22D Thirty-Second A)imia] Meeting 



duck which liad been collected from one of these lakes for the 

 United States National Museum, and noted here also the abso- 

 lute want of those small Crustacea which elsewhere form so largo 

 a part of the food of these aquatic birds. Practically the entire 

 mass of stomach contents was composed of mature insects with .\ 

 few larvae, and this agreed fully with the observations regarding 

 the food of trout. The insects had apparently pushed into these 

 regions from lower altitudes at a date in advance of the develop- 

 ment of the local fauna. They were present in the region in 

 considerable numbers, the trout were taking the fly eagerly and 

 were voracious after grubs and larvae. It is a fair question, 

 then, whether under such circumstances the problem of support 

 for the trout is not simply an entomological one. Of course, 

 one must recognize clearly the insufficiency of such brief and 

 scanty observations, but the universal testimony of the series of 

 collections cannot help being suggestive. 



Eegarding the question of the adaptation of the animals to 

 their environment, I have only one observation to record. A I 

 Grilmore Lake, for instance, the various sources of inflow are so 

 scanty in volume, and so precipitous that even at this season of' 

 maximum intensity, they could not, without considerable local 

 interference, be made available as spawning grounds for the 

 fish. The latter must consequently spawn in the main lake, if 

 at all. The same can l)e said of some, though not all of the 

 other lakes. It is the firm belief of those residents best qualified 

 to testify that the fish have established themselves, and it would 

 certainly be most important to determine precisely in what way 

 this has been done. In fact the biological problems suggested 

 are of the greatest economic importance and scientific interest, 

 and afford some prol)al)ility of their solution in the sharplv lim- 

 ited territory which is concerned as well as the virgin character 

 of the water previous to the introduction of the fish. A more 

 careful and extended study of the region would furnish data of 

 value for practical fish culture, and of scientific interest as well. 



