A NEW RECORD IN REARING FRESH- 

 WATER PEARL MUSSELS 



By Dr. A. D. Howard, 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Fail-port, Iowa. 



Last May, Mr. A. F. Shira, of the U. S. Bureau of 

 Fisheries at Lake Peppin, Minnesota, shipped to the Bio- 

 logical Laboratory at Fairport, Iowa, a number of gravid 

 mussels of the species called "fat mucket" Lampsilis lu- 

 teola, Say. This mussel has a reputation for bearing 

 pearls and is of economic importance for its mother-of- 

 pearl used in the manufacture of buttons, etc. 



At the time, I was engaged in a series of experiments 

 to determine to what extent the common fishes could be 

 used in artificial propagation of certain members, includ- 

 ing this species, of the family Lampsilinae (Ortmann). 

 On May 21, 1914, I took the glochidia from these mussels 

 and infected a dozen different species of fish; of these, 

 six species proved susceptible and carried the young mus- 

 sels through their metamorphosis. As the young mussels 

 began to be shed by the fish, I placed a number of in- 

 fected black bass (Micropterous salmoides Lac.) in a 

 floating crate made for the purpose of catching the young 

 mussels as they fell off. The crate I devised to meet a 

 number of difficulties that had been experienced in at- 

 tempts to raise mussels under observation. In aquaria, 

 either balanced or with running water direct from the 

 usual habitat of the mussels, they do not thrive. The 

 majority are apparently eaten by predacious worms, or 

 those which do not fall prey to their enemies, stop grow- 

 ing, apparently owing to some lack of nutrition. 



Among European investigators who have attempted to 

 grow young mussels are M. Brown, W. Harms and Karl 

 Herber.* The latter this year reports having carried the 



*Brown, M.: 1889, Die postembryonal Entwicklung der Najaden. 



Harms W. : 1909, Postembryonale entwicklungsgeschichte der Unioni- 

 den. 



Herber, Karl: 1913, Entwicklungsgeschichte von Anodonta cellensit, 

 Schrot. Zeitschrift Wiss. Zool., Bd. 108. 



