Cheboygan County Research Articles

The Relative Effectiveness of Salmon Eggs and Earthworms as Bait for Trout in the Sturgeon River, Michigan

Abstract The relative effectiveness of salmon eggs and large earthworms as bait for trout, and the efficiency of chumming with either lure, were tested by experimental fishing in the Sturgeon River (Cheboygan County), Michigan, on 35 different days during 1957 and 1958. Four anglers fished in pairs in any series of test days, using standardized terminal tackle under a systematic pattern of lure and method. Ten individuals fished 778 hours and caught 506 rainbow trout, 73 brown trout, and 12 brook trout. Logarithmic transformations were applied to the individual catch-per-hour data, followed by a factorial analysis of variance. Large (10-24 inches) rainbow trout in the summer of 1958 were caught 3.8 times faster on salmon eggs than on worms; smaller trout were caught 2 to 9 times faster on eggs than on worms; and chumming did not increase the efficiency of either lure for any size of fish. The differences noted between average total lengths of egg- and worm-caught trout were not statistically significant. ...

A New Name, Macroderinae, for a Subfamily of Trematodes of Natricine Snakes, with a Redescription of Distomum variabile Leidy, 1856

Talbot (1934) described a species of trematode from the lung of Natrix sipedon (Linne.), Cheboygan County, Michigan as Macrodera verlatum, n. sp., which constituted the first published record of the genus Macrodera from the United States. The genus had been established by Looss (1899) for the single species, Distomum naja Rud., 1819, a parasite of the lung of european natricine snakes. Later Looss (1902) took the liberty of changing the name Macrodera to Saphedera because he believed Macrodera was preoccupied by Macroderes Westwood, 1843. Baer (1924) incorrectly referred to it as Saphedra and erected the subfamily Saphedratinae to include Saphedra (Saphedera), Pneumonoeces Looss, and Pneumobites Ward. Mehra (1931) used the original spelling of Looss for the genus and without comment changed the subfamily spelling to Saphederinae, retaining Baer as the author of the name. Luehe (1909) used Macrodera, not accepting Looss's change to Saphedera, and referred to the species as Macrodera longicollis (Abilgaard, 1788) (=Dist. naja Rud., 1819) (Fig. 8). Talbot (I.c.) placed the genus Macrodera in the subfamily Reniferinae Pratt, 1902. Mehra (1937) was favorable to Talbot's transfer of Macrodera to the Reniferinae but erected the genus Natriodera for Talbot's species. The two genera, Macrodera and Natriodera, were placed by Mehra in the subfamily Reniferinae. For the genera Pneumonoeces and Pneumobites, Mehra (I.c.) established the subfamily Pneumonoecesinae. McMullen (1937) placed the subfamily Haplometrinae Pratt, 1902 (which Pratt considered to contain the genera Haplometra, Pneumonoeces and Ostiolum) Mehra (I.c.) established the subfamily Pneumonoecesinae. McMullen (1937) placed the subfamily Haplometrinae Pratt, 1902 (which Pratt considered to contain the genera Haplometra, Pneumonoeces and Ostiolum) and the subfamily Prosthogoniminae Luehe, 1909, in his newly created family Haplometridae. Byrd and Denton (1938) considered the subfamily Pneumonoecesinae as a synonym of Haplometrinae. They believed that Macrodera longicollis (Abilg.) should be included in the Haplometrinae because of its close resemblance to Hematoloechus (=Pneumonoeces), but retained Natriodera verlatum in the Reniferinae. On the basis of ana-

Additions to the Phycomycete Flora of the Douglas Lake Region. II. New Chytridiaceous Fungi

(1956). Additions to the Phycomycete Flora of the Douglas Lake Region. II. New Chytridiaceous Fungi. Mycologia: Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 270-277.

