L\ SECTS, ETC., OF CALEDONIA CREEK. J 5 



[From the Tenth Report of ttie New York Commissioners of Fisheries.] 



THE INSECTS AND OTHER ANIMAL FORMS OF CALEDONIA CREEK, N.Y. 



By J. A. LINTNER. 



To the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of New York: 



Gentlemen — In March, 1877, I received a communication from the Chair- 

 man of your Honorable Board, calling my attention to the remarkable abundance 

 of trout in Caledonia creek, upon which the State Hatching-house is located, 

 abounding there, it was believed, as in no other natural locality in the United 

 States. It had also been noticed by the Commissioners, that the mosses and 

 other aquatic plants of the stream contained an unusual number of insects, and 

 it was thought that their abundant presence might be the principal cause of the 

 great abundance of trout. If this surmise should prove to be well-founded, 

 then, the question was raised, would it not be desirable, and was it not practi- 

 cable, to transport these insects and accompanying plants to other streams within 

 the State, and thereby add, in all probability, to their waters, forms of animal 

 life, and appropriate shelter not at present occurring in them. 



By the direction of your chairman, a large can, containing, in water, mosses 

 and other plants from Caledonia creek, and their living occupants, was sent to 

 the State Museum or Natural History, in the month of March, for the examin- 

 ation of the State Botanist and myself. The result of the examination of the 

 mosses by the botanist has been presented to your board. 



I found the mosses and plants swarming with insect forms, crustaceans, etc., 

 to such an extent as I had never seen before, and which I could not believe to 

 be a fair representation of the fauna of Caledonia creek. I accordingly 

 addressed a letter to Mr. Seth Green, under whose supervision the can and its 

 contents had been forwarded, making the inquiry whether the animal life con- 

 tained in the can was only that which belonged to the accompanying plants, or 

 if it embraced collections from other sources. The answer was returned that 

 no other living forms had been placed in the can, except those contained in the 

 plants when gathered. 



The most abundant form was that of a small crustacean — Gammarus fascia- 

 tus Say. It was so numerous that no one could have carelessly raised a handful 

 of the moss without noticing the very large number of these creatures present. 

 A representation of it, of twice the natural size, is given in plate 4, fig. 12. 



The Gammarido3, commonly known as shrimps, belong to the order of 

 Amphipoda, one of the higher groups of the Crustacea, found in both fresh 

 water and salt. Three species of Gammarus are known to occur in our ponds, 

 brooks, rivers or lakes, viz. : G. limnceus Smith, G. fasciatus Say, and ? G. 

 minus Say. Of the salt-water forms, five species are recorded in VerriU's 

 Report on the Invertebrate Animals of Vineyard Sound* viz. : G. ornatus 

 Edw., G. annulatus Smith, G. natator Smith, G. marinus Leach, and G. 

 mucronatus Say. They are all comparatively small forms — the largest measur- 

 ing considerably less than an inch in length. 



* U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Report 1871-72, pp. 557-559. 



