4 MUSSELS OF BIG BUFFALO FORK OF WHITE EIVER. 



places in the bed of the stream which appeared to be permanent. 

 No beds were found on sand bars, and when found on gravel bars 

 the sand and gravel were mixed with larger fragments of rocks. 

 It would be quite impossible to collect shells in this stream with 

 tongs or drags such as are successfully used on the Illinois River in 

 Illinois. Nowhere were shells found in abundance, and if all shells 

 taken out by the pearl hunters could be used in the manufacture of 

 buttons there could certainly not be much profit in collecting and 

 transporting them. 



Notwithstanding the statements of some pearl hunters that a bed 

 can be worked thoroughly one season and as many shells found there 

 the following one, the general impression is that the mussels are not 

 so abundant as formerly. During the low water the hogs eat all that 

 they are able to obtain, and are, no doubt, partially responsible for 

 the depletion of many beds in the upper course of the stream. In- 

 quiries were made as to shells in the smaller tributaries, and the 

 answer was either " none " or " veiy few." Along the portion of the 

 river examined the beds have all been very thoroughly worked an- 

 nually for the past few years by pearl hunters, and work of this 

 nature was being carried on energetically in 1910. 



It seems that a stream which varies so greatly in volume as this 

 one does, so much of its bed changed by freshets, with scarcely any 

 permanent sand bars, would not furnish conditions for an abundant 

 growth of mussels. Between Boxley and a point about 10 miles 

 above the ford on the Harrison-Jasper road only one small bed was 

 observed. 



The distance between our first and last camps was 95.8 miles, and 

 the difference in elevation was 402 feet, or about 4.2 feet per mile. 

 The fall for the first 15 miles was about 4.3 feet per mile, and in the 

 last 15 miles 3.2 feet per mile. Between our camps of July 28 and 

 July 30 the fall was 4.9 feet per mile for a distance of about 15 miles. 



During the trip the river was gauged at three places with the fol- 

 lowing results: The flow of Buffalo River above the forks of Little 

 Buffalo, sec. 8, T. 16 N., R. 20 W., on July 22 was 43.6 cubic feet 

 per second, the gauge height at Gilbert on this day being 3.6 feet; 

 the width of water was 54 feet. On July 26, in sec. 35, T. 16 N., 

 R. 20 W., below the forks the flow was 85.19 cubic feet per second, 

 with a gauge height at Gilbert of 3.8 ; width 64 feet. On August 1 

 at Gilbert the flow was 137.4 cubic feet per second, gauge 3.2, width 68. 



The following is a list of camps, giving the elevation of each and 

 the distance from each to the next as furnished by Prof. Gladson. 

 The measurements are stadia distances in feet between each station 

 and the following one. The elevations are above mean sea level. Gulf 

 of Mexico, from United States Geological Survey bench marks, Fay- 

 etteville, Ark. 



