Ten Days in Ohio. 257 
teeth of the mastodon were very black and highly splendent over 
the enamel—the grinding surface trenchant and cut into deep de- 
pressions, like those of a carnivorous animal. 
Face of the Country.— Cattle. 
The country between C. and Bloomfield is undulating 5 soil rich, 
affording the finest kind of land for cultivation. The crops of grain 
and clover look very luxuriant. Many of the farmers here get their 
winter stock of hay from the “ Barrens” west of the Scioto, where 
Red top grass (Agrostis vulgaris, S.) grows in the greatest abundance 
without the aid of man. Large tracts are enclosed with fence for 
mowing and for pasturage. Mr. Gwinn on Darby creek, in Madison 
County, has a farm of four or five thousand acres, enclosed and 
divided into large fields, sufficient for the support of 1200 head of 
cattle, which is the number of his present stock. Many others in 
the cattle business have herds of from two to eight hundred, and lands 
in proportion. These cattle are many of them collected from the states 
west of Ohio, and when fattened are sent to the eastern cities. But 
little grain is raised in “the Barrens,” which extend from the Scioto 
to the heads of the Miamies, and yet they are singularly adapted to 
the pursuits of men like those of the Patriarchs of old, “ whose 
wealth consisted in cattle.” 
Conclusion.—Plants.—Shells.—Pearls. 
May 31.—Day fine, warm and pleasant; mean temp. 66°. This 
being the last day of our excursion, it was spent in examining the 
environs of Circleville; for botanical specimens; and the shores of 
the Scioto, for shells. Some fine species of univalves were found, but 
no new ones of the Uniones. Some of our fresh water shells produce 
very fine pearls. I have one taken in the waters of the Muskingum, 
from the shell known as the Unio nodosus of Barnes. It is a thick 
tuberculated shell, with the most rich and pearly nacre of any in the 
western rivers. The specimen is perfect in form, being plano-con- 
vex on one side, and a full hemisphere on the opposite. It is nearly 
half an inch in diameter across the plane face, and three eighths of 
an inch through the transverse diameter, and of a very rich, pearly 
lustre. Set in a gold watch key, and surrounded by facets of jet 
it makes a beautiful appearance ; and is by far the largest and finest 
pearl I have ever seen. Several others have been found, but none 
to be compared with this. Pallas, in his travels through the south- 
em province of the empire of Russia, states, that pearls are often 
found in the fluviatile shells of that region. 
Vou. XXV.—No. 2. 3 
