JUNJE. 147 



to observe musk-rats under favorable circumstances. They 

 all expressed the opinion that the mussels were carried 

 out of the water and placed in heaps to sicken, if not to 

 die, I can not prove this, nor could my informants, but 

 the details of their observations as narrated certainly 

 warranted them in coming to the conclusion to which 

 they reached ; and an accomplished naturalist of Indiana, 

 who has very carefully studied the habits of the musk-rat 

 for years, assures me that he believes the " open-air " 

 theory to be correct, as he had seen in these heaps of 

 mussels many that had been overlooked, and dying ; the 

 valves had parted, but the soft parts, the animal proper, 

 had not been extracted. 



Mr. A. M. Brayton, in his report on the " Mammals of 

 Ohio," states : " The summer food (of the musk-rat) con- 

 sists of leaves of various aquatic plants and different spe- 

 cies of river-mussels. Every one at all familiar with the 

 shallows of our streams will recall the immense heaps of 

 mussel-shells — often a bushel or more — ^by the side of some 

 large stone or log, midway, perhaps, of the river, and fur- 

 nishing easy collecting grounds for the conchologist. 

 These are the ' oyster restaurants ' of the musk-rat. Col- 

 lecting the mussels from the river bottom, the musk-rat 

 mounts the log or stone, sits up on its haunches like a 

 squirrel, and opens the shell with its strong incisor teeth, 

 as neatly as a squirrel opens a nut. Most of the shells 

 are left with the ligament intact. Mr. Kennicott has 

 found massive shells, like those of Unio plicatus, left un- 

 opened, or with the valves gnawed apart at the back." 



To return to the mill-pond. The changed conditions 

 had been comprehended as with a glance, and I doubt if 

 a creature dwelling upon the banks of the one-time mill- 

 pond was not wholly at home. Curiosity led me to an 

 enormous stump that was now some three feet above the 

 mud. The tree, an oak, had evidently been felled just 