Studies on the Filth Flies at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Douglas Lake, Michigan-Summer 1954

The relationship of flies, particularly those which are attracted to decaying organic matter for feeding and/or breeding purposes, to pathogenic organisms of man has long been established. During the 1940's some such flies were shown by various investigators to be naturally infected with the virus of poliomyelitis. This virus-fly relationship, and later the consideration given to the possibility of the intentional introduction of certain fly-borne 'diseases, led to the investigation of the nature of the total fly population of various communities and urban fly control was greatly stimuated. As an outgrowth of such investigations new biological facts regarding some of these flies has come to light (Williams, 1954). The present study was undertaken to determine what species of flies at the University of Michigan Biological Station, in Cheboygan County, Michigan, are commonly attracted to decomposing fish; the percent of the total population represented by each species; species population peaks in time; and species preference as to local habitat, whether near the kitchen close to the human food supply or whether on the beach where an occasional dead fish washed onto the shore attracted many flies and where these flies were at times most disconcerting to those people living in beach cabins.

Seasonal Distribution and Life Cycles of Ephemeroptera

The seasonal distribution and life cycles are recorded for relatively few species of mayflies occurring in lakes. Such knowledge is limited primarily to species of the genera Hexagenia and Ephemera (Neave 1932; Spieth 1936; Berner, 1950). The present paper presents data on seasonal distribution and life cycles of 22 species obtained during a four-season ecological study of mayflies of Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan.

The Butterflies of Emmet and Cheboygan Counties, Michigan with Other Notes on Northern Michigan Butterflies

In March, 1915, Paul S. Welch published a list2 of Lepidoptera taken in the Lake region during the early years of the University of Michigan Biological Station. This list contained the first published enumeration of these insects from Emmet and Cheboygan Counties, although no note was made concerning specific county records. Twenty-five species of butterflies were included.3 Sherman Moore has subsequently published two lists which include records from these counties, which share the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. In A List of Northern Michigan Lepidoptera (1922), 17 of the butterflies recorded he had taken in Emmet or Cheboygan County or both. Eleven of these had not been in Welch's list. Another 11 species were added to the regional fauna in A List of the Butterflies of Michigan (1939), in which Moore brought together all previously published records and the resufts of his own examination of a number of collections. Thus the total for the two counties reached 47 species. The present list adds 27 species, bringing the grand total to 74 species of butterflies now known from Emmet and/or Cheboygan County. Several of these are represented by more than one named subspecies (race) or form. Sixteen of the Cheboygan County records given by Moore in 1939 were apparently4 taken from Welch's list without additional confirming records from any other source. Unfortunately, the 1915 list was never intended to be a county list, for the Douglas Lake Region, then as now, was taken by Biological Station workers to include neighboring Emmet County as well as Cheboygan County. No mention whatever was made of any county in that list, and Dr. Welch has informed me that no effort had been made to restrict his list to Cheboygan County. Of these 16 species, my own field work has confirmed the Emmet County occurrence of all, and the Cheboygan County occurrence of all but Polygonia interrogationis, of which there are three Cheboygan County specimens in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. So they all may now be properly admitted to the faunal list for both counties. Moore's 1939 list reported 26 species for Emmet County and 37 for

Notes on the Vertical Distribution of Organisms in the Profundal Sediments of Douglas Lake, Michigan

