Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 63 



an early developing species, it is probable that they have somewhat 

 different habits : indeed it is possible that they have more breed- 

 ing seasons per year than the other species. 



The Tippecanoe mussels of this species were a favorite food of 

 the muskrat, and were killed in great numbers every autumn, the 

 dead shells being thickly strewn along the bank, or piled in heaps 

 at the bases of rocks which the rodent had used as a feeding place. 



Lampsilis iris has a well marked tendency in the lakes and 

 Outlet to produce pearls and baroques, but these are too small to 

 be of any value. 



10. LAMPSILIS SUBROSTRATA (Say) 



Lampsilis subrostrata reaches its best development along the 

 muddy shores of lagoons, not being perfectly at home either in 

 swiftly flowing streams or in perfectly quiet lakes, although occa- 

 sional examples may be found in either. It is considerably more 

 abundant in Lake Tippecanoe and Upper Fish Lake than in any 

 other Indiana lakes examined. Along the edges of the Mississippi 

 sloughs it is fairly common and reaches a large size, often distin- 

 guished with difficulty from Lampsilis fallaciosa except for the 

 thinness of the shell and the black epidermis. It is rare in Lake 

 Maxinkuckee, only a few examples having been obtained from the 

 mussel bed near Norris Inlet. It is much more common in Lost 

 Lake in the large bed along shore south of the Bardsley cottage. 

 Mr. Blatchley, in a short report on the mollusks of the lake, (25th 

 annual report, Department of Geology and Natural Resources of 

 Indiana, 1900, p. 250), says of this species: "Not common in the 

 main lake ; more so in the muck and mud along the margins of Lost 

 Lake, where a well-marked variety, with a larger and broader beak, 

 was taken. A specimen of this was sent, among others, to Mr. 

 Chas. T. Simpson, of the Smithsonian Institution, for verification. 

 In his reply he says : 'The variety of subrostratus which you send 

 is, so far as I know, confined to northern Indiana. It is quite re- 

 markable, and would seem to be almost a distinct species. I have 

 seen quite a number of specimens of it, and at first thought it a 

 variety of U. nasutus, but there seem to be intermediate forms con- 

 necting it with U. subrostratus.' " 



With the exception of the differences due to sex, all the Maxin- 

 kuckee and Lost Lake shells are very uniform in appearance, much 

 more so than L. luteola, and are hardly distinguishable from ex- 

 amples from Lake Tippecanoe, LTpper Fish Lake, or a specimen col- 

 lected in the Wabash River at Terre Haute by Dr. J. T. Scovell. 



