MUSSELS OF CUMBERLAND RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES. 27 



Indian Creek Shoals, 53 miles below Burnside, is one of the most 

 interesting mussel beds of the upper river. We found the water 

 clear with a swift current over a gravelly bottom. Near the water's 

 edge was a pile of about 300 pounds of shells left by a pearler. 

 These were mostly pocketbooks and muckets, but contained a good 

 sprinkling of sand-shells, Dromus, and monkey-faces. Mr. Boepple 

 obtained a good collection of shells from this bed in 1910 and also 

 from Copper Island a little farther down the river. 



Snows Island is a large island covered with coarse pebbles, upon 

 which many dead shells had drifted, while others along the shore 

 had been freshly killed by muski-ats. At the head of Weeds Island, 

 a little way below, there was about a ton and a half of shells left by 

 pearlers, chiefly the southern mucket and elephant-ear. 



At Tear-coat Bar on July 20 the water was muddy and high from 

 a heavy rain the night before. The bottom here is black gravel 

 mixed with yellow sand. Out of 'a ton and a half of shells left 

 here by pearlers about 90 per cent were southern muckets and 

 elephant-ears and the remaining 10 per cent an admixture of other 

 species. 



Selfs Bar contained a large and populous mussel bed which had 

 been the center of active pearling operations. The 3 tons of shells 

 left by them contained about the same percentage of shells as at 

 Tear-coat Bar. 



Marrowbone Creek, a small tributary from the north, was examined 

 up to the first riffles, a mile or more, but contained no mussels.' In 

 general the northern tributaries of the Cumberland were rather bar- 

 ren, while those from the south were well populated. On the top 

 of a hill near the mouth of this creek was an old shell pile left by 

 the Indians, and from this point these shells became quite frequent, 

 especially near the sites of old camping grounds. 



At Champs Shoals pearling was being actively carried on, and 

 there was a large pile of discarded shells, two-thu-ds of which were 

 elephant-ears, while nearly all of the other third were southern 

 muckets. The river here widens out considerably, and there is 

 more clay and sand on the bottom. The shell bed continues with 

 some interruptions from this bar down to Burkesville. At Tobins 

 Landing, below Burkesville, Mr. Boepple obtained a fine collection 

 of shells, representing at least 14 species. 



At Cloyds Island, below Tobins, there is an unusually good mussel 

 bed which has been much worked by pearlers. The banks along 

 both sides were fairly covered with the shells left by them, prin- 

 cipally southern muckets and elephant-ears. In this bed the mus- 

 sels were thickest where the current was strongest. 



Biggerstaff Bar and Island were examined July 24; at the head 

 of the island were a few shells among which were found specimens 

 of Lastena lata, a rare species. 



