CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BIOLOGY OF THE GREAT LAKES. 
THE PLANTS OF WESTERN LAKE ERIE, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR 
DISTRIBUTION. 
By A. J. PIETERS, 
Assistant Botanist, Department of Agriculture. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
In the spring of 1893 the writer accompanied a party sent out by the Michigan 
Fish Commission, under the direction of Prof. Jacob Reighard, to study the biology 
of the Great Lakes. The lake chosen for the study that year was St. Clair. This 
small lake presents in many respects ideal conditions for the study of lacustrine 
plant life. The extensive swamps and the gradually sloping mud bottom of its 
northwest side, which is also protected from the most violent winds, and therefore 
seldom experiences a heavy surf, provide an environment admirably suited to the 
growth of a variety of plants. The results of that year’s work were published as 
the “Plants of Lake St. Clair,” 1 and is believed to be the first study of the kind 
undertaken in American lakes. It was therefore a pleasure to continue this line of 
work in Lake Erie. The United States Fish Commission, having entered upon a 
systematic investigation of the biology of the Great Lakes, placed the work under 
the direction of Professor Reighard, and the place chosen was Put-in Bay, Ohio. A 
United States fish-hatchery is located there, and the buildings and boats were placed 
at the disposal of the party. 
The present paper covers the work on the Phanerogams, Characete, and Desmidese. 
The work on the algue, except Desmids, was in charge of Dr. Julia Snow, of Michigan 
University. The field work was done during the summer of 1898. 
APPARATUS USED. 
Much of the work was done from a row boat in Put-in Bay and in the swamps on 
the mainland, but the deeper parts of the lake were examined by means of an ocean 
dredge let out from the steamer Shearwater , while going at a low rate of speed. 
The plankton and tow nets used in collecting the microscopic organisms have 
been described by Reighard. 2 For collecting the larger plants growing in water 
more than a foot or two deep a grapple was used (fig. B, page 58). This was made 
by passing four or five bent steel wires through a piece of 1.5- inch pipe and bending 
back the free ends to make hooks. The pipe was filled with lead to make it heavier 
1 Bulletin of the Michigan Fish Commission No. 2, 1894. 
s Reighard, .1. E. A biological examination of Lake St. Clair. Bull. Michigan Fish Commission, No. 4, 1894. 
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