ON COLLECT! NO SHELLS. 285 



Put the little univalves into alcohol. The smaller Pisidiums and 

 Sphferiums may also go there. The larger Sphferiums may be 

 treated as hereafter described. 



B}' this means if you do not hesitate to wade in the mud once 

 in awhile, you can very rapidly collect all that you will need of 

 such species from a given locality. The same implement can be 

 used for skimming Planorbis, Physa and Limnsea from the sur- 

 face, or for collecting them from the bottom when crawling 

 there. These shells should be taken home in the boxes. If you 

 are collecting in southern streams, where the various genera of 

 the Strepomatidffi abound, no plan is so expeditious as the 

 judicious use of the scoop. In some cases hand-picking must 

 be resorted to, as these creatures live on the under sides of stones, 

 in rock crevices, and among t|ie gravel and pebbles at the bottom 

 of streams, where they cannot otherwise be reached. 



Grather these all into alcohol. It is not necessary to extract 

 the animals ; if they are taken out, dried and cleaned, as will be 

 described, the3- will be in prime condition. If to the alcohol a 

 quantity of arsenic be added, the larvfie of Dermestes and 

 Anthrenus will not afterwards infest them. In hunting for fresh- 

 water univalves every kind of station should be explored. In 

 mountain regions, springs, creeks, rivulets, small ponds, and 

 larger streams will all have their characteristic genera, species 

 and varieties, and all need to be thoroughly worked up. 



The Unionidffi may be taken with a pair of spoon-tongs, worked 

 from a row-boat ; but for these mollusks it must be admitted 

 that no other plan is equal to wading into the water, and taking- 

 out the specimens alive from their normal stations. Species 

 inhabit all kinds of bottom, pebbly, sandy, muddy and gravelly. 

 Some species even prefer narrow crevices in the rocky bottoms 

 of streams, as the U. punctatus in the Cumberland River, and U. 

 fasciyians, in Powell River. The collector who is unwilling, 

 through fear of snakes, colds, or rheumatism, to don an old suit 

 and " wade in," or to strip and dive if necessary, will do well to 

 quit talking about collecting Unionidse. In many cases they 

 will be found packed so closely in rockj^ or gravelly* bottoms,' as 

 to enable one to soon take out bushels of them ; they are thus 

 plentiful in the Ohio, Clinch, Holston and Tennessee Rivers. 



In such cases a potato-hook, or some implement of the kind, 

 gently crowded in among them, will rake out half a dozen at a 

 pull. The flowing water will wash away the mud and you can 

 select such as you need. These should be carried out on the 

 river-bank, and cleaned before going home ; but if this is not 

 practicable, the operation ma}^ be deferred until afterward. As 

 in the case of the land shells, wash them clean, and then drop 

 them into a kettle or pan of boiling water. When the shells 

 gape, and the muscles are loosened, scrape out the soft parts, 

 thoroughly wash out the inside of the shell, arid again rinse of! 



