FISHES OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. 5 



spathula and Salvelinus namaycush, are preserved in the Oberlin 

 CoHege Museum. 



Loralin County is wholly within the lake watershed, all its 

 streams flowing northward into Lake Erie. The streams are all 

 small, the largest being Black River, navigable for about three miles, 

 and Vermillion River, having only about a mile of safe water. 

 But these are important as harbors for the lake trading vessels and 

 iishirig boats. The land is quite flat, with a gentle slope toward 

 the lake, arid 'the streams are mostly shallow and sluggish, the ex- 

 ceptions being found in the parts that cross the "ridges" or old 

 lake beaches, and a few of the small streams that are tributary to 

 the Vermillion. Some of these are quite brisk and have worn for 

 themselves deep channels in the shale. 



Spring Brook is one of these, and deserves special mention. 

 It is the little stream that rises (see map) near the center of Hen- 

 rietta township and flows northwest; it is spring-fed and does not 

 run dry, though so small that it can be stepped across at almost 

 any part of its course. The first half mile meanders through a 

 meadow, and in this part there is a colony of red-bellied and red- 

 sided minnows, species not detected elsewhere in the county. A few 

 suckers, seven other kinds of minnows, a few green-sided sunfish, 

 Johnny darters, and a few star-gazers are the only other fish noticed. 

 Catfish, pickerel, gars, etc., seem to be excluded by a series of 

 small water falls in the lower part of the stream. That the 

 minnows are not hindered by these falls I surmise from the 

 observation of excitehient exhibited by a lot of red-bellied 

 and red-sided minnows placed under a hydrant in a pail. As 

 soon as the water began to splash they acted as if they had springs 

 in them, leaping out of the pail a foot or more. 



The streams may be divided into "head waters," the slower 

 portions back from the lake; "the riffies," where the streams are 

 more broken by cutting through the shale beds, and the "lower 

 parts," comparatively deep and still, where the depth of water is 

 influenced by the direction of the wind On the lake. Each of these 

 is characterized by certain kinds of fish, though some species are 

 found in all waters. Mill-dams in both of the rivers also form 

 well defined limits for certain species. 



Lake Erie where it touches Lorain County is shallow, reach- 

 ing a depth of about 55 feet 3 miles from shore, and is free from 

 islands. Not even a rock breaks the surface two rods from low- 



