28 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. 
having recently spawned. The fishermen profess to know that 
spawning takes place in February and March, and the condi¬ 
tion of the ovaries in summer lends some weight to this con¬ 
tention. But a female with ripe eggs from this region is yet 
to he found, although several fishermen have promised me to be 
on the lookout for them. 
Contrary to the usual belief, the spoonbill, in Lake 
Pepin at least, is in no sense a mud-loving fish. It is never 
found in the muddy bayous, or close in to shore. To capture 
it, the seine is carried out from seven hundred to a thousand 
feet, mid-channel, where the water is fairly clear and the bot¬ 
tom sandy. This makes very improbable also the supposed 
use of the snout or rostrum for stirring up the bottom. The 
food of Polyodon adds w r eight to this contention. It consists, 
in Lake Pepin, entirely of plankton material, in largest part of 
entomostraca, but not unmixed with algae. There is one seem¬ 
ing, but only seeming, exception to this. Occasionally one 
finds the specimens of a morning’s catch largely gorged with 
larvae of Ephemerids. But in every such case it was found 
that Ephemerid imagines appeared in vast numbers the same 
evening. It appears plain, therefore, that the larvae taken by 
Poly don were captured on their journey to the surface of the 
water. During this time they form an integral part of the 
plankton. Finally, a study of the rostrum itself discloses that 
its external texture is such that, if used for rooting on the 
gravelly and sandy bottom of Lake Pepin, it w T ould soon be¬ 
come abraded, but I have never discovered any sign of this 
in any living spoonbill. Injuries there are on the rostrum 
frequently enough, but they consist mainly of notches on the 
side. I suspect that they are caused by the bites of turtles. 
On the other hand, the good nerve supply of the rostrum, 
and the way in which it is fairly paved with sensory end or¬ 
gans, make it patent that it serves a sensory and not a motor 
function. It probably serves to disclose the denser swarms of 
plankton, which are then scooped up by the enormously ex¬ 
pansible mouth. 
Polyodon lives, as noted before, in deep water. But in sum¬ 
mer, at least, it remains near the surface. Two things give 
