THE MUSEUM 



tain, or report little or no change, six 

 describe them as abudant, or "inex- 

 haustible," and four refer to partial re- 

 covery or replenishment after reduc- 

 tion. In forty-five out of tlfty-nine 

 papers, therefore, or approximately 

 three-fourths, the process of exhaus- 

 tion is recorded at time already com- 

 plete. Of these twenty-six state the 

 cause as pearl hunting, mainly or 

 wholly, and ten refer to other agencies 

 — one or two each to low or high wat- 

 er, deposits of sand or mud, ice, boats, 

 hogs and rats. Of seven answers from 

 Wisconsin, where so many pearls of 

 remarkable beauty were found in the 

 early nineties, five report the shells as 

 nearly or entirely exhausted, and two 

 refer to rapid reduction due to careless 

 and ignorant persons taking the small 

 and young shells as well as those more 

 likely to contain pearls. A Tennessee 

 paper alludes to the same reckless 

 habit, and estimates the shells remain- 

 ing as about 4 per cent, only of the 

 number in former years. The destruc- 

 tion of young shells is also mentioned 

 in Indiana. In New York it is stated 

 that a good pearl fisher can "clean 

 out" a bed of 500 shells in a day. 

 The Ohio paper speaks of hundreds 

 being opened daily. In Iowa one 

 states that the river will be exhausted 

 in two years. Of those that speak of 

 little change several remark that much 

 is not known or done in regard to 

 pearls in their localities. Of the four 

 that allude to recovery, Tennessee says 

 that the beds are cleared out about 

 every two years and renewed in four. 

 One says that they exhaust yearly and 

 rebed in one or two years; another 

 states that the shells return every 

 year, but in less numbers, and Texas 

 reports that many beds that have been 

 worked out are recovering through the 

 growth of the young shells that were 

 left unmolested. 



( To be continued. ) 



Note the ad. of "Wholesale Bar- 

 gains" elsewhere in this number. 



_TH^E MUSEUM^ 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences, 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest on atmve top- 

 ics, as well as notes on the various Museums of the 

 World— rtews from same, discoveries relative to the 

 handling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brier as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 win be promptly answered. 



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Notes on American Shipworms. 



"During the summer of 1893, while 

 engaged in observations on the oyster 

 at Beaufort, N. C, for the United 

 States Fish Commissioner," says 

 Chas. P. Sigerfoos, in the Fishing Ga- 

 zette, "I became interested in the 

 various shipworms which are found so 

 abundantly in the waters of North 

 Carolina. During the summer we 

 made some observations on their natu- 

 ral history, and returned for periods 

 during the two succeeding seasons to 

 continue them. The results have 

 been incorporated in a paper on "The 

 Natural History, Organization and 

 Late Development of the Teredinida, ' 

 which is almost ready for publication. 



"The shipworms were favorite ob- 

 jects of study during the eighteenth 

 century, on account of their great 

 damage to the dykes of Holland in 

 1733 and subsequent years. The con- 

 temporaneous observers seem to have 

 been unaware of the observations of 

 Pliny and others in ancient times, and 



