LAND AND FRESHWATER MOLLUSCA OF MANITOBA. 343 



covering several square miles in area, and lying among the sand- 

 hills about eight miles south of Carberry. In most places it is 

 covered with a dense growth of spruces and tamaracs, under the 

 shade of which the Indian Pitcher plant ( Sarracenia purpurea) 

 often covers acres of the sodden, mossy ground, which quakes as 

 one walks over its treacherous surface. The giant Lady's 

 Slipper ( Cypripediutn purpuretim), several of the Sundews 

 (Drosercz), and many other interesting plants inhabit the same 

 locality. There are, in Manitoba, several Pine Creeks, but the 

 one so often referred to is a rather small river which flows through 

 the heart of the great swamp just referred to, winding its way 

 dreamily to the Assiniboine through many muddy channels, 

 clogged by the leaves of the water-lily, and fringed with a thick 

 growth of willows and bulrushes. I never felt so utterly beyond 

 the range of civilization as when a friend and myself found 

 ourselves (in the course of our travels) miles from any other 

 human beings, on the edge of this lonely, but beautiful, stream, 

 across which we found it necessary to swim, carrying all our 

 effects. Looking down from the shaking bank into the clear, 

 dark water (which I afterwards learned, from personal experience, 

 was highly poisonous), I could see many little collections of dead 

 shells lying at the bottom. Placing a stick in the spout of our 

 camp-kettle, I made a dive, and a single scoop with this primitive 

 dredge brought up more than a dozen different species. That 

 some, at least, of the rivers abound with shells, is shown by the 

 fact that several in the North-west Territories have received the 

 distinctive name of "Shell River." I have seen the bed and 

 sides of the principal of these, which runs into the Assiniboine 

 from the east about fifty miles above its junction with the 

 Qu'appelle, strewn with hundreds of dead shells belonging to 

 many different species of Unionidce ; but, as I had no means of 

 bringing any away, they are not again referred to herein. 



