150 



THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, MoUusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. W^ebb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion. N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of interest on above top- 

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

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 bandling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 will be promptly answered. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



Single Subscription 11.00 per annum 



Sample Copies _ 10c each 



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NOTES. 



With deep regret we report 



the 



death of J. Maurice Hatch of CaUfor- 

 nia also Jno. McKowen of Chicago. 

 Both were enterprising collectors and 

 have long been subscribers to the Mu- 



SUEM. 



In the death of Dr. Hall of Albany, 

 N. Y. , geologists and palaeontologists 

 of this country have lost a true friend. 

 A service of 62 years is a very un- 

 usual one, and this coupled with the 

 wonderful results which have always 

 "followed his efforts, makes his life 

 ■work one worth perusing. 



Our eastern trip — taken since the 

 publication of the last Museum — was 

 a very enjoyable one. Our main 

 headquarters were Edgartown on 

 Marthy's Vineyard Island south of 

 Cape Cod, Mass. It proved a very 

 fair collecting ground but we were un- 

 fortunately quite hampered by fogs. 

 Some of the nice specimens secured 

 will be listed up later on. 



A Brief History of the Gathering 

 of Fresh-Water Pearls in the 

 United States. * 



BY GEORGE F. KUNZ. 



The gathering of pearls from the 

 fresh-water shells of North America, 

 although a matter of comparatively 

 recent date among the present inhab- 

 itants, really goes back very far into 

 the unrecorded past, and early attract- 

 ed notice among the first European 

 explorers. In the pre-historic period 

 the Mound Builders of the Mississippi 

 Valley gathered immense quantities of 

 these pearls, as it is amply shown by 

 the stores of them found on the 

 "hearths" of a number of mounds, es- 

 pecially in Ohio, by the recent ex- 

 plorations of Professor F. W. Putnam 

 and W. K. Moorehead. By age, bur- 

 ial and in some cases funeral or sacri- 

 fical fires, these pearls have lost their 

 lustre and beauty, but they were evi- 

 dently highly prized by these ancient 

 people, and gathered by the hundred 

 thousand. The finding of two bushels 

 in a single series of mounds is an evi- 

 dence of their abundance. 



The first explorers who traveled 

 among Indian tribes speak frequently 

 of the number and beauty of the 

 pearls in possession of the natives. 

 Especially marked are these accounts 

 in connection with the great expedi- 

 tion of De Soto, from Florida through 

 the present Gulf States to the Mississ- 

 ippi, in i540-'4i. Garcillasso de la 

 Vega and other narrators give most 

 minute accounts of pearls as worn by 

 the Indians, and the accounts given 

 by them to De Soto at various times, 

 and taken by themselves from burial 

 places of native chieftains, make it 

 quite evident that perhaps all of these 

 referred to were not fresh-water pearls 

 but marine. De Soto's narratives, 



*Having had numerous inquiries about 

 Fresh Water Pearls from shell collectors, we 

 herewith present an article from the pen of 

 probably the best posted man on the subject 

 in the U. S. It was originally read before 

 the Fishery Congress at Tampa, Fla., and re- 

 printed in the Fishing Gazette, to which we 

 are indebted for same.— Ed. 



