^0 -A REPORT UPON INVESTIGATIONS IN THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN 
DURING THE SUMMER OF 1893. 
By PHILIP H. KIRSCH, 
Commissioner of Fisheries for the State of Indiana. 
The investigations upon which this report is based were made during tlie summer 
of 1893, under the direction of Hon. Marshall McDonald, United States Commissioner 
of Fish and Fisheries. A description of each stream and lake examined is given, with 
a list of the fishes found in these waters and notes on their characteristics. In prose- 
cuting the work the writer had the efficient help of Mr. Charles Beeson, instructor in 
Indiana University; Prof. W. S. Blatchley, teacher of biology m the Terre Haute 
High School, and, for a short time, Mr. Jesse Harrison, of Columbia City, lud. 
In the summer of 1887 Prof. Seth E. Meek, professor of zoology in Arkansas 
Agricultural College, made a small collection of fishes in Defiance County, Ohio. The 
writer is indebted to him for the use of his unpublished notes. 
For aid received in various ways the writer is under special obligations to Prof. 
Barton W. Evermann, assistant to the United States Fish Commission. 
THE MAUMEE RIVER SYSTEM. 
The Maumee Eiver, with its tributaries, drains a tract of country lying in the 
northeastern part of Ohio, including parts of the counties of Hillsdale and Lenawee, 
on the southern bordei of Michigan, and portions of Steuben, Dekalb, Allen, and 
Adams counties, in the northeastern part of Indiana. In all, this water basin embraces 
about 7,500 square miles. The country is rolling, but contains no elevations worth 
noting. The surface is everywhere composed of glacial drift, but bed rock is exposed in 
the channel of the Maumee Eiver and in the lower courses of all its larger tributaries. 
The climate in this region is generally mild and considered healthful. According 
to the report of the Ohio meteorological bureau, the normal temperature at Toledo, 
Ohio, for a period of twenty -two years was 50° F. The highest temperature at the 
same place during a period of seven years was 94°, and the lowest during the same 
period was — 7°. The average annual amount of precipitation (including melted snow) 
at Toledo for a iieriod of twenty-two years was 32.03 inches. 
The water in the Maumee Eiver and that of its larger tributaries is rather clear, 
while that in the smaller streams, on account of their clay channels, is more or less 
turbid. The water of all the lakes examined by us is remarkably clear and pure. 
Besides a great abundance of the smaller varieties of fishes, all the waters that 
were investigated by us were well supplied with the best quality of native game and 
food fishes. Crawfish and mussels were found rather common at all points explored 
by us in the Maumee Basin. Fresh water shrimps were also taken in several of the 
streams. In some localities water snails were found in great numbers. At other 
places the banks of the streams contained numerous snail shells. Batrachians and 
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