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204 



TURKEY LAKE* AS A UNIT OF ENVIRONMENT, AND THE 

 VARIATION OF ITS INHABITANTS. 



FiKST KKroKT or tiik Indiana University Biological Station. By C. H. 



EUiKXMANN.t 



IxTROnucroRY. — At tho J;ist moeting ol the Academy I outlined a plan lor 

 the future work of the zoiilogioal seetion of the l)i()logical survey of Indiana. It 

 was, in brief, to study some lake as a unit of environment and the variation of its 

 inhabitants. This plan has materialized, and I present this as the Biological Sta- 

 tion's first report. 



To seleet a suitable site I visited, in February, 1895, lakes Maxinkuckee, Eagle 

 anil Turkev. -The lakes were frozen over, and I liad a good long walk over Max- 

 inkuekee and a sleigli ride over Turkey Lake. Turkey Lake seemed well suited 

 for a starting point for the work in hand. In March I again visited this lake to 

 look for a suital)]e laboratory and ipiarters. .\. laboratory was found in a large 

 boat-house belonging to Mr. T. .]. \'awter, tiie owner of X'awtcr Park. The boat- 

 house is directly on the water's edge, in a!)out H6° 18^ east longitude and 41° .3.5^ 

 norili latitude. In March the lake was still frozen over with but a narrow rim of 

 free water near tlie shore. When I again visited the lake, to make the final ar- 

 rangements, on the 30lh of May, and captured snakes, turtles, frogs, and two spe- 

 cies of spawning fishes, all witliin a hundred feet of the laboratory door, I was 

 convinced that no mistake had been made in the selection of a locality. Deep 

 water near the labora.tory, a spring at the laboratory door, the situation of the 

 laboratorv nearly equidistant from either end of the lake, high land all about the 

 laboratorv, the nearness of such large bodies of water as Lake Tippecanoe of an- 

 other river .system, and a large number of smaller lakelets within a mile of Turkey 

 Lake, all contributed to make the location selected as near perfect as could be ex- 

 pected. 



'■■The only recorded nnnie of this lake seem to be Turkey. It appears so in the govern- 

 ment surveys of 1S38, and on all the maps published since that time. I am told that it re- 

 ceived that name from the fancied resemblance of the general outline of the lake to a 

 Thanksgiving turkey. During the last few years the lake has been known to those person- 

 ally acquainted with it as Lake Wawasec, and there seems to be a laudable ambition that 

 thi.'? latter name should supi)lant the homlier, but more significant, name of Turkey. The 

 lower lake is locally known as Syracuse Lake. 



The following letter was i-eceived from the Director of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology : In response to your letter of December 6th last, I beg leave to inform you that 

 the word "' wa-wa-see," " wa-wa-si " or " wa-wii-sing," signifies " at the bend of a river." 



Yours with respect, J. W. Powei.l. 



tC'ontributions from the Zoological Laboratory of the Indiana University, No. 14. 



