PEARLY FRESH-WATER MUSSELS 91 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38a 



Dr. Walker obtained through the Am. Mus. of Nat. Hist, of IST.Y., the following 

 species from the Assiniboine: Lamp, recta, ventncosa, luteola, and alata; Sym. com- 

 planata; An. grandis and Quad, undulata, lachrymosa and ruhiginosa. 



Many species of commercial mussels are thus represented in our western waters. 



Finally, since the maintenance of a mussel supply depends on our fresh-water 

 fish supply, it will be necessary to direct our attention to the greater and more impor- 

 tant problem of fish conservation. It is obvious that the two problems go hand in hand, 

 and a station set aside for the latter should be supplemented by a department working 

 in the interests of the former wherever the conditions of the surrounding country 

 demand it. Fish ponds in which the proper species of fish could be reared for the 

 purposes of infection and experiment, might at the same time yield valuable informa 

 tion in the interests of fish-culture. Such information would be of the greatest impor- 

 tance in hastening the day when the farmer would raise his fish as naturally as he 

 raises his poultry. In the near future fresh-water research laboratories, in which our 

 fishery problems are scientifically worked out, will have to be established. But our 

 inland fishery problems can never be satisfactorily solved until the still more basic 

 problem of water conservation is seriously dealt with. Of all the problems relative 

 to national economy none is more likely to engage our serious attention in the future 

 than that of water conservation. 



