Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 121 



fragments of appreciable size, and the carnivorous forms feed 

 largely on aquatic insects or their larva? which in turn feed on the 

 plants. The bluegill, which is largely a vegetarian, feeds directly 

 at times upon the leaves of pond-weeds (Potamogeton) , and at 

 other times upon the little crustacean, Asellus, which feeds upon 

 the weeds. Another small crustacean which furnishes consider- 

 able food to fishes is the beach-flea, which feeds upon the larger 

 plants and is usually found associated with the hornwort, Cera- 

 tophyllum. The coarser growths of the lake are used directly by 

 some fishes and they furnish food or lurking places to a multitude 

 of small animals — mollusks, insects, insect larvae, crustaceans, etc., 

 upon which the fishes feed. And again, the value of aquatic plants 

 as food for water-fowl must not be forgotten. The quality and 

 quantity of vegetation in the lake is of prime importance to the 

 great flocks of ducks and coots which visit the lake every fall. 

 These birds first feed upon the rich tender stolons of the wild celery, 

 then upon the tender bases of the leaves. When the wild celery 

 has become scarce they then begin feeding upon the more suitable 

 parts of other plants such as the various species of Potamogeton, 

 and even Philotria, Naias, Ceratophyllum, Myriophyllum, and 

 various species of Chara ; so that, in the season, the total amount of 

 vegetable food which the ducks, coots and other water-fowl eat at 

 this lake is very great, indeed. It can safely be said that the 

 abundance in the fall of water-fowl at this and similar lakes, and 

 the period of time during which they will tarry, are largely de- 

 termined by the character and abundance of the aquatic vegetation. 



General considerations: — A peculiarity of the lake flora is that 

 there are very few annual plants, using that term in the sense of 

 a plant that springs from seed, then flowers, fruits, and dies down 

 in a single year. They are, indeed, generally like annuals in tex- 

 ture, herbaceous and weak, but with little wood. We are dealing 

 with plants growing in a region where it never freezes, and where 

 there is never any drouth. From this point of view the region 

 down in the water where the plants thrive may aptly be likened to 

 a continually moist portion of the tropics. 



According to the commonly accepted philosophy of biology, 

 seed-production among plants is a device for tiding the plant over 

 unfavorable conditions much the same as the protozoa going into a 

 resting stage or encysting. Regarded in this light, flowering and 

 seed-production are unnecessary among the submerged aquatics, 

 and persist mainly as an inherited habit. Considered from this 

 point of view, one of the most curious phenomena is the efforts 

 made by Philotria and wild celery (Vallisneria) to become fertil- 



