The Free lance., November 01, 1901, Image 7

of heat in summer and cold in winter because it is a superfi
cial drainage stream, and not a spring stream, as are those
on this side of the range. Because this stream (Bald Eagle
Creek) becomes so warm and sluggish it contains an unusual
amount of both plant and animal life, and exhibits a marked
contrast to the condition of the spring streams above men
tioned. For example, while the classes in geology here have
been unable to collect more than twelve species of fishes
from the latter stream, they have collected over twenty-five
from the former. To one who wishes to study the variations
of life under a number of different conditions such opportu
nities are of the utmost value.
The material with which the biologist chiefly works is
different in general from that of the botanist on one hand
and of the zoologist on the other, in that it consists greatly
of the lower or more generalized forms of life, while in the
more limited branches of botany and zoology the higher
forms of plants and animals respectively become the chief
objects of study. Water is the medium which furnishes the
biologist with most of his microscopical specimens because
these low forms always live in liquids or in damp places, and
he can there find material in greatest abundance and with
greatest certainty. The classes here have had no difficulty
in finding many kinds of the various one-celled organisms,
which cause even experts to disagree in classifying them as
either plants or animals with certainty. They also find
numbers of the famous proteus animalcule, which is regarded
as the lowest form of animal, tresh water sponges, hydra,
or fresh water polyp, true worms, bryozoans, or “moss ani
mals, ” mollusks, various kinds of insects, crustaceans, and
representatives of all classes of vertebra.
On account of geological conditions this locality is of
much greater biological interest than the mere local condi
tions could make it. We are very near the common meeting
grounds or boundaries of four distinct faunal regions, as