56 New York State 



to determine the general aspect of the stream, and to decide whether 

 conditions were favorable for the existence of aquatic organisms, 

 or if not, in a rough way to what extent they were unfavorable. 

 It is of course easy in the extreme case to recognize such condi- 

 tions as destroy all organisms except those that live in polluted 

 waters. Thus, while the survey was confessedly superficial, it 

 was sufficiently accurate to determine the general situation and for 

 the purposes of this investigation such a determination was adequate. 

 In the next place, attention should be called to the fact that at 

 the time when these examinations were made, conditions were not 

 far from the average. Frequently one finds during the summer 

 months, when alone I was at work on this problem, such a reduc- 

 tion in the amount of water flowing in the streams that the effects 

 of materials discharged into it are relatively very much greater 

 than usual. The strikingly bad situation in the streams of New 

 York state during periods of summer drought have been com- 

 mented upon so widely and recorded by so many kinds of observers 

 that in their general features they are probably familiar to all. 

 At the time, however, when I was on these streams, the water 

 supply was larger than usual in the summer and consequently the 

 statement of results must be looked upon as portraying not extreme 

 conditions but those which are at least as good as would be found 

 on the average. 



Again it should be noted in connection with these examinations 

 that no effort was made to determine the presence of fish, either 

 adult or young. Whenever it happened that fish were observed, 

 a record of the fact was made, but proper catching apparatus 

 would certainly have demonstrated the presence of fish in a good 

 many places where they were not seen. In fact, the waters 

 generally examined were those near shore where the depth was 

 insignificant and where one could take in with the eye the general 

 appearance both of the bottom and of the water above it and 

 could see the plants and small organisms in their relative 

 abundance and general relations. Examinations were made 

 of the deeper water also, but these again were confined to 

 such data as could be determined by the eye. No apparatus was 

 used to determine the character of the bottom, in so far as it was 

 invisible to the eye, and no appliances for the collecting of the 

 minute microscopic fauna present in all such waters but giving 

 no evidence of its existence to the unaided eye of the observer. By 

 £ more thorough examination numerous additional facts could 



