SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF TURNER’S LAKE II 
The bottom rubbish near the shore, usually so prolific of life is 
here almost barren; only a few snails, small and thin of shell, and 
caddisworms tumbling their cases over the stones that hid the may- 
fly nymphs. Leeches abound and are easily collected if one wades 
barefooted. On the surface water beetles (gyrinids) and water- 
striders occur sparingly. The open water offers the richest catch 
if the net is of fine mesh. Myriads of minute crustaceans (Entomos- 
traca) of several species, and water mites are present, the latter the 
most conspicuous organisms of the lake at a depth of thirty feet. 
These small mites, seemingly so ill adapted to aquatic life in spite of 
their specialized swimming devices, are surprisingly abundant, every 
haul of the net bringing them in by hundreds. 
Insects that pass the larval stage in water are strongly represented 
in the air above the lake by the mosquitoes ; but these may well have 
bred in the swamps nearby rather than in the lake itself; for larvae 
were absent in the water that half-filled a stranded boat; neither were 
larval exuviae to be found in the shore litter washed up in narrow 
windrows at the north end. If indeed mosquitoes do not breed in 
the lake, perhaps a clue to their contro] may be found in the analysis 
of the water. Tandem-flying dragon flies appeared from time to time 
and others flying single, dipping their tails between the lily pads and 
hawking the open swarms of Plecia that passed in sluggish, weaving 
flight over the water. 
The white cedar trunk which tops the buried ridge in the lake is a 
watermark of considerable note for it was standing up to the wind 
and above the waves when the earliest settlers came to the island 
It still serves as a convenient mark for hunters who wish to prove 
the merits of their rifles. Anchored by its root it stands almost erect 
in 4 fathoms of water. Whence this great tree came is a problem for 
some ingenious brain. That it long antedates the present forest condi- 
tions is obvious, for there are no such great cedars left on the island. 
There seem to be no currents in the lake that could have transported 
it erect from the shore, nor are there movements of ice in this little 
lake which would be at all competent to float and drop this heavy 
load into its present attitude. For some hundreds of years, no doubt, 
it has resisted the decomposition by the water whose singular chemi- 
cal ingredients may have helped in its preservation. This arbor vitae 
tree stands forth as one of the many mysterious things that enter into 
the make-up of this unusual body of water. Long dead, the old stub 
each year greens into life with an alien verdure of freshwater sponge 
worn as a belt about four feet below the surface. The sponge itself 
is worthy of record for imbedded in its tissues and crawling about 
