Field and Forest 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES. 



Vol. III.— MARCH, 1878.— No. 9. 



The Natural History of the Islands of Lake Erie. 



{Observations taken during 1877.) 



The islands of Lake Erie are justly celebrated for many consider- 

 ations- Long after their memory has departed from me, the recollec- 

 tions of those numerous and enormous Black Water Snakes, darting 

 through the water, sneaking out from under your every foot-step, 

 sunning themselves in heaps, knots and snarls on tops of low bushes, 

 stray logs, and rocks, will linger in every fiber of the nerves. 



The extreme isolation of some of these islands and the celebrity of 

 others, together with the important part many of them have played in 

 the history of our country render a history or even a description of 

 them practically unnecessary in the present instance. 



Some idea of their origin, however, as the facts seem to indicate is 

 of no little interest here. The results of the recent survey of Lake 

 Erie, show that there are but two channels in Western Lake Erie. 

 One leading out from Detroit river and passing along the Canada 

 shore as far as Point Aux Pelee; and the other the continuation of 

 the channel of Maumee Bay and River along the American shore as 

 'far as Point Marblehead. Between these channels is a range of is- 

 lands, shoals and almost a continuous sub-marine reef or ridge. The 

 facts seem to indicate, then, that at one time the Detroit and Maumee 

 rivers emptied some where between Sandusky and Point Pelee, so that 

 the Western terminous of Lake Erie was considerably further east than 

 at the present time. The only trace of this point of land now left.. 



