42 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



m 



the conveyance of sperm from mussels in upper portions of the 

 bed to other mussels below. In places where there is no current, 

 fertilization must be more largely a matter of chance. 



Although the majority of species of mussels prefer a river 

 where there is a good current, some are more fitted to the quieter 

 parts of streams, or to ponds. These are chiefly thin-shelled spec- 

 ies with weakly developed or undeveloped hinge-teeth, best repre- 

 sented by the genus Anodonta. In some places Anodontas are 

 known as pond-mussels, as distinguished from the heavier sorts or 

 river-mussels. 



The distinction between lakes and rivers is not constant in de- 

 gree; we have all sorts of gradations from the extreme form of 

 lake isolated bodies without outlet through lakes with relatively 

 large, important outlets, to such lakes as are simply expansions of 

 a river-bed, examples of the latter type being Lake Pepin, Minn., 

 of the upper Mississippi, and the former English Lake in Indiana, 

 an expansion of the Kankakee. As a usual thing, the more fluvia- 

 tile a lake is, or the larger and more river-like its outlet, the more 

 river-like will be its mussel fauna, both in abundance and species. 

 In such lakes the mussels retain a vital continuity with the mussel 

 beds of the river. In the- less fluviatile lakes the mussels are more 

 isolated, and there is more inbreeding. The large number (24) 

 of lake-dwelling species recorded for Indiana is due to the fact that 

 some of the lakes of Indiana are more or less fluviatile, and contain 

 several species of river shells. 



* 

 ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE MAXINKUCKEE MUSSELS 



Lake Maxinkuckee, having a long, narrow, winding and rela- 

 tively unimportant outlet, is a representative of one of the less 

 fluviatile types of lakes, forming a pretty well marked contrast to 

 the various lakes cited above, and bearing a pretty close resem- 

 blance to the neighboring lakes, such as Twin Lakes, Pretty Lake, 

 Bass Lake, etc. 



The Maxinkuckee mussels are doubtless derived from an- 

 cestors brought up the Outlet from the Tippecanoe River by as- 

 cending fishes. It is doubtful whether any have been introduced 

 by the numerous plants of fish in the lake, though such a thing is 

 possible. During the various times the lake was visited, a few 

 Tippecanoe River mussels were planted in the thoroughfare be- 

 tween the lakes, and a few Yellow River and Kankakee mussels 

 were planted in the main lake. 



The Outlet of Lake Maxinkuckee is now a narrow, shallow 

 winding stream, straightened in places by ditching, and bordered 



