72 LIFE AND NATURE IN SOUTHERN LABRADOR. 



went a mile up the river. The tide was out and we 

 looked for the fresh-water mussel {^Alasmodon arcuata), 

 which is our northernmost species, arid inhabits the 

 rivers of southern Newfoundland. We could find 

 none, although the settlers told us that mussels, clams, 

 and " oysters " were common enough in the river. But 

 something better was discovered. We found traces of 

 genuine Quaternary marine sands and clays containing 

 fossils. There were several banks of sand and clay along 

 the edges of the river. In the latter I found Aphrodite 

 grcenlandica and Aporrhais occidental-is, with Buccinum 

 imdatum. They had been washed out of the clay into 

 the bed of the river, and were collected at lov^'-water. 

 I also dug several inches into the clay bank and found 

 the disintegrated shells of the Aphrodite, so as to leave 

 no doubt but that the shells were fossils. Down at the 

 mouth of the stream at the head of the bay, on the flats, I 

 found several Buccinum undatum, and quite a number of 

 Aporrhais, young and old, broken and entire. On each 

 side of the river was a terrace of sand and clay, with a 

 thick growth of alders and willows, with the fire-weed 

 {Epilobium atigustifolium^, the golden-rod and a large 

 cruciferous plant common in the mountainous parts of 

 New England ; also Comarum palustre, and a Thalic- 

 trum. Farther back and mostly lining the banks was 

 a dense growth, impossible to penetrate save occasion- 

 ally where there was a break in the thicket of spruce 

 and birch, perhaps Betula populifolia. Still farther up 

 and away back stretched the bare moss-covered hill- 

 tops, the summer-resort of deer and caribou. Here we 

 saw a ptarmigan. But this was one of our halcyon < 

 days, of which there were few, as the last two weeks of 



