No. 40.] 2ii 



CONCHOLOGY. 



FAMILY NAIADES. 



Ul^io cosTATUs, Eqfinesque. ■ 



pFrom Wildcat rriyer, .Kansas tesmtoxy. Presented by LsTAisf Smith 

 of Kansas. 



PROM MRS. ANN M. REDFIELD, OF SYRACUSE, ONONDAGA 

 COUNTY, NEW-YORK. 



Twenty-five specimens of UiJios and Anodons, from the Ottawa river, 



near L'Orignal, Canada West. ' 



The following note from Mrs. Redfield, giving a description of the 



locality, etc. of the specimens, was subsequently received. 



MR. GEBHARD: 



The shells I handed you the other day should have been accom- 

 panied by their locality, which was from the Ottawa river, near 

 L'Orignal, Canada West, seventy flv« miles from Montreal, and 

 nine from the Caledonia Mineral Springs, which are the Saratoga 

 of Canada. Unios and Anodons are found in abundance upon the 

 shore of the river ; but the bright, glossy TJnio ( I believe it is the 

 U. ventricosus ) is only obtained by wading around the sandbars 

 when the river is low. Of two hundred U/iza* collected, and which 

 I opened, not more than a dozen were like the bright pink: one ; 

 so that I am confident the color is not the result of disease, as has 

 been supposed by some : neither is it owing to the age of the shell, 

 for small ones and large ones of the same color were obtained. 

 These, as well as the U. complanafus, are sometimes eaten, and 

 much esteemed by some persons : others contend that they are 

 poisonous. The inmates of these were eaten by a little Scotch lad, 

 with as great a relish as our oysters ; but the taste, I think, must 

 be an acquired one. Anodons are also used for food by some of the 

 inhabitants. 



I found but few specimens of the Anodon edentula, and not more 

 than half a dozen of the Unio alatus and U. rectus^ and only one 

 of each with the animal in it. The JJnios with the eroded beaks and 

 solid shells ( V, nasufus or rostratus) were all dead shells, found in 

 a pool left on the shore as the Ottawa subsided during the extreme 

 drouth. The Alasmodons were also found dead on the shore of a 



