PEARLY FRESE -WATER MUSSELS 89 



SESSIONA!- PAPER No. 38a 



small worthless luteolas. Not having completely satisfied myself I again went over 

 the ground thoroughly the next day in company with Captain Glass of Sarnia, finding 

 very little, however, of any value whatever. The current flowing through the river 

 here is very strong. It seemed foolish to look so carefully for shells large enough and 

 in sufficient quantity to be of commercial value, but I desired to thoroughly settle the 

 matter. Popular reports concerning shells are generally misleading. This is due to 

 the fact that very few people understand shells from a commercial point of view. With 

 regard to lake Smith, for example, glowing reports of shells were made. One man sup- 

 porting this view was kind enough to get a boat and take me over the ground, but we 

 found only numerous specimens of the common worthless lake clams. 



KOTTAWASAGA RIVER. 



Mr. Gross, button-manufacturer of Kitchener, Ont., had been informed that large 

 quantities of mussels had been found along the river. lie decided to investigate the 

 reports and agreed to my accompanying him. A motor launch was engaged to take us 

 up the river. Several miles up the river we discovered a bed where the mussels were 

 very thick. We needed but to drag the crow-foot bar a short distance when a consider- 

 able number of clams would be caught. Shells were also obtained in a similar manner 

 near the mouth of the river, just out from the Riveria hotel. In all, the following 

 species were taken: L. recta, L. ventricosa, U. gihhosus, S. costata, and 8. edentulus. 

 In the commercial appraisal the L. ventricosa are reported to be small, no discoloration, 

 hard and brittle, fourth grade, and giving 640 16-line gross blanks per ton. Many of the 

 ventricosa taken were too small to be of commercial value and had to be thrown back. 

 The shells here are -very remarkable for their colour. Ventricosa is in fact the only 

 species showing no discoloration. Some of the recta are extremely dark purple. Mr. 

 Gross did not consider it worth while to prospect further. Only a small part of the 

 river has thus been surveyed for shells. The prospect here is not at all promising, at 

 any rate not until there is a demand for coloured shells. It would be interesting to 

 determine the cause of discoloration. This is as yet unknown. 



The bottom, from* which most of the shells came, was gravelly and the water 

 from 5 to 6 feet deep. There is a large flow here and the river should support con- 

 siderable mussel life. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



This investigation was conducted only at selected points on a few of our rivers. 

 The results cannot, therefore, be taken as finally indicative of our mussel resources. 

 The river Thames, for example, draining a large area between the Grand and the Aux 

 Sables, both of which contain commercial shells, has not been touched. It is impos- 

 sible to know our resources until a more extended survey is made. 



A great deajl of important information could no doubt be obtained quite 

 economically if further fresh-water mussel investigations were combined with those of 

 the district hydrographers of the Hydro-electric Power Commission of Ontario. 

 They, I believe, cover a great many points along our rivers regularly. In the month 

 of June of last year the staff at Brantford visited the following stations :— 



Stations. Streams. 



Burford, Whiteman's Creek, 



Onondaga, Fairchild's Creek, 



Brantford, Grand Rivei% 



Canning, Nith River, 



Nicholson, Nottawasaga River, 



Glenmoiris, Grand River, 

 38a— 74 



