The life of inland waters

the long version

First paragraph of preface: In the following pages we have endeavored to present a brief and untechnical account of fresh-water life, its forms, its conditions, its fitnesses, its associations and its economic possibilities. This is a vast subject. No one can have detailed first hand knowledge in any considerable part of it. Hence, even for the elementary treatment here given, we have borrowed freely the results of researches of others. We have selected out of the vast array of material that modern limnological studies have made available that which we deem most significant.