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REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND’ FISHERIES. 145 
in some places, which feed small but clear and cool brooks, in which 
trout have been abundant and in some of which they still exist. Nu- 
merous bayous are found along some of the larger rivers, to which the 
young bass, pickerel, and sunfishes resort, but owing to the greater or 
less drying up of such places during the summer a great mortality 
occurs among these species. The practice of seining out these young 
fishes and planting them in the open streams, which has proved so effi- 
- cacious in IIinois and other States, was at one time resorted toin Iowa, 
but it has since been abandoned. If it were again renewed upon a 
proper scale, it would add greatly to the fishery wealth of the State. 
The total number of rivers, smaller streams, and lakes examined by 
Prof. Meek was 41, and as many of these were visited at several places, 
and at several different times, it is safe to conclude that the principal 
chthyological features of the State have been brought out in his report. 
The greatest number of species of fishes recorded from a single stream 
was 85 from Cedar River: the smallest, 4 from Boyer River. 
WISCONSIN. 
During 1890 Prof. 8S. A. Forbes presented to the Fish Commission an 
interesting report* upon investigations made in lakes Geneva and 
Mendota, partly at the instance of Prof. Baird. The work was per- 
formed between 1881 and 1887, but the completion of the report had. 
been deferred in the hope of obtaining more material that might throw 
additional light upon the principal subject of direct practical import- 
ance to which the paper relates—the fish mortality in Lake Mendota in 
1884. Although no opportunity has yet occurred to add to Prof. 
Forbes’s original inquiries in regard to this matter, it has been deemed 
advisable not to delay further the publication of his observations. 
Lake Geneva, situated in the extreme southeastern part of the State, 
lies in a trough-like valley of the drift, the southern side of which 
formed part of the terminal moraine of the great Lake Michigan glacier. 
~Itis 7 miles long by 14 miles in greatest width, and has an extreme 
depth of about 132 feet. It drains by a small outlet into Fox River, 
and thence into the Illinois. In his examination of the lake conducted 
in 1881 and 1887, Prof. Forbes made a very comprehensive study of all 
its characteristics, running lines of soundings to determine the contour 
of the bottom, and collecting its animals and plants by dredging and 
by the use of surface and other nets. While the investigation is not 
considered as complete, it is one of the most comprehensive and in- 
structive examinations of such a body of water that has yet been made 
in this country, and may well serve as a model for future studies of 
the same character. Its usefulness consists in demonstrating very 
* Preliminary report upon the invertebrate animals inhabiting lakes Geneva and 
Mendota, Wisconsin, with an account of the fish epidemic in Lake Mendota in 1884. 
By S. A. Forbes. Bull. U.S. Fish Comm., vit, for 1888, pp. 473-487. Three maps and 
_ dliagrams. 
H. Mis. 113——10 
