Fish Culture in Inland Waters 229 



In the introduction of the second report, having referred to foreign 

 investigations, the author says (Baker, '18) : "In America, while 

 much biological work has been done on the qualitative side of fresh 

 waters, few quantitative studies have been made aside from that of 

 the plankton (Birge, Marsh, Kofoid, etc.) and a rich and almost 

 virgin field lies before the ecologist who has the opportunity to 

 carry on this important line of investigation. Such studies not only 

 advance the technical or scientific side of aquatic biology but also 

 the economic, so that both general and appHed science advance side 

 by side." 



As has been said, the study by Birge and Juday of the FingeJ- 

 Lakes and that by Baker of Oneida Lake are both incomplete. Each 

 lacks the study that the other received. Among other things, the 

 Finger Lakes need quantitative investigations of- -the invertebrate 

 fish food and definite knowledge concerning what fishes, ocGurring 

 there, subsist upon plankton at any stage of their life^ Plankton 

 studies such as the Finger Lakes have received are needed for 

 Oneida Lake, for complete knowledge applicable to rational stock- 

 ing of a lake is necessary, and particularly as concerns habits -and 

 food of young fishes. • Jt' 



During several years Prof. W. M. Smallwood, of the Zoological 

 Department of Syracuse University, made observations on Lake 

 Clear in the Adirondacks, and later published a discussion of the 

 fish and fish conditions in the lake (Smallwood, '18). 



He says that the problem which confronted him was to discover 

 the cause or causes for the obvious failure of this lake to support an 

 abundance of fish after thirty years of restocking. Lake Clear was 

 regarded as typical of a number of lakes in the Adirondack region, 

 there being in the radius of fifteen miles more than seventy-five 

 similar ponds and lakes of glacial origin. 



Concerning the food supply for fishes he says: ".It is to be 

 regretted that in this lake the number of organisms suitable:<for food 

 for fishes is so limited. The result is that each species comes into 

 competition with the other species for food. The result of this com- 

 petition for the one abundant food, daphnia-cy clops, prevents this 

 lake from permanently having: large numbers of food Ush. 



" The consideration of the history of the lake, the specific habita- 

 tion of the fish, the noteworthy dearth of aquatic plants, the actual 

 food of the fish and the restocking that has taken place during the 

 past thirty years leads to the conclusion that restocking has not been 

 and cannot be, a success. In estimating how many fish any given 

 body of water will support, one must first consider the variety and 

 abundance of aquatic plants. There cannot be any more animal food 

 for the small fish and Ungerlings than can find subsistence on the 

 aquatic plants of any given body of water." 

 2 



