FRESH-WATER MUSSELS AND MUSSEL INDUSTRIES OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 
& 
By ROBERT E. COKER, Ph. D., 
Assistant in charge of Scientific Inquiry, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 
& 
Part 1. COMMERCIAL FRESH-WATER MUSSELS.* 
QUALITIES OF FRESH-WATER MUSSEL SHELLS. 
Those who are familiar with only the common shellfish of the American seacoast 
or with the chalky, brittle shells of the streams of the Atlantic slope can have but little 
conception of the nature and quality of the mussel resources of the Mississippi Basin. 
In streams large and small throughout the greater part of this wide region, from the 
Appalachian Mountains to Arkansas and Dakota and from Louisiana to Mississippi, 
there is a wealth of pearly mussels of a variety of species, the shells of which are thick 
and firm, with clear, pearly luster, and in some cases displaying beautiful iridescence. 
Often the shells are strikingly ornamented with knobs and ridges, and the nacre, or 
mother-of-pearl, may be clear white, delicately tinted, or deeply colored with various 
shades of pink, salmon, red, or purple. The shells that are most striking in appearance 
are not, however, the most important. Of greatest value are those having the surface 
of the shell free from ornamentation or irregularities and with nacre of clear, lustrous 
white without stains or colors. It is these qualities, combined with a peculiar toughness 
or absence of brittleness or chalkiness, that lend to the fresh-water mussel shells the 
value they now possess as the basis for important manufacture. 
Until the mussels assumed economic importance the several species were without 
distinguishing common names. With the development of the fishery the shellers on 
the several streams applied the common names which have suggested themselves as 
appropriate to the appearance of the shell or those which seem to have originated in a 
spirit of facetiousness. Since the shellers move from place to place, those of one State 
frequently mingling with those of distant regions, there has come to prevail a greater 
degree of uniformity of names of mussels than of the names of fishes. 
As primary products or as by-products of manufacture the mussel shells are brought 
into commerce in the form of buttons, novelties, jewelry, chicken feed, road materials, 
composition marble, and otherwise. By far the chiefest use of mussel shells is, however, 
a The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the late J. ¥. Boepple, shell expert at the Fisheries Biological Station 
at Fairport, Iowa, who prepared for the station in 1911 a series of memoranda on the commercial values of shells. These data 
have been of invaluable aid. H. W. Clark and J. B. Southall, of this station, and Ernest Danglade have been consulted with 
profit, Much information has been gained from time to time, too, through the generous advice of manufacturers, among whom 
special mention should be made of D. W. MacWillie of La Crosse, J. E. Krouse of Davenport, and Henry Umlandt of Muscatine. 
None of the persons named can be held responsible for any mistakes or for such opinions as are expressed. The color drawings 
of Plate I were made by Mrs. A. F. Shira; the photographs of shells are mostly by J. B. Southall. 
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