io. "The Seasonal Conditions Governing the Pond 



Life in the Punjab." 



By Bain i Parshad, M.Sc, Alfred Paiiala Research Student 



Lahore 



W 



" Unfortunately the phenomena of periodic physical change 

 have been little studied in the freshwater fauna of most parts 

 of the country, and as yet we know very little indeed of the 

 biology of the Himalayan lakes and tarns, the conditions in 

 which resemble those to be found in similar masses of water in 

 Europe much more closely than they do those that occur in 

 ponds and lakes in a tropical plain." 



The above passage is quoted from the introduction of Dr. 

 Annandale's volume on the " Sponges, Polyzoa and Hydrozoa" 

 in the Fauna of British India Series, and it was with "a view to 

 filling up this gap regarding the pond-life in the Punjab, and also 

 to compare the conditions in the Punjab with those in Calcutta 

 and its neighbourhood, that this work was started in 1914. 

 Regular observations have since been made at Lahore at all 

 times of the year, while casual ones were also made at Feroz- 

 pore and Ludhiana. 



Regarding the source of the material I may add that I 

 refer chiefly to the natural freshwater ponds or pools formed, 

 either as a result of the rains or left on the banks of the rivers 

 and streams owing to the main parts of the river receding in 

 autumn, when the quantity of water in them decreases. Occa- 

 sionally I have examined the artificial tanks in the pleasure 

 gardens ; but these, much to the detriment of zoological studies, 

 undergo a periodical cleansing and are useless for continued 

 observations. In Lahore the number of such ponds is not very 

 large; Ludhiana and Ferozpore, however, afford very much 

 better chances. At Ludhiana the number of natural freshwater 

 ponds on the banks of the "Budha" stream is much larger, 

 so also at Ferozpore on the banks of the Suttej and the Beas 

 rivers ; moreover, these ponds are very much deeper and larger 

 in dimensions than the Lahore ones and do not dry up entirely. 

 Owing to the lack of rain during the last year (1915), the 

 ponds in Lahore this year are very few and in a very poor con- 

 dition, but those of Ludhiana and Ferozpore are in a condition 

 to supply good material. 



marked 



and winter, which succeed each other quite abruptly, the 



