126 



THE NAUTILUS. 



islands and rocks, and two miles below attains a width of nearly 

 three-fourths of a mile. A few of these islands are of fairly large 

 extent and heavily wooded with pine and oak. 



The rapids extend for a distance of five miles and bear the same 

 character throughout, the rocks all rest upon a clean, sandy bed, and 

 over the entire length of the rapids I could find no trace of water 

 shells of any description. The streams in this section of the country 

 a\\ seem to be alike in this respect, with the exception, perhaps, of 

 Clear Creek, a stream about three miles from this point, which is 

 said to contain large quantities of Unio of which, however, I have 

 had none other than oral evidence. 



The banks of the river on the South Carolina side are in many 

 places very steep and covered with hard-wood timber. I may here 

 state that it is only wasted time to attempt to find shells under pine 

 logs. I have tried it often and always with the same results, namely, 

 a tired back, torn hands, a considerable gain in bodily temperature, 

 and few if any specimens to add to the bottle. As an athletic exer- 

 cise it is without an equal, but from a collector's point of view, a 

 decided failure. 



Beginning at the railroad bridge and working down stream, comes 

 a stretch of bottom land covered by one of the most dense cane brakes 

 I ever saw, extending to the water edge, and which gives evidence 

 of being submerged at high water. I turned many logs at this point' 

 but they were in too close contact with the clear sand and produced 

 nothing. 



Beyond and below this cane brake the banks of the river rise at a 

 distance of fifty yards from the water to quite steep hills, thickly 

 timbered with oak and maple, and the soil of a much more solid con- 

 sistancy. Here, under logs on the hill side, I found Polygyra ap- 

 pressa Say, Polyyyra stenotrema Fer. and several Zonitoides, together 

 with a few specimens of Polygyra tridentata Say. Under one log I 

 found a colony of Polyyyra barbigera Redf., but a most careful search 

 under many other similar logs near by failed to discover any more. 

 On the bottom land several water-soaked and spongy logs produced 

 Gastrodonta interna Say and Zonitoides elliotti Say in great numbers, 

 they were all obtained by picking the wood apart with a knife and 

 shaking out the shells into a handkerchief. The contrast between 

 the light delicate pink of the former and the pale green of the latter 

 was very marked and beautiful. 



