CHAPTER V. 



THE LIFE OF THE UNIO. 



IT has often been said that one-half of the world 

 does not know how the other half lives. In speak- 

 ing of mussels this is especially true. 



Although the author had done considerable pearl hunt- 

 ing he did not have a good knowledge of how the mus- 

 sels lived until July and August, 1910, when he began 

 his investigations while hunting near Port Byron and 

 Rapids City, Illinois. At that time the Mississippi River 

 was lower than at any time since about 1865, and he 

 and many other men waded in and picked up the mussels 

 with their hands. It was necessary to wear heavy, warm 

 clothing on account of the cool water and winds. Many 

 times the pearl hunters were in the water up to their 

 necks for quite a while. By this method of getting 

 shells, a person had an opportunity to learn just how 

 the mussels lived in their colonies on the bottom of their 

 river. 



The mussel beds are nearly always in places where 

 sand and gravel and rocks predominate. Large rocks 

 were especially plentiful near Rapids City, and the au- 

 thor knows just how unpleasant it is to be wading along 

 and strike his foot or shin against submerged sharp rocks. 

 There is more prose than poetry in that kind of pearl 



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