American Fisheries Society 203 



strife {Decodon). These vegetation-rich shoals were much 

 frequented by fishes where some forms were abundant at 

 all times. Representatives of the majority of species found 

 in the lake were seen here at different times. Golden shiners, 

 {Abramis chrysoleucas), mud minnows {Umbra limi), 

 chub suckers {Eri}ny!:on sucetta oblongus), tadpole stone- 

 cats {Schilbeodes gyrinus), Cayuga minnows (Notropis 

 cayuga), and black-chinned minnows {Notropis heterodon) 

 all appeared to have strong preferences for places of this 

 character ; and they were also the shoals most frequented by 

 the young of some of the larger, more important fishes; 

 those of black bass, sunfish, perch, and catfish were all com- 

 mon and often present in large numbers, especially the 

 young perch, which were gathered in schools that were al- 

 most universally present at these places in the summer time. 



The fishes were feeding chiefly on invertebrates, which 

 were similar to those found in the stomachs of the fishes of 

 the pondweed zone. These were midge larvae, May-fly 

 larvae, crayfish, and entomostracans. Although it was not 

 always possible to know from what part of the lake a fish 

 got the food found in it, there can be no doubt but that the 

 invertebrates mentioned were an important cause of the 

 abundance of fishes on shoals of this character, and no 

 doubt there were also other reasons for their presence, one 

 of which was the warmer water than that of adjacent 

 regions — a condition which we often found. Fishes also 

 came to these shoals for breeding. Nests of black bass, 

 common sunfish, and blue-spotted sunfish were noted here. 

 The common sunfish seemed to prefer such places, but the 

 others nested most frequently in rush patches. 



From the examination of the stomachs of the fishes col- 

 lected from these shoals with much plant life, it appears 

 that midge larvae and entomostracans were the chief food 

 of the smaller fishes — minnows, darters, and the young of 

 perch, sunfish, black bass, rock bass, and catfish. The 

 larger fishes were taking principally insect larvae and cray- 

 fish. The latter formed the chief food of black bass and 