Benthic populations of inland lakes are commonly discussed in terms of organisms per square meter of bottom surface, often with reference to changes occurring during some period of time. However, the vertical distribution of animals within the sediments has been neglected to a great extent in North America. Lenz (1931) and Berg (1938) have contributed to our knowledge of this aspect of faunal distribution in European lakes. Moore (1939) and Cole (1949) have reported on the vertical distribution of the microbenthos in bottom deposits of certain lakes of this continent, but little information has been published concerning the stratification of macrobenthic forms, particularly the profundal organisms. APPARATUS AND METHODS Thirty benthic collections, each composed of three vertical core samples, were taken from profundal depths in Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan, from August 4 to August 26, 1950. Eight collections were made in the upper profundal zone at a water depth of 16 meters, and twenty-two collections were taken from a depth of 19.5 meters. Both stations were in the South Fish Tail Bay depression along a transect extending lakeward from a permanent marker on the west shore. In addition to the 90 profundal core samples, 8 cores were taken at sublittoral and littoral depths for comparative purposes. All benthic collections were made with a small vertical core sampler, described in another paper (Cole, 1949). An inserted transparent plastic ttube served to collect the core of sediment and its biota. This tube was removed from the sampler, transported to the laboratory in a wooden rack, and the included mud was removed in sections for examination. The sectioning was accomplished, after the water overlying the core had been siphoned off, by pushing a rubber piston up the tube from the bottom. A rod, calibrated in centimeters, was used to push the piston, and hence the mud core, up through and above the upper edge of the tube. A tight-fitting, waterproof bowl encircled the tube, and served to catch watery sediment which spilled over the top. An ordinary glass slide was used to scrape the mud from the top of the tube, and a rubber syringe was employed in washing the outside of the tube and in removing the sediment from the bowl. The three cores, comprising one collection, were sectioned in succession and their corresponding strata consolidated in finger bowls. The upper 10 cm. of each core was sectioned at one cm. intervals and screened with a metal sieve of 80 meshes to the inch. The second 10 cm. was sectioned at 2 cm. intervals and screened 1 This investigation was made possible by a grant from the Research Fund, University of Louisville.

Leucocytozoon simondi Infections in Domestic Ducks in Northern Michigan with a Note on Haemoproteus

DURING the summer of 1948 at the University of Michigan Biological Station, opportunity was afforded to determine the prevalence of Leucocytozoon simondi infections among domestic ducks in Emmet and Cheboygan Counties. The question was of particular interest since no information has been made available in the literature regarding the incidence of the disease in the endemic area of northern Michigan since O’Roke’s observations were published almost 20 years ago. (O’Roke, 1930, 1934).For the summer of 1930, O’Roke reported that 74 percent of all flocks examined in the general vicinity of the Biological Station were positive, and that of 200 individuals sampled, 35 percent were infected. During 1931 he found that 60 percent of all flocks (a total of 300 ducks) harbored infected individuals. Morbidity was found to be high among all age groups, with a very high mortality rate among the young ducklings. Ducklings exposed experimentally to blackfly bites .

An Occurrence of Gametophytes of Equisetum in Cheboygan County, Michigan

Matzke (1941) found gametophytes of E. arvense L. growing in an empty iron mine pit at Orehill, Connecticut. Of the habitat Mr. Matzke writes, slopes are fairly steep, but the width of the pit is so great that there is little shading of the bottom, except in early morning and late afternoon. Consequently the fine soil at the base becomes alternately inundated in wet weather and more or less baked, though never completely so, in dry periods, cracking into characteristic 'cakes.' It was on this substratum that hundreds of gametophytes were found several hundred yards distant from mature sporophytes. Miss Walker (1921, 1931, 1937) studied the gametophytes of several species, some of which were growing in the wild. Other fairly recent reports on the morphological detail of Equisetum gametophytes include those of Kashyap (1914), Campbell (1930), Goebel (1930), Eames (1936), and Smith (1938). The Colonial Point Hardwoods represents a maplebeech forest climax area. It is only recently that the road shown in Figure 1 was cut through in connection with lumbering operations, and it was in this area that

Stratigraphy and Structure of Traverse Group in Afton-Onaway Area, Michigan

The stratigraphy of the middle Devonian Traverse group of parts of Presque Isle and Cheboygan counties is described. The scattered outcrops are correlated in part with the better known section in northeastern Michigan, which includes southeastern Presque Isle and eastern Alpena County, and in part with northwestern Michigan which includes Emmett and Charlevoix counties. Reliance is placed principally on correlation of faunal zones for those relatively thick alternating limestone and shale subdivisions, such as the Genshaw and Gravel Point formations of the Traverse group. Sharp lithologic breaks between other subdivisions which, between their upper and lower boundaries, are characterized by uniformity in composition and texture, also are useful in correlation. The discrep ncy in total thickness between the Traverse of the described area and the Traverse sections of the east and west is emphasized, and diastrophism suggested as the cause. Three new stratigraphic names, Koehler limestone, Gorbut (a member of the Gravel Point), and Beebe School formation, are defined and described. The writers use their stratigraphic divisions in making a structural contour map of the area, which shows two anticlines, one north of Onaway, and a second, west of Afton.

