

 first student (in 1896) to count the actual number of animals 

 on the bottom in a limited area of water ('11, page 5). This 

 author's quantitative studies of the animal communities of the 

 sea bottom in Danish and adjoining marine waters have been 

 epoch-making. Petersen's statement in one ®f his reports 

 ('11, p. 71), though referring to marine studies, may well apply 

 to investigations of our inland lakes : 



" We have here a new field of work, which is very large and 

 seems promising. Enumeration -of the bottom animals does 

 not take up so much time as counting of the plankton; and 



