96 Thirty-Second Report on the State Museum. 



as to avoid crushing, and not to interfere with a certain degree of freedom of 

 motion. During the writing of these pages, a box has been received at the State 

 Museum, from Caledonia creek, containing in Chara vulgaris, a common water- 

 plant in that locality, the following forms of animal life : fishes, lizards, craw- 

 fish, shrimps, beetles, water-bugs, water-boatmen (Gerris and Coraxis), gnats, 

 shells, leeches, and the larvae of beetles, caddis-flies, dragon-flies and May-flies. 

 Although the capacity of the box did not exceed a cubic foot, it contained hun- 

 dreds of living shrimps, caddis-worms and larvae of gnats, and numerous examples 

 of other forms. So much of the Chara had been placed in the box, that it had 

 unfortunately crushed out the life from most of the usually hardy " miller's 

 thumbs " (Cottus) and the delicate " stickle-backs " (Gasterosteus) ; still a num- 

 ber were found, which, being transferred to water, swam as lively as if they had 

 not been banished from their natural element for twenty hours. 



To illustrate the facility with which the above collection could be made at 

 Caledonia creek, it may be mentioned that in the month of December last I 

 took from the water's edge a single bunch of moss resting on a stone in the 

 water, which gave me a representation of the six following groups : — fishes, 

 reptiles, crustaceans, insects, worms and mollusks. 



In the transplanting of fish-food, if the greatest benefit is to be derived from 

 it, it would be proper that it be regulated by a knowledge of the particular 

 localities best adapted for the permanency and increase of the transferred 

 species. While we are often surprised at the ability of accommodation to 

 changed circumstances displayed in the animal kingdom,* still the probability 

 of success is greater when we work in accordance with established laws, than 

 when we wander in the field of experiment. 



Thus, among tho Neuroptera, the larvae of the Ephemenclce and the Ptrlidce, 

 require for their abundant propagation, certain conditions of the bottom and 

 banks of the streams which they occupy ; for the former, a sloping, muddy bank, 

 in which the larvae reside (see page 77), and for the latter, a bed of stones, 

 beneath which the larvae conceal themselves. Dr. Hagen suggests that the 

 needed conditions may be artificially provided ; as, for example, for the Ephe- 

 merae the bank may be prepared of loam, sloping at an angle of about forty-five 

 degrees. 



The transplanting of insects need not be confined to the aquatic forms. 

 There are numerous other species, which, in their larval state, if favorably 

 placed for the purpose, would contribute largely to the food of fishes. The 

 larvae of the saw-flies, belonging to the Ilymenoptera, often live together in 

 large companies. Many of these, and other classes of insects, have the habit 

 of eluding their enemies by dropping from the leaves to the ground, where they 

 hide until the danger is past. When they have attained maturity they fre- 

 quently drop to the ground, perhaps by the aid of a thread spun for the pur- 

 pose, as the most convenient means of reaching the place of their transforma- 

 tion. The willows are a favorite food-plant for several species of saw-flies and 

 other gregarious larvae. When these overhang the streams they furnish a large 

 supply of insect food to the fishes, who are quick to discover the favorable feed- 

 ing ground. The planting of willows, therefore, together with such other 

 shrubs and trees as are known to be favorite food-plants of insects, in position 



* I once entirely sti'ipped a caddis- worm of its case of bits of leaves and stems of aquatic 

 plants, and placed it in a vessel containing only some small shells of Helix, Pupa, etc. The fol- 

 lowing morning it was found to have made for itself anew case composed of these shells, which, 

 to all appearance, was as well suited to its purpose as its original, consisting of such very differ- 

 ent material. 



