104 THE NAUTILUS. 



their shells half protruding from the mud and slightly gaping, as i» 

 natural with all these mollusks when at rest. As the fisherman pulls 

 the dredge along the bottom over these Unio beds the prongs of the 

 hooks become caught between the open valves of the shell, which 

 immediately close and fasten themselves to the prong. A single 

 haul may yield over one hundred shells caught in this way. 



Tlie inordinate collecting of shells for the button industry bids fair 

 to exhaust the supply before many years have passed unless wise laws 

 are enacted and enforced. Not only are many tons of these shells 

 taken every year, but a large number are wilfully wasted by the 

 fishermen. An example of this waste came under the notice of the 

 writer on this occasion. Having failed to secure as many specimens 

 as were wanted, a fisherman was asked if he knew a good place to 

 gather clams. He replied that just above a large grain elevator some 

 fishermen had dumped a boat-load on the shore. Not realizing fully 

 what he meant, we walked to the spot indicated and there beheld a 

 sight which made at least one of the party both glad and sad. Piled 

 on the shore for a distance of a quarter of a mile were thousands upon 

 thousands of clams, some alive, others with gaping shells and a few 

 entirely devoid of the animal. Not less than twenty-five species were 

 represented, many of them useless for the manufacture of buttons, but 

 of great value to the conchologist of the future who may wish to study 

 these species. The fishermen were either too lazy to throw them 

 back into the water or else thought that, if they threw them on the 

 shore they would avoid catching them again on their hooks. Such 

 wanton destruction as this, if not stopped, will soon exterminate many 

 of the species. Those which were thus destroyed were comparatively 

 thin shelled, such as Anodonta, Alasmidonta and Symphynota. 



The species collected by the different parties were as follows : 

 Lampsilis ventricosa Barnes. Plagiola securis Lea. 



ligamentina Lamarck. elegans Lea. 



anodontoides Lea. Obliquaria refiexa Eafinesque. 



fallaciosa (Smith) Sirnpson. Strophitus edentulus Say. 



recta Lamarck. Anodonta corpulenta Cooper. 



parva Barnes. Arcidens confragosus Say. 



alata Say.^ Symphynota costata Rafinesque. 



gracilis Barnes. coraplanata Barnes. 



leptodon Rafinesque. Unio gibbosus Barnes. 



^ One specimen of alata was curiously deformed, one valve being perfectly 

 flat while the other was very convex. 



