MUSSEL FAUNA OF THE KANKAKEE BASIN. 9 



siderable distances, but although fishes and crawfish appeared to 

 be abundant no live mussels could be found. The water in the 

 eastern ditch was quite black and there was considerable "ditch 

 moss" {Philotiia) in scattered patches. A few small minnows, 

 Notropis whipplii^ were found here, and a number of sunfish, Eupo- 

 inotis gihhosus, were nesting in the crannies of a pile of rocks that 

 had been thrown into the edge of the ditch from the railroad. The 

 western ditch is shallower and cleaner; the water is yellow instead 

 of black, and quite clear. The bottom is a fine gravelly clay, well 

 adapted for mussel life, and many Cambarus propinquus were seen. 



These facts seem to indicate that eveni after the conditions become 

 again favorable for mussels it still takes a long time to restore them 

 under natural conditions. In all probability tlie introduction of 

 small fish well infected with glochidia would materially hasten the 

 restoration of the mussel fauna here. 



Station A. The Lake of the Woods. — This lake is situated in the 

 northeastern corner of Marshall County, 4 miles southwest of 

 Bremen. It is 1| miles long and IJ miles in extreme breadth; it is 

 oval in shape, with a fairly regular outline, except on the western 

 shore, wdiere a broad bay increases the width by half a mile. It 

 formerly occupied a much larger area than at present, as is evidenced 

 by the distance from the present water's edge of an old shore line, 

 separated by a broad, sandy, level plain, once lake bottom. On 

 the eastern side large peat deposits extend north into St. Joseph 

 County and south to the line between North and Center Townships. 

 This latter southeast corner was the original outlet of the lake into 

 the Yellow Kiver. 



Through the drying up of the lake its area was diminished to 

 one-tenth of the original size. This reduced lake was bordered by 

 high and heavily wooded banks, except at the northeast and southeast 

 corners, and must have been a beautiful sheet of water, plentifully 

 supplied with all sorts of life, including mussels. But a ditch was 

 dug 50 or GO years ago from the northeast corner into the north fork 

 of the Yellow Eiver and the lake level was reduced 4 feet. The 

 original shore, in places a high, picturesque, abrupt bank, covered 

 with large oak and cottonwoods, can still be seen from 500 to 1,000 

 feet back from the present beach. 



Even this outlet, however, did not satisfy the farmers in the 

 vicinity and another ditch was dug 15 or 20 years ago from the 

 southwest corner of the lake, running south for a mile or more, then 

 turning east into the Yellow Eiver. This lowered the lake again 

 from 2| to 3 feet and the second lake shore is also visible in many 

 places, covered with poplars and yellow birches. 



By these two lowerings the lake has become little more than a 

 mud hole, fringed with reeds and rushes which grow far out into the 



