86 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. VII, No. 4, 



SOME NOTES ON COLLECTING MOLLUSCA IN OHIO DURING 



1906.* 



V. vSterki. 



The summer of 1906 was not favorable for collecting mollusca 

 in rivers and creeks. The water was higher and more turbid than 

 it usually is. The same has been reported from other states. Yet 

 there was some good in this state of things; on the one hand, the 

 mussels and snails had a favorable season for growth, and on the 

 other, they were somewhat protected from the shell and pearl 

 hunters. 



A few, somewhat hurried, collecting trips were made to some 

 parts of the state; the expenses of most of them were paid from 

 the McMillin fund of the Ohio State Academy of Science. The 

 results of these trips were somewiiat below expectations, partly 

 on account of the conditions of the water and weather; as for 

 some of them the season was too much advanced. Yet, a few 

 species were found which had not yet been listed for the state, 

 and many localities were noted. The finding of a fossiliferous 

 deposit in Defiance County was also of interest. Like the sim- 

 ilar deposits in the Ohio and Miami Valleys it shows that there 

 was a time when land snails especially were plentiful. Compared 

 with this, our present moUuscan fauna is very poor, especially 

 in the northwestern part of the state. 



On the whole stretch from the western parts of Stark and 

 Summit counties to Defiance, there are few places where land 

 snails can find "congenial surroundings," even approximately 

 suitable conditions of life, in consequence of deforestation, drain- 

 age and culture of the soil. It is e\'ident that not only the num- 

 ber of individuals is diminished to a small per cent of their num- 

 bers even of a few score 3^ears ago, but that many species are be- 

 ing exterminated over large tracts of land. And the same can 

 be said, to a large extent, of fresh-water mollusca, gastropods as 

 well as bivalves. 



It is generally understood that Hmestone is favorable for the 

 growth of snails; but at Tiffin, e. g., I was badly disappointed. 

 A several hours' tramp left my boxes almost empty, and ap- 

 parently favorable and promising places were found absolutely 

 barren. But the rocky rapids of the Sandusky river yielded a 

 few things which had not been looked for — although no Unioni- 

 dae — and show that at favorable places of that river a rather 

 rich harvest may still be expected. 



The Licking Ri\'er (or creek) at Newark is ver}' poor; a few 

 snails were found, but not a trace of a mussel. Yet there is no 

 doubt that it had its fair share of them. Rather the same con- 



* Presented at the meeting of the Ohio State Academy of Science. 



