such as Cole Creek) have areas of sandy bottom. A fringe forest of
deciduous trees occurs along most streams. The topography and geology
of the area have been discussed by Todd (1911), Franzen and Leonard
(1943), and Dufford (1958).

The five-year period prior to 1957 was the driest in the 70-year
history of weather-records in Kansas (Metzler _et al._, 1958). Streams
throughout the Wakarusa Basin suffered intermittency and, according to
Mr. Melvon H. Wertzberger, the local Work Unit Conservationist with the
Soil Conservation Service, many of them dried completely or contained
only a few widely-scattered, stagnant pools. The effect of the drought
on stream-flow at the mainstream gaging station 2.1 miles south of
Lawrence is presented in Table 1.

According to the Division of Sanitation, Kansas State Board of Health,
no untreated domestic sewage or industrial waste is discharged into the
Wakarusa River System at this time.

The Wakarusa Watershed Association is in the preliminary stages of
establishing a watershed control project in the basin. Objectives of
the project are the improvement of land-use practices and the
construction of several headwater retention structures. Such a program
should have a long-range effect on the physical and biological
characteristics of the streams of the basin. With this in mind we think
it important to document the nature of the present fish-fauna and to
attempt a historical resume of the fauna, based on collections made in
the past sixty years.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. Map of the Wakarusa River and its principal
tributaries.]

_Methods_

Sodium cyanide, a 110-volt (600-watt) A.C. electric shocker, and
seines (6, 12, and 25 feet long, 4 to 8 feet deep having 1/4-in. mesh)
were used to collect fish in 1959. All fishes were preserved and
examined in the laboratory with the exception of large, common species
that were identified in the field and returned to the stream.

TABLE 1. RECORD OF STREAM-FLOW, WAKARUSA RIVER 2.1 MI. S
LAWRENCE, KANSAS.

============+=========+===========+=========+======
Water Year | Days | Days with | Maximum | Mean
(Oct. 1 | with no | flow less | for | for
to Oct. 1) | flow | than 5cfs | year | year
------------+---------+-----------+---------+------
1951 | 0 | 0 | 22,600 | 596.0
1952 | 0 | 85 | 5,000 | 179.0
1953 | 83 | 191 | 685 | 10.2
1954 | 194 | 12