290 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



As is now well known, the young of the various species of fresh- 

 water mussels are carried as parasites on the fins and gills of fishes 

 for a ' considerable period. When sufficiently developed, these 

 young, known as glochidia, slough off and drop to the bottom at 

 any place where the fish happens to be at the time, and there enter 

 upon an independent existence. If there were any considerable 

 migration of fishes from one of these waters to the other it is highly 

 probable that glochidia of mussels from the one body of water 

 would be carried to and dropped in the other. We should there- 

 fore find some river mussels in the lake and some lake mussels in 

 the river; in other words, the mussel faunas of the lake and that 

 section of the Tippecanoe River adjacent to the outlet stream 

 should closely resemble each other. But such is not the case ; as a 

 matter of fact, they are almost wholly different. It is not believed 

 this would be possible if there were any marked interchange of 

 fishes between the two waters. This feature of the case is con- 

 sidered more fully in the discussion of the mussel fauna of the lake, 

 to which the reader is referred. 



Another important fact must be kept in mind. As already 

 stated the large-mouth black bass is the species which, of all, is 

 popularly believed to leave the lake in the fall, and which is most 

 often seen in the Outlet. But that these fish go down to Tippe- 

 canoe River is rendered extremely doubtful by the fact that this 

 species is not known from the portion of the Tippecanoe River 

 concerned. Considerable and frequent collecting in the river at 

 and near the mouth of the outlet stream has failed to discover a 

 single example of the large-mouth black bass in those waters ; and 

 anglers familiar with the Tippecanoe River rarely, if ever, find 

 that species in that stream. 



During the autumn of 1906, on various occasions, hauls with the 

 seine were made in the Outlet about two or 2^ miles below Lost 

 Lake, and on various occasions trips were made along the whole 

 or part of the Outlet, and the species of fishes noted. Although 

 both the seine-hauls and several of the trips were made at a time 

 of year when the fishes are supposed to be migrating, and the 

 seining was done in just such places as they would naturally lurk, 

 no bass were observed, only a few small suckers, minnows, and 

 darters, some species of which make their home in the Outlet but 

 do not ascend to the lake at all. We are therefore forced to the 

 conclusion that such migration or movement of fishes in and out of 

 Lake Maxinkuckee as may occur is negligible and that screening 

 the Outlet will serve no useful purpose. 



