Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 253 



The interesting fact is that none of the basses (except rock 

 bass) or perches was taken by this means. 



Traps: — Various sorts of minnow traps were used to some ex- 

 tent. The results were unimportant. Necessarily only small 

 fishes could be caught in this way, and, as the traps were set at 

 some pier, only those shallow water species frequenting such places 

 entered the traps. These, approximately in order of abundance, 

 were the straw-colored minnow, blunt-nosed minnow, grayback, 

 young yellow perch, skipjack, Johnny darter, young bluegills and 

 young rock bass. 



Dredging: — One of the most important parts of the investiga- 

 tion of the lake was the dredging. It is to the work of the dredge 

 that we owe much of our knowledge of the character of the bot- 

 tom ; indeed, all our knowledge of the deeper parts except what 

 could be inferred from such portions of mud as adhered to the 

 sounding-lead. It is also to the dredge that we owe all our knowl- 

 edge of the character and distribution of the flora of the lake ex- 

 cept in the very shallow portions about shore, and all we know 

 about many animals^ — mollusks, insect larvse and crustaceans — 

 which escape other means of capture, such as the seines near 

 shore and the plankton nets at the difi'erent plankton stations 

 and at the surface. The dredge covered a greater amount of 

 territory and yielded a larger assemblage of objects and data than 

 was furnished by any other implement except the seine. It is not 

 only material, but also conditions that are revealed by the opera- 

 tions of the dredge ; and what was learned of the winter behavior 

 of the plants and animals of the lake was obtained chiefly by the 

 use of this valuable instrument. 



Indeed, so multifarious are the lines of investigation in which 

 the dredge is used, that the instrument is to a considerable extent 

 concealed behind its work, and, unlike those instruments used but 

 for a single end, such as the thermometer to take temperatures, the 

 seine to capture fishes, the plankton nets to collect minute organ- 

 isms, etc., it is not always recognized at its full value or associated 

 in mind with all the results it accomplished or helps accomplish. 

 It is, therefore, well to call attention to the fact that not only this 

 brief chapter on dredging, but also the greater part of what has 

 been written concerning the lake bottom, nearly all relating to lake 

 botany, and much concerning food of fishes, and of the ecology of 

 the lake, are due to the operations of this useful instrument. 



Of the immense number of dredge hauls made, many need not 

 be specifically considered in this discussion, either because the re- 

 sults obtained have been fully treated elsewhere in connection with 



