Bivalve Shells —Portage County. 37 
Bivalve Shells—The bivalve shells are equally prolific in spe- 
cies, and afford thirty four of the genus Unio, four of Alasmodonta, 
and five of Anodonta. ‘The Unio nasutus, hitherto considered ex- 
clusively an eastern shell, is abundant in the streams that enter into 
Lake Erie. “eeiaie} 
Portage County.—Portage County embraces much fine land for 
tillage, and also for meadows. It is descriptively named from the 
act of its containing within its limits the old Indian portage between 
the waters of Lake Erie and the Muskingum River. In the south 
western part of the county is a tract of several miles in width, and 
running in a S.W. and N. E. direction, of a peculiar formation. 
The surface is studded with numerous small hillocks, composed of 
gravel and sand. In the depressed portions between the hills, are 
scattered a number of beautiful ponds of fine transparent water, con- 
taining fish peculiar to this region, especially the black bass. Spot- 
ted perch, sun-fish, &c., are also common, with a black catfish or 
horn pout, similar to that found in the ponds east of the mountains. 
This species of the genus Silurus I have not seen in the Ohio river. 
They also contain the Nelumbium luteum and fragrant Nymphea. 
Some of them are of great depth, and said to be based on quick- 
sands. At their outlets they are generally more or less swampy, 
but the shores are lined with a fine white sand. The surplus wa- 
ters of many of these small lakes are discharged into the Cuyahoga, 
and from thence into Lake Erie, proving them to be seated on some 
of the highest land between the Muskingum and the Jake. Many 
of them are beautiful sheets of water of four or five hundred acres, 
and from their resemblance to the small crystal lakes of New Eng- 
land, recalled many delightful recollections of my early years in my 
native land.* They were the first I had seen in thirty years, or since 
I crossed the Alleghany Mountains, as they are confined to the ta- 
ble lands between the lakes and the Ohio River, which I had not 
before visited. These calm and quiet lakes, once the home of the 
additional once <n = such a manner as to form suddenly a large umbili- 
cus, makes hie falivin 
t“M. wath joni-altie is cm that two or three species existing in the waters 
in Ohio, are included under this name; and it is doubtful whether either is specif- 
red tees with the eastern shell deseribed by Mr. Say.” 
a stagnalis—A few fine specimens have been found in the Congress 
Saas and in some other small lakes in this section of country. Ihave also recei- 
ved some from Dr. Foote of | the U.S. Amy, ¢ places in dake Winnebago. They 
f this 
* 5 inaokeliuiebita: 
