12 



of Unios described by SAY, in Nicholson's Dic- 

 tionary (American edition) Art. Conchology, 

 there are four from the Ohio, viz : U. Crassus ; 

 U. Alatus ; U. Ovatus, and U. Cylindricus ; the 

 description of the first one evidently comprises 

 many species, improperly blended. 



The other bivalves of the Ohio belong- to the 

 genera, Alasmodon, Cyclas, and Notrema,* which 

 comprise very few species. 



The animals contained in these shells are 

 scarcely fit for food, the taste being extremely 

 flat and insipid, and consequently but little used 

 for that purpose. Some of the large species, 

 however, have an enticing appearance, but the 

 only mode by which they are rendered fit for the 

 table, consists, in soaking them for a time in 

 vinegar, they may then be fried or soused. Se- 

 veral kinds of fish feed on them, especially the 

 Ambloclon grunniens. Herons also devour them, 

 when they cannot procure fish ; and hogs are very 

 fond of them, herds of these animals are often 

 seen searching for them in the rivers, and are 

 devoured by them with avidity, notwithstanding 

 the hard thick shell of many species. The 

 vulgar names do not vary much, they are all 

 confounded under those of mussel, clam, box- 

 shell, snuff-box, &c. 



* Vide supplement. TRANS, 



