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crack, and reappeared with a mussel in its mouth. Upon reaching the 

 surface with its catch, it sat down on its haunches on the edge of the 

 crack, and, holding the mussel in its front feet, pried the valves apart 

 with its teeth and scooped or licked out the contents of the shell. Some 

 of the larger mussels were too strong for it to open, and a part of these 

 were left lying on the ice. The bottom of the lake near Long Point, 

 and also over by Norris's, is well paved by shells that have been killed 

 by muskrats. Muskrats do not seem to relish the gills of gravid mus- 

 sels; these parts are occasionally found untouched where the animal 

 had been feeding. 



Species of Mussels Occurring in Lake Maxinkuckee. 



1. Qiiadrula coccinea (Conrad). 



Rare at the lake; this is a river rather than a lake shell and would 

 be expected in abundance only in fluviatile lakes, or lakes with broad short 

 outlets and vital connection with river faunas. The few living mussels 

 of this species found in the lake v/ould probably represent a vanishing 

 remnant of a fauna introduced when the lake had a broader outlet than 

 at present and communication with the river below more active. A few 

 dead shells were found along the north shore at various times. On 

 October 25, 1907, a shell 1.75 inch long was found near the railroad 

 bridge at Culver, and in 1909 another small shell was found along 

 shore at Aubeenaubee Bay. Some fine large examples, biought up from 

 the Tippecanoe were planted in the thoroughfare below the railroad 

 bridge, but they have probably been covered and suffocated by sand. 



2. Quadrula rubiginosa (Lea). 



More common in Lake Maxinkuckee than Q. coccinea, but neverthe- 

 less rather rare, only a few dwarfed shells having been found. In Lost 

 Lake below the Bardsley cottage it was a fairly common species. None 

 of the shells found was of large size, but all were well-formed and hand- 

 some. The older shells are almost jet black and peculiarly elongate, 

 with the umbones markedly anterior in position. They look considerably 

 unlike those of either the Tippecanoe or Yellow River, but a form much 

 like the Lost Lake shells was found in the lower course of the Kankakee. 

 No gravid examples were found in the lake. Half grown examples are 

 rather common in Lost Lake, but as they are usually buried consider- 