Swimming and Burrowing Activities of Mayfly Nymphs of the Genus Hexagenia1

The fact has already been established by bottom fauna studies (Adamstone, 1924; Rawson, 1930; Neave, 1932) that lake dwelling species of Hexagenia are inhabitors of soft, organic muds of deeper-water areas contiguous to the shallower sandy or rocky littoral region. Although specimens may be found on a sandy bottom or on a bottom of fine sand and mud intermixed, by far the greater numbers occur on bottoms of a distinctly soft, muddy character. As no investigations have been made on the ability of Hexagenia to burrow in various kinds of bottom, and since the character of the bottom is considered by the writer to be of primary importance as a factor influencing distribution of these nymphs as found in Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan, a series of experiments was conducted.

Life History of Spirorchis Elephantis (Cort, 1917), a New Blood Fluke from Chrysemys Picta

Cercaria elephantis, named and briefly described by Cort (1917) from Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan, was thought by him to be a schistosome. This species of cercaria, along with the cercaria of Spirorchis parr us, first came to my attention in the summer of 1938 when they were found emerging from the snails Helisoma trivolvis (Say) and H. campanulatum (Say), collected from tributaries of the Huron River and from lakes and ponds inhabited by turtles in Washtenaw County, Michigan. At first the two species of cercariae, which are of about the same size and similar in most of the details of the excretory system and in the arrangement of their other organ systems, were considered by me to constitute a single species of schistosome cercaria. Attempts were made to infect several species of birds and mammals, with negative results. Fishes, frogs and salamanders were also exposed to them, likewise without results. Nine species belonging to seven genera of turtles were next exposed to the cercariae and one species proved to be susceptible. In the spring of 1939 this species, Chrysemys piet?, was infected; all others were negative. The finding of two species of blood flukes in some of these experimental turtles suggested that two species of cercariae had been used in the infection experiments. Further investigation proved this surmise to be correct. The two species of cercariae, when subjejeted to careful study, although superficially similar, showed significant differences in size and form of certain organs as well as in their habits of swimming and in positions assumed in floating and resting. The first species proved to be the cercariae of Spirorchis parvus (Stunkard, 1923) whose life history was briefly related by me (Wall, 1939, 1940) and is more fully described by me (Wall, unpublished research). The other was identified as the cercaria of Spirorchis elephantis. This infection experiment with turtles, noted above, furnished the clue to the definitive host of Spirorchis elephantis and led to the investigation of its life history, and to the establishment of a new group of cercariae (Wall, unpublished research).

A Limnological Study of a Retrograding Bog Lake

This paper is the third of a series dealing with the limnological features of different types of bog lakes in northern Michigan. For certain general statements concerning the work of which this paper represents a part, the two previous papers (Welch '36a, 36b) should be consulted. The bog lake here described is known locally as Vincent Lake and is situated largely in the eastern part of section 17, Munro Township, Cheboygan County, Michigan, about one-third of a mile from the north shore of Douglas Lake. Its location in relation to adjacent lakes is shown in a map published by Eggleton ('35). Because of its proximity to the University of Michigan Biological Station, it has been studied from various standpoints by Station investigators over a period of about twenty-five years (see bibliography). Of the literature listed the publications of Brown and Jewell ('26), Eggleton ('35), Jewell and Brown ('24, '29), and Welch ('35) present data of a more strictly limnological nature but do not consider this lake in its entirety. The unpublished paper by Gorham contains additional limnological information. This paper is the first attempt to deal with the lake as a whole and is based upon data secured over a period of about fifteen years. Because of the inaccessibility of this lake during the winter, this study has of necessity been confined almost entirely to the late spring, summer, and early autumn seasons. Only in one instance (1933-1934) were data secured for the late autumn, winter, and early spring. The circumstance which sets this lake apart from the other numerous bog lakes of the region in which it occurs is the reversal of that type of environmental succession which is usually so constant a feature in northern bog lakes. No adequate limnological term seems to be available to designate this reversal, therefore the writer chooses to refer to this condition as a retrogression since, as will be shown later, it appears to present a gradual reversion in the direction of an earlier condition.

