128 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Prof. H. B. Ward, of the University of Nebraska, was in charge of 

 the plankton work. He completed the field tests of the efticiency of the 

 large plankton nets. Further work with these nets should be specially 

 directed to the comparative abundance and food relations of plankton 

 organisms. The small minnows whichabound in the plankton region and 

 form a link between the plankton and some of the larger fishes should 

 receive attention at the same time. Prof. Ward also continued his study 

 of the vermine parasites of fishes, assisted by Mr. H. W. Graybill. 



Dr. Charles Fordyce, of Nebraska Wesleyan University, was engaged 

 in a study of the small crustaceans of the order Cladocera, which are 

 an important element of the fish food of the lakes. 



Prof. F. C. Newcombe, of the University of Michigan, was in gen- 

 eral charge of the investigations of aquatic flora. Dr. Julia W. Snow, 

 of Ivockford C'ollege, continued her work on algae. Prof. R. II. Pond, 

 of the Maryland Agricultural College, completed during the fiscal year 

 his study of the nutrition of the larger aquatic plants. During the 

 summer he assisted Prof. Newcombe in his study of the distri})ution 

 of water plants in relation to soils in Lake Erie. 



For several weeks in April and May Prof. pJacob Reighard, of the 

 University of Michigan, was engaged in studying the breeding habits 

 of fresh- water fishes. The forms chiefly studied were the black bass, 

 the brook lamprey, the stone roller, and the horn dace. 



During the year Prof. Reighard and Prof. Ward were engaged in 

 discussing and preparing for publication the results of their work 

 in determining the efficiency of plankton nets. At the same time 

 Professor Jennings studied one of the families of rotifers (the Battu- 

 Udse), and prepared a monograph of the family. 



A bill "to authorize the establishment of a biological station on the 

 Great Lakes under the control of the United States Conunission of 

 Fish and Fisheries " was introduced in the Senate on December 17, 

 l'.)(»l, and favorably reported back by the committee on fisheries on 

 April 1, 1902. The report of the connnittee embodied a conununica- 

 tion from the Commissioner advocating the passage of the bill. The 

 bill passed the Senate on May 16, but was not acted on by the House. 



THE STATUS OF THE CARP IX THE r.REAT LAKES. 



With the proba))le exception of the Illinois li'ivvv, no body of water 

 in the United States appears to be so well-stocked with carp as Lake 

 Erie. There is also an abundance of carp in Lake Huron, Lake St. 

 Clair, and other Great Lakes. In view of the continued disfavor 

 with which this fish is regarded in some quarters on account of its 

 supposed objectionable qualities, the Commission decided to institute 

 a systematic investigation of the species in the Great Lakes, and 

 assigned to the work Mr. Leon J. Cole, of the University of Michigan, 

 who began his inquiries in the latter part of June, 1901, and continued 

 until the last of November. The points to which special attention was 



