250 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



able habitats. The smaller species seemed fairly abundant, 

 but the larger forms, with the exception of Pyramidula alter- 

 nata, were few and far between. On the Wisconsin shore, 

 where the river valley extends for a considerable distance be- 

 fore reaching the bluff, the land snail fauna is said to be 

 more varied and abundant. We had no time for investigating 

 this side of the river and I cannot therefore speak with any 

 degree of accuracy concerning this territory. 



The craze for pearls, as well as the more legitimate fishing 

 for pearl button material, has well-nigh exhausted the mus- 

 sel beds in this region, and the huge piles of mussels on the 

 Wisconsin shore near Prairie du Chien bear silent but potent 

 witness to the fact that the mussel fishery in this part of the 

 river has seen its best day. We were told that several years 

 ao^o as many as fifteen hundred boats were engaged in the 

 mussel fishery but at tlie present time only about one hun- 

 dred were engaged in this work. 



The fishermen spend the mornings in securing the clams by 

 means of the four-pronged "crowfoot" hooks, which, to 

 the number of a hundred or more, are attached by stout rope 

 to a long iron pipe or bar. The ropes are placed some four 

 or five inches apart and as many as four hooks may be strung, 

 six inches apart, on a single rope. The method of use is to 

 lower this crowfoot dredge from the boat and drag it over 

 the mussel bed. As the mussels lay in their natural position, 

 with their shells slightly gaping, the prong of the hook enters 

 between the two valves of the shell and the mussel closes 

 upon the hook and is thus pulled up. The writer has seen 

 twenty-five mussels caught in a single haul and the fishermen 

 say that over one hundred are sometimes obtained at a single 

 haul. Most of the shells are taken to the neighborhood of 

 Prairie du Chien where a number of the men have erected 

 cabins and clam sheds near the St. Paul railroad tracks. At 

 this place twenty to thirty boats may be seen drawn up on 

 the shore at noon and nearly a dozen rude stoves may be seen 

 boiling out the meat in the shells. When the clams have 

 been boiled they are thrown on a wooden bench and the meat 

 is carefully looked over for any possible pearls. The writer 



