Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 443 



about an acre which made a continuous bed, forming one solid blaze 

 of yellow. It was also found at Long Point and by the ice-houses; 

 most of the plants about the lake probably came from prairie hay 

 used at the ice-houses. 



We are so accustomed to see this plant in masses that we rarely 

 think of the individual plant. A well grown plant in rich muck 

 is one of the most striking objects, the plant branching from the 

 very base, making a broad cone, which when in full bloom is almost 

 a solid mass of gold. One of the plants near the ice-house showed 

 this effect to perfection and revealed the possibilities of the plant 

 as an ornament. 



823. WATER MARIGOLD 



MEGALODONTA BECKII (Torr.) Greene 



In 1900 this was common in the lake off from the ice-houses, 

 and scattered elsewhere through the lake as off from the Gravel- 

 pit, by the green boathouse near Norris Inlet, and in Lost Lake. 

 It was one of the most conspicuous and attractive plants found in 

 the large patch by the ice-houses, the plants sticking up from the 

 bottom like cattails in their dense cylindrical form and rounded 

 ends. The species grows in water to the depth of twelve feet. 



With the advent of cold weather the green tips break off and 

 drop to the bottom, where they sweep about hither and yon as 

 currents drive them. With the coming of spring these tips, which 

 remain a fresh lively green all winter, put out rootlets from the 

 nodes, strike into the soft mud at any suitable place and start their 

 new growth. Bits are often washed ashore during spring storms. 



This plant is a remarkable instance of adaptation and con- 

 vergence. In plant form it resembles Myriophyllum, which it is 

 a good deal like in habit, more than anything else. Cabomba, a 

 plant of the water-lily family, is also strikingly like it in general 

 appearance. The emersed leaves, however, approach more nearly 

 the normal form. 



The seeds have long holdfasts, three to six in number, usually 

 four, and it would appear at first thought that these were useless 

 as they would be likely to catch only on such animals as muskrats, 

 which would carry them to places on shore where they would not 

 be likely to survive. 



However, in the summer of 1909, we saw at Lake-of-the- Woods, 

 Indiana, a large snapping turtle, "mossback," with the long hairlike 

 algae of its carapace stuck full of beggar ticks, possibly of this spe- 

 cies. It is possible that the plant relies to some extent on such 

 turtles for the distribution of its seed. 



