480 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



In the ' Scientific American ' there has recently appeared a memoir on 

 " The Pearl-Button Industry of the Mississippi River," by Mr. Hugh M. 

 Smith, of the U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. The manufacture 

 of buttons from the shells of native fresh-water Mussels began in the 

 United States in 1891. Button-making has now become one of the prin- 

 cipal businesses along a section of the Mississippi nearly two hundred miles 

 in length. There are about four hundred species of Mussels found in the 

 Mississippi River and its tributaries, but comparatively few are now 

 utilized in or are adapted to button-making. We naturally find complaints 

 as to the treatment of the "golden goose." "Not the least injurious 

 feature of the fishery is the gathering of small Mussels for market, and the 

 incidental destruction of small shells that are not utilized, but left on the 

 banks or the ice to die." Mussels have many perils to surmount. " Animals 

 which are known to prey on the Mussels are Muskrats, Minks, Raccoons, 

 and Hogs, the first and last being especially destructive. The freshets to 

 which the Mississippi is periodically subject undoubtedly do great damage 

 to the Mussel-beds, burying them under sand and mud. Shifting sand-bars 

 are also known to cover up beds. The fishermen sometimes find extensive 

 beds of dead shells which appear to have been recently uncovered by the 

 current. During freshets, when the stream finds new channels, many 

 Mussels are carried from their beds, and left dry when the water subsides. 

 Droughts are also liable to expose Mussel-beds, and cause much destruction. 

 However, pollution of the water by refuse from cities and manufacturing 

 establishments is perhaps the most serious menace to the Mussel-beds, next 

 to the operations of the fishermen." 



