Bivalve Shells. — Portage County. 37 



Bivalve Shells. — The bivalve shells are equally prolific in spe- 

 cies, and afford thirty four of the genus Unio, four of Alasmodonta, 

 and five of Anodonta. TheUnio nasutus, hitherto considered ex- 

 clusively an eastern shell, is abundant in the streams that enter into 

 Lake Erie. 



Portage County. — Portage County embraces much fine land for 

 tillage, and also for meadows. It is descriptively named from the 

 fact of its containing within its limits the old Indian portage between 

 the waters of Lake Erie and the Muskingum River. In the south 

 western part of the county is a tract of several miles in width, and 

 running in a S. W. and N. E. direction, of a peculiar formation. 

 The surface is studded with numerous small hillocks, composed of 

 gravel and sand. In the depressed portions between the hills, are 

 scattered a number of beautiful ponds of fine transparent water, con- 

 taining fish peculiar to this region, especially the black bass. Spot- 

 ted perch, sun-fish, &;c., are also common, with a black catfish or 

 horn pout, similar to that found in the ponds east of the mountains. 

 This species of the genus Silurus I have not seen in the Ohio river. 

 They also contain the Nelumbium luteum and fragrant Nympheea. 

 Some of them are of great depth, and said to be based on quick- 

 sands. At their outlets they are generally more or less swampy, 

 but the shores are lined with a fine white sand. The surplus wa- 

 ters of many of these small lakes are discharged into the Cuyahoga, 

 and from thence into Lake Erie, proving them to be seated on some 

 of the highest land between the Muskingum and the lake. Many 

 of them are beautiful sheets of water of four or five hundred acres, 

 and from their resemblance to the small crystal lakes of New Eng- 

 land, recalled many delightful recollections of my early years in my 

 native land.* They were the first I had seen in thirty years, or since 

 I crossed the Alleghany Mountains, as they are confined to the ta- 

 ble lands between the lakes and the Ohio River, which I had not 

 before visited. These calm and quiet lakes, once the home of the 



additional volution, added in such a manner as to form suddenly a large umbili- 

 cus, makes the fuliginosa." 



t " M. virginica.— It is probable that two or three species existing in the waters 

 in Ohio, are included under this name ; and it is doubtful whether either is specif, 

 ically identical with the eastern shell described by Mr. Say." 



§ " Lymnaea stagnalis. — A few fine specimens have been found in the Congress 

 Lake, and in some other small lakes in this section of country. I have also recei- 

 ved some from Dr. Foote of the U. S. Army, collected in Lake Winnebago. They 

 are exact analogues of the European shells of this name." 

 » Massachusetts. 



