2 
and also upon Lake Michigan. In the course of these preparations 
; 
4 
* 
; 
I made a trip to the sea coast, for the purpose of examining the — 
apparatus and witnessing the work of the steamer Fish-hawk, en-— 
gaged upon the Atlantic ocean in explorations similar to those 
which it was my purpose to undertake in Illinois. After examining 
the laboratory and appliances of the fish commission in their estab- 
lishment at Wood’s Hole, Mass., I went out with the party upon the 
Fish-hawk to their collecting grounds on the borders of the Gulf Stream, — 
and studied their methods of deep-sea work. On my return, I purchased 
in Boston the necessary outfit of dredges, trawl, towing-nets, sound- 
ing lines, etc., and took the field for active work upon Lake Michi- 
ean about the twentieth of September. For in-shore operations near 
Chicago, a Mackinaw boat was hired, with a sailor in charge, and 
about two weeks were spent in continued dredging along the shore 
from Hyde Park to Evanston, from the harbor to about ten miles 
out. In order to obtain material for the study of the bottom fauna - 
of the deeper regions of the lake, a trip was made to Grand Tra- 
verse Bay early in October. Here, with the assistance of a steam 
tug and a crew of four men, the dredge and trawl were hauled re- 
peatedly in water ranging from. a depth of thirty to one hundred 
and two fathoms, and the margins of the bay were searched thor- 
oughly and carefully from a yawl. 
In the meantime an assistant, Mr. Cyrus W. Butler, had been: 
established at South Chicago with instructions to make collections 
of all kinds from the lake and from the adjacent waters, and also 
from the country round about, with especial reference to the needs 
of the State Museum, the State cducational institutions, and the 
public high schools. To the generosity of Haussler Brothers, a firm: 
of fishermen, he was indebted for an excellent and convenient work 
room, furnished him free of charge. He made here a large collec- 
tion of birds, fishes, and small aquatic animals, and prepared molds 
for about thirty casts, remaining from the first of August until 
about the middle of October. 
In addition to these operations upon hake Michigan, work was 
diligently prosecuted upon the small lakes of Lake and McHenry 
counties. Fox, Nippersink, Long, Defiance and Griswold Lakes were 
sounded and thoroughly dredged, and full collections made of the 
plant and animal life of each, from the shore to the deepest water. 
For a comparison of these shallow lakes with deeper ones farther 
north, a trip was made October 11 to Geneva Lake, Wis. The 
steam launch of the Hon. N. K. Fairbanks, of Chicago, generously 
placed at our disposal, gave us an unusual opportunity for the study 
of this lake. Soundings were made in all parts of it, and the dredge 
and trawl were hauled in various depths, from one to twenty fathoms, 
for distances aggregating more than two miles. No attempt was 
made at this time to determine the fish fanna of any of these 
waters, this being necessarily postponed until the following season. 
This closed the field work for the season of 1881. 
The first trip of the. following spring was made in February to 
Racine, Wis., for the purpose of collecting the Entomostraca and 
smaller organisms generally from the water of the lake at the tim 
and place of deposit of several million young whitefish, planted b 
the U. §. Fish Commission. These collections were obtained to tes 
