276 Dr. Hildreth on fresh water Sheila, 



Art. VII. — Observations on, and descriptions of the Shells^ 

 found in the waters of the Muskingum River, Little 

 Muskingum and Duck Creek, in the vicinity of Marietta. 

 Ohio ; by S. P. Hildreth,* M. D. 



Although the river Ohio abounds in shells of the same 

 genera as those about to be described, yet they have so genr 

 erally been noticed by writers on natural history, while those 

 living in the above streams and more immediately within the 

 bounds of the State, have not received attention ; that my 

 observations have been confined to those streams almost ex- 

 clusively. 



From the variety of form, color, and outward appearance 

 of bivales, the most careless observer could not but be struck 

 with their beauty, and led to admire their rich pearly luster, 

 and variegated surface. But the more carefully they are in- 

 spected, the more beauties he will find to attract his atten- 

 tion and to call forth his wonder. The beds of many of our 

 streams are strewed with the open valves of the numerous 

 family of the Unios ; and where the waters are transparent, 

 like those of the Muskingum, they, with the interspersed peb- 

 bles, afford all the rich variety and tessellated appearance 

 of a Roman pavement. — Their beauties were not unknown, 

 or neglected by that ancient race of men who once inhabi- 

 ted the pleasant vales of Ohio ; as the valves of some of the 

 most interesting kinds are often found buried in mounds, in- 

 termixed with other articles considered as valuable by the 

 builders of those venerable monuments of the dead. They 

 must also have been deemed very valuable as an article of 

 food ; as we find vast beds of the calcined shells, in the 

 banks of the river, usually several feet below the present 

 surface, and near them a hearth of stones with ashes and 

 fragments of deer and fish bones promiscuously interspersed. 

 —-In those seasons of the year, when the waters were low, 

 and game scarce, they no doubt constituted a large portion 

 of their food. Some of the species are very fine eating, 



* Dr. Hildreth, having with great propriety, made Mr. Barnes his authority 

 for his descriptions, it was thought proper to communicate this memoir to that 

 gentleman, in MS. — along with the drawings, and such of the latter have been 

 engraved as were not among those contained in volumes 6 and 7 of this Jour- 

 nal, to which the reader is referred, for the figures now omitted. We have ta- 

 ken the liberty to add, in the form of notes, a few of the remarks of Mr. Barnes, 

 communicated by our request. — Editor. 



