216 AMERICAN JOURNAL 



ON THE SHELLS OF THE HOLSTON RIVER. 



BY JAMES LEWI?, M. D. 



The Holston River rises in the mountainous refjcions of the 

 western parts of Virginia and North Carolina. Flowing in a 

 south-westerly direction through Eastern Tennessee, it receives 

 numerous tributaries, one of which, the Clinch River, is a stream 

 of nearly equal magnitude with the Holston, and at its junction 

 with the Little Tennessee River (a stream of some size, rising in 

 the south-western part of North Carolina), merges into the Ten- 

 nessee River, which is properly but a continuation of the Hol- 

 ston undei' another name. In all the considerable streams which 

 are united in this system of drainsige, is a common fauna, varied 

 locally by species which are not common to the whole system. 



During two years past, a portion of the Holston River, ex- 

 tending from Little River Shoals to Chota Shoals, a distance of 

 about 20 miles, has been explored by Miss Annie E. Law, of 

 Concord, East Tennessee, and the various species of mollusca 

 collected by her are the principal subject of the following notes, 

 to which is appended a supplementary list of shells quoted by 

 writers as found in the Holston River and at Knoxville. This, 

 it is presumed, embraces all or nearly all that can be profitably 

 suggested respecting the shells of the Holston from the knowl- 

 edge we have of them at the present time. Before entering upon 

 the consideration of species, it may be proper to remark that 

 certain shells which heretofore have been quoted as found in the 

 Holston have not so occurred in Miss Law's explorations. In 

 reply to inquiry, Miss Law remarks, in a recent letter, " I have 

 never found Croniobasis in the Holston. . . It seems to be- 

 long exclusively to small streams. Neither have I detected any 

 among the shells found in Indian Mounds, nor among the vast 

 beds of fossil shells washed up by the great freshet three years 

 ago." 



A small bivalve shell, described by Mr. Lea under the name 

 Margaritana Hohtonia^ and referred to the Holston, has not 

 been found by Miss Law in the Holston, but is somewhat abun- 

 dant in some of the small streams of Monroe County. 



