December. 1958 



Hennett: Aquatic Biology 



177 



vertised largemouth bass-blue^iill combi- 

 nation. 



Redear sunhsh, Lepoitiis microlophus 

 (Gunther), were not reported from Illi- 

 nois prior to 1945. In that \ear Dr. C 

 L. Schloemer, then located at Denton, 

 Texas, sent a small number of adult red- 

 ears to the Natural History Survey at 

 Urbana. These fish were placed in sev- 

 eral ponds near Urbana, but none ap- 

 parently survived the winter of 1945 — 1-6. 

 In the spring of 1946 Dr. William E. 

 Ricker, then located at Bloomington, In- 

 diana, furnished 30 large adult redears 

 from central Indiana. These fish were 

 planted in several locations; 12 were 

 placed in a stripmine pond, near Danville, 

 that contained largemouth bass. The 

 redears in the stripmine pond multiplied 

 very successfully and were the source for 

 introductions into many lakes and ponds 

 scattered through central and southern 

 Illinois. Redears are now present in tribu- 

 taries of the Illinois River (particularly 

 the Sangamon) and in the Wabash drain- 

 age along the eastern border of the state, 

 as well as in the Big Muddy system of 

 southern Illinois. As far as is known, all 

 of these fish originated from the 12 fish 

 released in the pond near Danville. 



In 1949 Starrett was placed in charge 

 of the Natural History Survey labora- 

 tory at Havana, where he began a study 

 of Lake Chautauqua, a shallow flood 

 plain lake of some 3,000 acres belonging 

 to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 and used principally as a waterfowl 

 refuge. This lake was fairly typical of 

 other areas in the Illinois valley that had 

 been leveed to keep out the river, pumped 

 dry so that they could be used for farm- 

 ing, and later flooded. We wondered 

 about comparative over-all values of these 

 areas for recreation (duck hunting and 

 sport fishing), fish production (com- 

 mercial fishes), fur production (native 

 furbearers), and timber production 

 (wood pulp), as contrasted with values 

 of these areas for corn production that 

 required government help in the con- 

 struction and maintenance of levees, 

 pumping costs and equipment, and sup- 

 port of corn prices. In spite of the fact 

 that recreational values are often intangi- 

 ble, it soon became evident that the value 

 of this area for fishing and recreational 



activities by people in the nearby indus- 

 trial towns of Pekin and Peoria were 

 much greater than the value of the corn 

 the lake bottom would produce if the 

 lake were drained (Starrett & McNeil 

 1952). In addition to studies in recrea- 

 tional values, Starrett has made intensive 

 studies of the fish and bottom fauna of 

 Chautauqua and similar lakes, and the 

 physical, chemical, and biological factors 

 which influence them. Through the as- 

 sistance of biologists from the Illinois 

 Department of Conservation he has col- 

 lected annual commercial fishing sta- 

 tistics on all of the large Illinois rivers 

 and information on native lamprey dis- 

 tribution. 



In many of our operations during the 

 past 20 years we have had the co-opera- 

 tion of the Illinois Department of Con- 

 servation: in pond management studies, 

 stream investigations, surveys of the 

 fishes of large rivers, and statistical studies 

 on yields of commercial fishes. Some- 

 times this assistance has been in the form 

 of funds for construction works or for 

 physical equipment, sometimes for half- 

 time or full-time assistants; occasionally 

 personnel of the Department have par- 

 ticipated in operations requiring many 

 men for a short period of time. This co- 

 operation has not been based on written 

 agreement; rather, it has come about 

 through an understanding of mutual 

 needs and interests by certain personnel 

 of the Department, particularly Sam A. 

 Parr, formerly Investigator, Inspector, 

 and Superintendent of Fisheries, now 

 Administrative Assistant to the Director 

 of Conservation ; and William J. Harth, 

 recently made Superintendent of Fish- 

 eries. We are grateful for this assistance 

 and co-operation. 



DIRECTION OF FUTURE 

 STUDIES 



In looking toward the future we find 

 that some lines of research are taking 

 shape now and others are still in the 

 planning stages. 



One program that was begun in the 

 spring of 1958 centers on a study of 

 such basic concepts of fish management 

 as carrying capacity and standing crop, 

 as well as the effects of cropping and 



