Ten Days in Ohio. 257 



teeth of the mastodon were very black and highly splendent over 

 the enamel' — the grinding surface trenchant and cut into deep de- 

 pressions, like those of a carnivorous animal. 



Face of the Country. — Cattle. 

 The country between C. and Bloomfield is undulating ; soil rich, 

 affording the finest kind of land for cultivation. The crops of grain 

 and clover look very luxuriant. Many of the farmers here get their 

 winter stock of hay from the " Barrens" west of the Scioto, where 

 Red top grass (Agrostis vulgaris, S.) grows in the greatest abundance 

 without the aid of man. Large tracts are enclosed with fence for 

 mowing and for pasturage. Mr. Gwinn on Darby creek, in Madison 

 County, has a farm of four or five thousand acres, enclosed and 

 divided into large fields, sufiicient for the support of 1200 head of 

 cattle, which is the number of his present stock. Many others in 

 the cattle business have herds of from two to eight hundred, and lands 

 in proportion. These cattle are many of them collected from the states 

 west of Ohio, and when fattened are sent to the eastern cities. But 

 little grain is raised in " the Barrens," which extend from the Scioto 

 to the heads of the Miamies, and yet they are singularly adapted to 

 the pursuits of men like those of the Patriarchs of old, " whose 

 wealth consisted in cattle." 



Conclusion. — Plants. — Shells.-— Pearls. 



May 31. — Day fine, warm and pleasant ; mean temp. 66°. This 

 being the last day of our excursion, it was spent in examining the 

 environs of Circleville, for botanical specimens ; and the shores of 

 the Scioto, for shells. Some fine species of univalves were found, but 

 no new ones of the Uniones. Some of our fresh water shells produce 

 very fine pearls. I have one taken in the waters of the Muskingum, 

 from the shell known as the Unio nodosus of Barnes. It is a thick 

 tuberculated shell, with the most rich and pearly nacre of any in the • 

 western rivers. The specimen is perfect in form, being plano-con- 

 vex on one side, and a full hemisphere on the opposite. It is nearly 

 half an inch in diameter across the plane face, and three eighths of 

 an inch through the transverse diameter, and of a very rich, pearly 

 lustre. Set in a gold watch key, and surrounded by facets of jet 

 it makes a beautiful appearance ; and is by far the largest and finest 

 pearl I have ever seen. Several others have been found, but none 

 to be compared with this. Pallas, in his travels through the south- 

 ern province of the empire of Russia, states, that pearls are often 

 found in the fluviatile shells of that region. 



Vol. XXV.— No. 2. 33 



