14 IHULLETIN OF THE BUKKAU OK KISIIEKIKS. 



miles of the strcuin. This portion is veiT wild (pi. xiv, tig. 3!t), the total descent in 

 the last 2 miles lu'liij;- aliout 1,600 feet. Starting at the mouth of the creek, the tirst 

 fall of importance is found only a short distance back from the river. This is known 

 as Agua-Bonita Falls, and the vertical descent is between 60 and 80 feet. (PI. xii. 

 fig. 32.) A few rods farther up is a small but ver}' beautiful fall (pl. xiii, fig. 34) 

 with a sheer drop of al)out 10 feet, which I have named "Surby Falls."" About 

 300 yards above Agua-Bonita Falls is the second, or Stewart Falls* (pl. xii, fig. 33), 

 in a series of sheer drops totaling about 70 feet. The next or third important falls 

 (pl. VIII, fig. 22) is several rods farther up sti-eam, and has been named "Shields 

 Falls."'' It consists of two sheer falls each of about 25 feet. Several rods above 

 these are Twin Falls (pl. xiii, fig. 35), just below the crossing of the trail. These 

 are very beautiful, and have a sheer drop of about 18 feet. 



These four falls are each and all barriers that fishes can not possibly surmouut. 

 Fishes could, of coui'se, go down over them and they doubtless do so-, but thej^ do not go 

 out into Kern River. The trout of Volcano Creek are a small, creek-loving species, 

 and evidently avoid the larger sti-eam. The various falls are adequate in keeping 

 Kern River trout from ascending Volcano Creek, and these same falls, together with 

 the size of the stream, are equally adequate in keeping the creek trout from entering 

 Kern River. The trout of Volcano Creek are therefore as completel}' isolated from 

 those of Kern River as if a land barrier intervened. 



That Volcano Creek was originally stocked with trout from Kern River may be 

 accepted without nuich question. The lava flows already referred to doubtless killed 

 ofl' all the trout of the lower portions of the creek, leaving perhaps oti1\' those of the 

 headwaters to reinvade the depleted lower portion after the conditions became suit- 

 able. At that time it is probable that the trout of South Fork of Kern (which was 

 presumably also stocked from Kern River) did not materially difl'er from those of 

 Volcano Creek; but th(> period that has elapsed since their segregation, due to the 

 formation of the alluvial barrier and the numerous impas.sable falls, has proved quite 

 suflicient to permit a difi'erentiation which renders them readily distinguishable and. 

 1 believe, specifically distinct. 



About one-half mile above Twin Falls a small stream from the south enters 

 Volcano Creek. Near its mouth this stream has cut its way through the volcanic 

 tufa and formed a natural bridge (pl. xiv, fig. 37). This bridge is 18 to 20 feet 

 wide, 12 to 15 feet high on the lower side, and 8 to 10 feet high on the upper side. 



Masses of this tufa are found in all the more quiet reaches of Volcano Creek 

 from the tunnel down, and in the eddies and deeper pools the bed is largely made up 

 of this material, either as fragments of various sizes or as sand. The color of the 

 tufa is a light lemon-yellow or yellowish white. The tufa seems to dissolve or break 

 down readily in the water, the result being that the water is more or less milky. The 

 similarit}' in the color of this tufa, and even the general color of the bed of the stream 

 in many places, to certain colors found in the trout forces itself on one's attention. 



a Named in memory of Mr. Byrd Surby, of Threerivers, Tulare County, Gal., a member of my party who was killed by 

 lightning on Mount Whitney July 26, 1004. 



6Named for Mr. George W. Stewart, of Visalia, Tulare County, Cal., president of the Tulare County Fish and Game 

 League and of the Mount Whitney Club, who has done so much toward the stocking of the streams of the southern High 

 Sierras with trout. 



cin honor of Mr. George O. Shields, who, as editor of Recreation and later of il.s suc!*essor. Shields' Magazine, has ituii' 

 so much for fish and game protection in America. 



