REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I907 163 



At the outlet of the pond (the spot shown at the right hand ot 

 the picture in pi. 6) was a bit of open water of wonderful beauty 

 and interest whether one looked across its surface or down into its 

 clear depths. A bed of callas fringed it, backed by a zone of sedges 

 and clumps of alders. On the peaty bottom that was thickly 

 sprinkled with brown plant stems, the agile nymphs of the May 

 fly Siphlurus darted hither and thither and caddis fly larvae in 

 abundance dragged and tumbled their big cobhouse cases about. 

 Great loose masses of disintegrating alga-tinged gelatine, left over 

 from the spring hatching of salamander eggs, draped all the 

 branches of one large hemlock top, while a remarkably fine growth 

 of fresh-water sponge of vivid green color covered another. It 

 enveloped all the twigs and 

 ran out in slender fingerlike 

 processes beyond their tips, 

 and these were beautifully 

 displayed in the still water. 

 On the sixth of July a few 

 winter buds were already de- 

 veloped on the basal parts of 

 some of these sponge masses, 

 and by the aid of the spicules i:- .ru j- u * u . 



J -l Fir 2 The fresh-watersponge Het eromyenia 



developed in their walls I was ry.ieri. on hemlock tops 

 able to determine that the sponge isHeteromyenia ryderi, 

 a species not uncommon in the east Atlantic States but one that 

 rarely shows such luxuriance of growth. 



My notes on dragon flies farther on will show that some fine 

 Cordulines were here, and Aeschnas. Dr Betten carried back to 

 the hatchery and reared many caddis fly larvae taken from this 

 pond. He visited the pond and set out trap lanterns on several 

 evenings, but in each case the chilly, damp night air of so common 

 occurrence in the Adirondacks, settled down at nightfall and his 

 catches were exceedingly light. In other particulars than those 

 mentioned the fauna of this pond seemed quite fairly comparable 

 to that of other small bodies of water in this region. There were 

 a few large diving beetles, and a few exceedingly small ones ; a 

 few back swimmers, many water boatmen, a few Ranatras, a few 

 whirl-a-gig beetles and very many amphipod crustaceae (Gam- 

 marus) of large size. 



Beaver Meadow brook [map 2, t\. This delightful woodland 

 brook enters Old Forge pond from the southward about half a 