Note on the Sex Ratio of the Yellow Perch in Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan

COOPER, GERALD P. 1936 Some results of forage fish investigations in Michigan. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc., 65: 132-142. HANKINSON, T. L. 1920 Notes on the life-histories of Illinois fishes. Trans. Ill. Acad. Sci., 12: 132-150. HUBBS, CARL L. and COOPER, GERALD P. 1936 Minnows of Michigan. Cranbrook Inst. Sci., Bull. 8, 1936: 1-95. MARKUs, HENRY C. 1934 The life-history of the black-head minnow (Pimephales promelas). COPEIA, 1934 (3): 116-122. VAN CLEAVE, HARLEY J., and MARKUs, HENRY C. 1929 Studies in the life-history of the blunt-nosed minnow. Amer. Nat., LXIII: 530-539. WRiGHT, A. H., and ALLEN, A. A. 1913 The fauna of Ithaca, N. Y.: Fishes. Zoology Field Notebook, Ithaca, N. Y., 1913: 4-6.

Layering in Black Spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP.)

The general appearance is that of an older tree surrounded at the base with a fringe of small trees. A few instances have been noted where a tall central tree is surrounded by medium height trees close to it and those in turn by a fringe of smaller trees. (Figs. 1-4.) In deep woods the different groups run together so as not to be readily separated. The habitat in the Douglas Lake region is exclusively that of the Sphagnum-Chamaedaphne bogs. The best areas are around Mud Lake Bog in Inverness township and at Little Lake 16 in Grant township, both in Cheboygan county.

Environmental Relations and Life History of the Tapeworm Bothriocephalus rarus Thomas

The description and distribution of the tapeworm Bothriocephalus rarus has been dealt with in another paper (Thomas, 1937), in which attention is directed to the known range of this parasite which up to the present time has been reported nowhere else but in the small intestine of the vermilion-spotted newts of Sedge Pool, Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan; Seaton's Lake, Uniontown, Pennsylvania; and an unknown locality in northern South Carolina. The tapeworm is uusual in that, to the writer's knowledge, it is the second adult pseudophyllidean tapeworm reported for amphibia and the only one thus far described for the genus Bothriocephalus that does not necessarily have a second intermediate host and that has formed bothria in the procercoid stage. These last features are a departure from the classic study by Rosen and Janici (I917-I8) on the life history of Diphyllobothrium latum and the studies of Li (I929) on Diphyllobothrium decipiens and D. erinacei. It is also different from the life cycle of Bothriocephalus cuspidatus as given by Essex (I928). It, in fact, approaches in some respects the development of Cyathocephalus truncatus Pallas as described by Wisniewski (I932a and b). The data assembled here are the culmination of experiments made and notes taken during the summers I927 to 1933 at the University of Michigan Biological Station.

