154 



THE MUSEUM. 





sulphurous. A Texas pearler (Colo- 

 rado, Concho, San Saba and Llano 

 rivers) refers to the water as becoming 

 slightly alkaline in dry times, and an- 

 other Texas pearler (Colorado and 

 Llano) makes a similar statement. A 

 New York pearler (De Grass River 

 and Plum Brook) mentions the water 

 as brown or black — the clear, brown 

 water of the hemlock districts, famil- 

 iar in Northern New York. 



The general conclusions most clear- 

 ly brought out may perhaps be sum- 

 med up as follows: The shells are 

 most abundant in swift and clear wat- 

 er where the bottom is sandy or grav- 

 elly and the country rock calcareous. 

 While still numerous in many streams 

 they have greatly diminished within a 

 few years past, wherever the pearl- 

 hunting enterprise has extended, and 

 are at some points nearly exterminat- 

 ed. The pearls found are few, and 

 those of marketable value represent 

 the destruction of thousands of shells 

 for every one obtained. No use is 

 made of this often beautiful material, 

 which is simply thrown away and lost, 

 although for buttons and ornamental 

 articles it would be admirable. The 

 imethods of gathering the shells and 

 extracting the pearls are the simplest 

 and most primitive, and the activity 

 of a few seasons generally exhausts 

 the bed. 



This state of affairs is one that calls 

 loudly for reform. The wealth of 

 Unios that filled our rivers and streams 

 is being rapidly destroyed by ignorant 

 and wasteful methods of pearl-hunt- 

 ing, and either some form of protec- 

 tion is important, or, if that be not 

 possible, a wide diffusion of informa- 

 tion as to better methods and particu- 

 larly the introduction of tools used in 

 Germany for opening Unios far enough 

 to see if there are any pearls obtained 

 without destroying the animal, which 

 may then be returned to the water. 

 {To be continued.') 



My Turtles. 



Early this last Spring, while collect- 

 ing in a small patch of woods several 

 miles from home, my attention was 

 aroused by a crackling of dry twigs, 

 as though some good sized animal was 

 in the neighborhood. The noise was 

 repeated and, on going to its source, I 

 found a handsomely marked Box Tur- 

 tle, (Cistudo Carolina),\\\\\z\\ was just 

 completing its morning meal, as the 

 small remnant of earth worm hanging 

 from its jaws indicated. 



Now Box Turtles are getting decid- 

 edly scarce in Rhode Island, and ac- 

 cordingly I was much interested in 

 this find. He was immediately con- 

 signed to a large fish basket which I 

 invariably carry on my excursions 

 afield. 



Closer examination at home showed 

 that my find had been captured before 

 and was of considerable age, as his 

 plastron was decorated with two dates, 

 one 1887, the other, 1857. The car- 

 apax of this specimen was beautifully 

 marked with bright yellow, more so 

 than any other that I have seen. 



A portion of the yard was partition- 

 ed off and allotted to this animal, who 

 was not destined to remain long with- 

 out company. 



A few days later I secured two Spot- 

 ted Turtles, {Che/opus guttatus), that 

 were installed in the same pen. Short- 

 ly after, two more Box Turtles were 

 added and recently I was presented 

 with one of those ugly looking and 

 ugly tempered Snappers, {Cliclydi-a 

 serpentina). 



A tub filled with water was sunk in 

 the ground for the accommodation of 

 this last arrival and some Painted Tur- 

 tles, Chryseniys picta), an abundant 

 resident of this State. 



All of the family seemed content, 

 even happy, with the exception of his 

 serpentine majesty, who was the larg- 

 est one of the lot and whom more 

 than one visitor pronounced the very 

 image of that sulphurous individual 

 who is supposed to rule over the low- 

 er regions. 



