The Effects of a Drought 69 



was fatal to others. Such creatures as took 

 refuge in pools found when too late their 

 means of escape cut off and perished. Small 

 minnows, young salamanders, and even 

 aquatic insefts gradually succumbed, and 

 their dried remains were found resting upon 

 the parched mud, which became quite hard, 

 sustaining an ordinary foot-press without re- 

 taining any mark thereof. Lifting the mum- 

 mified remains from their resting-place, there 

 were found impressions of each, distinct in 

 almost every feature. It was instructive as 

 showing how fossils are formed, and further 

 so, in indicating how animals not associated 

 in life become accumulated in small areas. 

 In one such dried-up pool I found a mouse, 

 a star-nosed mole, and remains of many earth- 

 worms, as well as fish, batrachians, and in- 

 sefts. Just why the mouse and mole should 

 have remained there and died can only be 

 surmised. But, to return to the uplands : a 

 more striking instance of the effedls of the 

 drought was to be seen in a small stream 

 known as Pond Run. This is fed by scat- 

 tered springs ; is a stream of perhaps an 

 average depth of six inches and a width of 

 two or three feet. Sudden dashes of rain 



