December, 1958 



Bennett: Aquatic Biology 



167 



This method of showinji ecological re- 

 lationships between species and ranges, 

 species and local habitats, or between spe- 

 cies themselves, allowed the use of num- 

 bers to show the degree of the relation- 

 ship or lack of it. Its shortcoming was 

 that it made no distinction between col- 

 lections containing one fish of a species 

 under consideration and those containing 

 several hundreds or thousands. 



THE FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



The first edition of The Fishes of Illi- 

 nois was published by the State of Illinois 

 in 1908; a second edition was published 

 in 1920. Collections and observations for 

 this work had been started in 1876 by 

 Forbes and had been expanded through 

 the help of many assistants working at 

 rather irregular intervals until 1903. 

 Field work on fishes became nearly con- 

 tinuous for a few years after establish- 

 ment of the Illinois Biological Station at 

 Havana in 1894. Special recognition was 

 given to Wallace Craig, who collected 

 during the winter and spring seasons of 

 1898 and 1899, to H. A. Surface, w^ho 

 collected during 1899, and to Thomas 

 Large, who made extensive wagon trips, 

 the most important of them in 1899, to 

 collect fishes from streams in many parts 

 of the state. Recognition was given also 

 to unnamed high school teachers who col- 

 lected fishes under specific instructions. 



Collections of fishes studied by Forbes 

 and Richardson were taken from many 

 sources : catches made by collecting par- 

 ties with seines of various size and mesh 

 (including minnow seines and bag 

 seines), trammel nets, set nets (both fyke 

 and hoop) ; catches made by commercial 

 fishermen ; and selections from fishes on 

 display in fish markets. A^Iore than 200,- 

 000 specimens representing 150 species 

 were collected from more than 450 loca- 

 tions in the state. 



The Fishes of Illinois was published in 

 two parts, one of which was an atlas. 

 The larger or first part contained a sec- 

 tion on "The Topography and Hydrog- 

 raphy of Illinois" written by Professor 

 Charles W. Rolfe, at that time head of 

 the Geology Department of the Univer- 

 sitv, a section entitled "On the General 

 and Interior Distribution of Illinois 



Fishes," a section on "The Fisheries of 

 Illinois," and one on the individual spe- 

 cies of fishes found in the state. This last 

 section made up by far the largest num- 

 ber of pages and included keys for the 

 identification of fishes and a glossary of 

 technical terms. For each species of fish 

 were given the scientific name, common 

 name or names, synononiy of scientific 

 names (where such existed), and a de- 

 tailed description of the fish. The de- 

 scription was followed by a statement of 

 the fish's distribution within and without 

 the state, a statement on average and 

 maximum lengths and weights, and infor- 

 mation on habitat preferences, food pref- 

 erences, and other phases of biology. For 

 most species, information was given on 

 how the fish might be caught and its value 

 (if any) as food. Many species were 

 illustrated by black and white photo- 

 graphs or by colored plates painted by 

 Mrs. Lydia M. (Hart) Green and Miss 

 Charlotte M. Pinkerton. These colored 

 plates were so fine that for nearly a half 

 century none published elsewhere was 

 their equal. 



The second part, the atlas, contained 

 maps of the 10 stream systems of the 

 state. These maps showed the glacial ge- 

 ology of Illinois, localities from which 

 collections were made, and interior dis- 

 tribution of 98 of the most important 

 fishes. 



x\s a state publication on fresh-water 

 fishes. The Fishes of Illinois remained 

 unique for a period of more than 40 

 years. 



ILLINOIS RIVER PLANKTON 



Kofoid's studies of the plankton of the 

 Illinois River appeared as five articles in 

 volumes 5, 6, and 8 of the Bulletin of the 

 State Laboratory of Natural History. 

 Altogether Kofoid published nearly 1,000 

 printed pages on the plankton of the Illi- 

 nois River. 



From 1895 to 1900 Kofoid was su- 

 perintendent of the biological station at 

 Havana. In 1900 he went to the Uni- 

 \ersitv of California at Berkeley. At the 

 time he left Illinois for California and a 

 new position, he had published only three 

 short papers on plankton, one dealing 

 with methods and apparatus, one with a 



