20 MUSSEL FAUNA OF THE KANKAKEE BASIN. 



L. hiteolus was fairly abundant, and, instead of the usual dwarfed 

 specimens found in lakes, these were full}^ as large as any obtained 

 in the Yellow or Kankakee Rivers. 



L. subrostratus was sparingly distributed, only 20 specimens being 

 found, but each of these had large shells for the species, with an ex- 

 ceptionally thick white nacre. 



A few Unio gibhosus were found in shallow water close to the 

 shore. 



A large number of dead shells of Q. undidata were scattered about 

 over the bottom, and at one spot in the Upper Lake a colony of living 

 examples was found. This is the first instance in our experience 

 of finding this species in a lake, although Call reports it as fairly 

 common in the lakes of northern Indiana. The shells were all fully 

 as large and of as fine quality as those found in the rivers. A single 

 live specimen of L. his was found near the shore, one of L. glans, and 

 one of A. imhecillis. All these mussels were well incrusted with 

 marl, but the size of the shells and the healthy appearance of most 

 of the specimens indicate that the conditions are at least very 

 favorable. 



A. grandis was as plentifully distributed in the thoroughfare 

 between the lakes as over the lake bottom, but the other species were 

 not found there. 



The two Mud Lakes, as their names indicate, had a bottom of soft 

 black muck and contained no mussels. 



On the way back to Walkerton another Mud Lake on the east fork 

 of the river, and into which Potato Creek empties, was visited. But 

 the lake has been practically all drained by the dredging of the 

 river and what is left was so black and swampy that it was not 

 deemed worth examining. 



The mussels from the Fish Lakes yielded an abundance of Atax 

 parasites, some Cotylaspis^ and many of the distomid of Osbom. 

 The exceptional size and thickness of the shells of all the species is 

 worthy of notice. 



Station lip. Kankakee River at Davis, Inch — The old bed of the 

 river was examined close to the bridge of the Pittsburgh Division 

 of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The same conditions were repeated 

 here as in the dredged portion of the Yellow River below Ober. 

 There was too swift a current and too much moving sand for the 

 mussels to obtain a foothold in the dredged channel, but the old bed 

 of the river was full of them. In this latter locality the hard sandy 

 bottom had been overlaid with 1 or 2 feet of soft black mud, brought 

 down during the freshets and deposited in the quiet wat^r of these 

 lagoons. 



The mussels were even more numerous than in the old bed of the 

 Yellow River, three or four being often obtained in a single square 