Shrubs of Cheboygan and Emmet Counties, Michigan

During the summers of 1930, 1931, and ten days in the middle of May 1931 collection of shrubs of Emmet and Cheboygan counties were made. The collecting was done in the vicinity of the University of Michigan Biological Station, the keying out and the checking of the identifications was done at the University of Michigan Herbarium. Since a floral key would be of little value to the summer student or research worker, the keys are based upon foliage characteristics. Sets of the specimetis collected were given to the University of Michigan Herbarium and to the University-of Michigan Biological Station Herbarium. A set has also been retained in the writer's personal Herbarium. The total number of shrubs reported for this region as compiled from various sources is about 140 species, but this number has been reduced because of the lack of specimens to substantiate some of the records. The following shrubs Spirea latifolia, Sorbus subvestita, Vaccinium vacillans, Vaccirnium corymbosum, Vaccinium uliginosum, Salix pyrifolia, Viburnum pubesc(ns and Rubus randii have been reported by others for the two counties, but as there appear to be no collections to verify them, they have been omitted. Cultivated shrubs have not been included unless they have spread from their original planting and become established elsewhere. The number of shrubs for Emmet and Cheboygan counties as thus limited is 128 specimens and 22 varieties or a total of 150. Twenty-five of the shrubs which are found in Cheboygan County are not found in Emmet County, and there are only 5 shrubs found in Emmet County which are not found in Cheboygan County. Two factors are responsible for this uneven distribution; first, Cheboygan County has been botanically surveyed more carefully than Emmet County; secondly, Cheboygan County has all the ecological communities that Emmet County has besides a very large jack pine plains area, which is absent in Emmet County. In the preparation of this paper Roserdahl and Butters' recent publication Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota was followed for nomenclature and sequence of families. The author wishes to thank Dr. J. H. Ehlers, under whom the work was done, for many helpful suggestions and encouragement. He also wished to express his appreciation of the aid of Dr. C. R. Ball, Dr. E. W. Erlanson, and Dr. K. M. Wiegand for checking over material of Salix, Rosa, and Amelanchier. He is also indebted to Dr. F. C. Gates for supplying data concerning habitats and to Mr. Arthur Blickle for checking the keys. Capital letter C indicates that the shrub is found in Cheboygan Countv ( 230)

Notes on the Life History of Ophiotaenia saphena from Rana clamitans Latr.

Fortner (1923) in his survey of the frog parasites of the Douglas Lake region, Cheboygan County, Michigan, during the summers of 1917 and 1919, mentions that of 208 frogs examined, ten per cent of the Rana clamiitans taken in 1917 and one per cent of the Rana pipiens in 1919 contained tapes of the family Proteocephalidae. An examination of the literature on the tapeworms of amphibia, La Rue (1909, 1911, 1914 and 1914a), Johnston (1913), Jewell (1916), Dickey (1921), Woodland (1925), and Hannum (1925), directed the attention of the writer to the paucity of the work on the tapeworms of amphibia, especially of the Anura. This deficiency in the literature in view ot the common use of frogs for some time throughout the world as objects for laboratory study and parasitological investigations can lead one to no other conclusion than that tapeworms of frogs are not common and that even less is known concerning their life histories.

Studies on the Trematode Family Strigeidae (Holostomidae). No. XII.Agamodistomum la-rueisp. nov.

Twelve larval trematodes, herein described asAgamodistomum la-ruein.sp., were found by Prof. La Rue, at the autopsy of a racoon,Procyon lotor lotor(Linn.), which had been kept for several months in captivity near Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan, during the spring and summer of 1925. The parasites were found by teasing the lungs apart in water. It was not determined whether they were in the alveoli of the lungs or in the tissue. They were apparently not encysted.

Distribution and Abundance of Spartina michauxiana at Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan

1. The distribution of Spartina Michauxiana, nominally a prairie plant, on the shores of Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, Michigan, ranges from scattered isolated groups of a few plants to rather large meadow-like zones. 2. The habitat of the plant is that afforded by the lake shore, where it grows typically on the upper beach in front of the upland vegetation, although in two places it was found on the lower beach growing out actually into the water. 3. The eliminating factors of shade, ice, and wave action seem to control the distribution at all points. 4. Spartina is of economic importance in the region primarily as a dune holder in situations not too far above the lake level. 5. The plants of Spartina Michauxiana in the Douglas Lake region, although they differ in several particulars from the standard descriptions, at present favor suitable extensions of the description to cover these plants as ecological variations rather than consideration as a new species.