1897.] The Swamps of Oswego County, N. Y. 793 
Lily Marsh, and the third is near Baldwinsville in Onondaga 
County. 
The mud of the swamps gives a decided character to the 
streams of the region. Whether a stream rises in the lake or 
flows through it or any other part of the swamp, the water is 
colored by the mud a dark yellow or wine color. This color 
of the water of many of the streams led to the application of 
appropriate names, such as Wine Creek, Mud Creek and Black 
Creek, 
THE LAKE FLORA. 
While the flora of the lakes present many interesting fea- 
tures, the plants are much less unique than those of the sur- 
rounding moor. Aquatic plants have long been noted for 
their wide distribution. Darwin has pointed out that this de- 
pends upon the distribution of their seed by birds. While we 
are ready to accept this as one of the means by which the 
plants disseminate themselves, we must also assert that the 
ultimate causes of this is the similarity of conditions presented 
- by aquatic conditions generally. The conditions are very 
much the same in our lakes as in other similar bodies of 
water, such as slow flowing streams and lakes with hard shores. 
Aquatic floras are, however, quite distinct from terrestrial ones 
of the same region. The moors surrounding our lake come 
very near affording aquatic conditions. «Nevertheless the 
shore line between lake and moor is a pretty definite one. The 
following are species representative of the lake flora: 
The Naiadacex afford a characteristic group belonging here. 
None of them find congenial conditions outside the bounds of 
the lake, and most of them are confined to water several feet 
deep. Potamogeton amplifolius, P. lonchites and P. heterophyllus 
are in the latter class, while Naias flexilis and P. foliosus ap- 
proach nearer the shores. 
Vallisneria spiralis is a plant which does not appear very 
near the shores. 
Eleocharis mutata must be considered, at least in this region, 
a lake plant, as at Lake Neahtahwantah and Paddy Lake, our 
only stations for it, it grows only in water. It seems essential, 
however, that its roots only should be submerged ; the culms 
