250 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 
able habitats. The smaller species seemed fairly abundant, 
but the larger forms, with the exception of Pyramidula alter- 
nata, were few and far between. On the Wisconsin shore, 
where the river valley extends for a considerable distance be- 
fore reaching the bluff, the land snail fauna is said to be 
more varied and abundant. We had no time for investigating 
this side of the river and I cannot therefore speak with any 
degree of accuracy concerning this territory. 
The craze for pearls, as well as the more legitimate fishing 
for pearl button material, has well-nigh exhausted the mus- 
sel beds in this region, and the huge piles of mussels on the 
Wisconsin shore near Prairie du Chien bear silent but potent 
witness to the fact that the mussel fishery in this part of the 
river has seen its best day. We were told that several years 
ago as many as fifteen hundred boats were engaged in the 
mussel fishery but at the present time only about one hun- 
dred were engaged in this work. 
The fishermen spend the mornings in securing the clams by 
means of the four-pronged ‘‘ crowfoot’’ hooks, which, to 
the number of a hundred or more, are attached by stout rope 
to a long iron pipe or bar. The ropes are placed some four 
or five inches apart and as many as four hooks may be strung, 
six inches apart, on a single rope. The method of use is to 
lower this crowfoot dredge from the boat and drag it over 
the mussel bed. As the mussels lay in their natural position, 
with their shells slightly gaping, the prong of the hook enters 
between the two valves of the shell and the mussel closes 
upon the hook and is thus pulled up. The writer has seen 
twenty-five mussels caught in a single haul and the fishermen 
say that over one hundred are sometimes obtained at a single 
haul. Most of the shells are taken to the neighborhood of 
Prairie du Chien where a number of the men have erected 
cabins and clam sheds near the St. Paul railroad tracks. At 
this place twenty to thirty boats may be seen drawn up on 
the shore at noon and nearly a dozen rude stoves may be seen 
boiling out the meat in the shells. When the clams have 
been boiled they are thrown on a wooden bench and the meat 
is carefully looked over for any possible pearls. The writer 
