Fragments. of Natural History. 167 
In company with my friend J. G. Anthony, of Cincinnati, we 
found great numbers of young Uniones on a sand-bar in the Ohio 
river, near that city. The water was clear, rapid, and about 
eighteen inches deep, offering the most favorable circumstances 
for the accomplishment of our purpose. The young were gene- 
rally imbedded in sand and pebbles to the depth of three or four 
inches, and when carefully raised from their retreats were always 
found to be furnished with the filament above described. On 
tracing out the extremity, remote from the body, we discovered 
it to be attached indiscriminately to pebbles, stones, the shells of 
older specimens, or other fixtures. 'The purpose it is destined to 
accomplish, instead of being an umbilical connection with the 
mother, as I formerly supposed, is evidently that of a cable, to 
anchor the young in safety in a favorable locality, at an age when 
they are unable to do it by other means. . It is in fact a byssus, 
similar in many respects to that with which the Chama and cer- 
tain other bivalves are furnished, and by means of which “a 
adhere to other bodies, F 
Fig a represents a vertical section of the river, exhibiting a 
young U. zigzag raised out of its bed, but still attached to a stone. 
Fig. 6, the origin of Pe tee. base of the foot of the 
imal. 
