THE HOME OF THE CLAM 



One morning in June, Professor Parker awakened our quartette of 

 amateur conchologists at the early hour of five o'clock, and bade us 

 prepare for a day's outing in search of fresh-water clams and snails. 

 After hastily eating breakfast and packing a good lunch, for shell-collect- 

 ing makes one very hungry, we left the house and boarded the ca-rs for 

 a ride of eighteen miles, which carried us to a large lake south of the 

 city of C . 



The ride through the country in the early morning air was very 

 exhilarating. A cool breeze blew across the open prairie, and wafted to 

 our nostrils the sweet incense of early summer. After an hour's ride 



we reached the village of W , and alighted from the car. A walk 



of fifteen or twenty minutes over a stretch of swampy prairie brought 

 us to the edge of the large lake, which was our destination. 



The lake at this point was shallow and bordered by cat-tail flags and 

 rushes. The bottom was muddy and peculiarly adapted to the life of 

 clams and snails. The water contained a large amount of lime held in 

 solution, thus furnishing the material necessary for the building of the 

 shells. This body of water was very beautiful, being several miles long 

 and nearly a mile wide. In some places the bank sloped down to meet 

 the water, which was overhung by tall trees, while in other places it was 

 low, marshy, and reed-bordered. Here the dragon-flies flitted to and fro 

 in search of prey, and the water was alive with whirligig-beetles, water- 

 boatmen, and water-striders, the last being those strange, spider- like 

 insects which appear to walk upon the surface of the water. As we went 

 along the bank near the swampy portion of the lake, a large bittern 

 started up and flew away in one direction, while in another, dropping 

 from a nearby tree, a kingfisher uttered its shrill cry which sounded like 

 a watchman^ rattle. 



Our collecting outfit consisted of a market-basket for carrying large 

 specimens of clams, and in addition to this, each member of the party 

 carried a fishing-basket. In this were stored several wide-mouthed, two- 

 ounce bottles, one of which was filled with alcohol for preserving the 

 soft animal. There were also some homoeopathic vials for minute shells, 

 a pair of sharp-pointed tweezers, a flat-bladed knife, and a small dipnet 



