This study was conducted to augment the limited information available regarding the Snowy Egret in the Utah Lake area of Utah. Field observations included the following: nesting habits; egg and clutch sizes; sexual, defense, and feeding behaviors. Analysis was made of the distinguishing subspecies characteristics (culmen, tarsus, and wing length) of the Snowy Egrets and of the distribution of the birds. Field observations showed that growth measurements of the young varied from 16.75 g at hatching to 260.58 g after 17 days. Culmen and tarsus measurements were 15.41 mm and 14.12 mm to 53.18 mm and 62.18 mm, respectively, after 17 days. The average clutch size was 2.93 eggs per clutch. The average egg measured 43.85 mm by 32.44 mm. Hatching success was 50.85% in the two major periods of hatching noted. The lack of distinct lines of differentiation between existing subspecies leads the author to question the validity of the current subspecies designations.

The aquatic and semi-aquatic plant communities of Utah Lake, Utah County, Utah are discussed. This discussion includes the methods of describing and delimiting the major vascular plant communities, the descriptions of the present existent communities, and the determination of the vegetational changes, particularly since 1925. The vegetation around Utah Lake is divided into plant communities. Each community is discussed using: (a) quantitative data, (b) field observations, (c) general and specific locations of the community, and (d) interrelationships and trends of the community. Historical vegetational changes of Utah Lake plant communities are discussed. In this discussion, the plant communities described by Cottam in 1925 are examined in broad outline and then in detail. In 1968, twenty-nine plant communities had developed from fifty-six per cent of the associations and twenty-nine per cent of the societies that were described by Cottam in 1925.

Provo Bay of Utah Lake, Utah, receives the effluents from farms, industry, and three cities. In order to determine the effects of these effluents, eleven stations were established throughout the Bay. At weekly intervals from June 19 to October 26, 1970, and monthly thereafter until March, 1971, the water at these stations was sampled for dissolved oxygen (DO}, carbon dioxide (CO2), turbidity, pH, phosphates, nitrates, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and coliform bacteria. Due to intense algal blooms, the quality of the water changes as it passes through Provo Bay. Average values for the inflow, mid-Bay, and point of discharge respectively during the summer are as follows: DO, 5.4--10.2--6.9 mg/l; CO2, 38--0--6 mg/l; turbidity, 19--80--57 Jackson Turbidity Units; pH, 7. 5--9. 0--7. 2; phosphates, 3. 62--0. 94--0.15 mg/l; nitrates, 0.71--0.08--0.00 mg/l; BOD, 17--27--9 mg/l; and coliforms, 31,000--31--0/100 ml. These results indicate that during the summer Provo Bay is acting as a tertiary treatment pond for the effluents which it receives.