12 College of Forestry 



luscaii food supply to the fish in the largest of the inland 

 lakes wholly within the Empire State Oiieida the 

 results of which are embodied in two reports by the author : 

 Technical Publication Xo. 4, " The Relation of Mollusks to 

 Fish in Oiieida Lake" (1916). and Xo. 9, "The Produc- 

 tivity of Fish Food 011 the Bottom of Oiieida Lake, with 

 Special Reference to Mollusks" (1918). 



Oiieida Lake (Fig. 1) lies near the center of Xew York 

 State and is 27 miles east of Lake Ontario and 11 miles 

 north of Syracuse. It is easily reached from that city by 

 either steam railroad or trolley, the latter maintaining hourly 

 schedules between Brewerton and South Bay during the 

 summer months. The lake extends in an east and west direc- 

 tion and is 21 miles in length and 5.5 miles in greatest 

 width. Its maximum depth is 55 feet, which occurs near 

 Cleveland 011 the north side, the lake deepening very notably 

 toward the eastern end. The lake has an approximate area 

 of 80 square miles or 51,200 acres, and a shore line of about 

 65 miles. The areas bordering the shore are always shallow, 

 usually deepening gradually and forming submerged ter- 

 races. The points are usually bouldery or gravelly, while 

 the bays are sandy. Mud and clay are found in the deeper 

 bays and in the deeper parts of the open lake. The shallow 

 area bordering the shore and extending to a depth of six or 

 more feet is covered with a luxuriant growth of vegetation. 

 This fact is very significant when it is remembered that it 

 is this area with the vegetation that affords food and lodge- 

 ment for the snails, clams, insects, crawfish and other ani- 

 mals upon which the fish and other aquatic animals depend 

 in an important degree for food. Below a depth of twelve 

 feet little vegetation is found. Within a depth of twelve 

 feet there is an area equal to thirteen square miles or 8,343 

 acres, which affords feeding and breeding grounds for the 

 fish of this large lake. This body of water does not appear 

 to belong in the same class as the deep finger lakes, such as 

 Cayuga and Seneca, which lie in old river valleys formed 

 before the last glacial epoch, but seems to be a rather shallow 

 body of water left in a depression in the old post-glacial out- 



