The Bill of Fare 67 



indirectly, from the underwater vegetation. Without aquatic 

 pastures there can be few fish. 



The young catfish which moved along with no apparent 

 desire for food had a vital interest in the plants of the marsh. 

 They could seek the shelter of their leaves and branches as 

 a refuge from the enemies that sought them. The plants 

 were the source of their food. These tiny fish would eat either 

 the microscopical plants or equally small animals, such as 

 tiny hard-shelled animals called crustaceans. They would find 

 millions of diatoms, those minute plants which float free or 

 attach themselves to various objects in every body of water. 

 This feeding would be a part of that complex affair known 

 as the marsh food web. Almost every living thing would be 

 represented in food chains either as a feeder upon other 

 members of the chain, or as food for those members, or in 

 both capacities. There are many such food chains in the 

 marsh. Except under extraordinary conditions, there would 

 be no danger of these young catfish lacking food. It was 

 available in suitable form, animal and vegetable, and in such 

 quantities that the young fry would find it everywhere. Fail- 

 ure to survive probably would be chargeable to causes not 

 connected with the bill of fare. 



The vegetation which the canoe passed appeared adapted 

 to do its part in the marsh food web. Mustards and grasses 

 occupied many of the high spots, and trees and shrubs had 

 moved in where the moisture was not more than they could 

 stand. Emersed plants, those partly in and partly out of wa- 

 ter, grew in the wetter places, and floating types, some small, 

 some larger, drifted around in the water. There were the 

 acres of pondweeds which rooted in the shallower portions 

 of the bay and lived there, submerged except for the blooms 

 or tips of the leaves. 



I continually observed the contribution which these vari- 

 ous plants made to the marsh bill of fare and to the other 

 needs of the local living things. The loosestrife furnished 



