February 20, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



145 



shell is allowed to remain untouched for some time, 

 as if the animal was trying to acquaint itself with its 

 new surroundings. After one adductor is severed, 

 the valves open, so that the other may be easily 

 reached. 



2°. I have often seen the posterior margins of the 

 valves slightly notched, and the epidermis scratched, 

 from the efforts of the muskrat to open the shell. 



3°. The shells are never opened by tearing away 

 the hinge-ligament, although this portion is some- 

 times injured. 



4°. During the winter season the shells were de- 

 posited, often many bushels, upon the edge of the 

 ice which fringed the shores. This offered an ex- 

 planation to me for the large quantities of dead shells 

 which I had frequently noticed in certain localities 

 at the bottom of the river. 



5°. With the mussels in the muskrat shell-heaps 

 were many flat stones, gathered for the purpose of 

 eating the algae growing upon them. 



6°. Among the species eaten by the muskrats of 

 the Alleghany Eiver may be mentioned the follow- 

 ing as of the most frequent occurrence: Unio liga- 

 mentinus, U. phaseolus, U. gracilis, U. patulus, U. 

 clavus, U. crassidens, U. occidens, U. ovatus, U. 

 luteolus, U. gibbosus, Margaritana rugosa, M. mar- 

 ginata, and Anodonta edentula. 



Chas. E. Beecher. 



Albany, N.Y., Feb. 9. 



I have been familiar, ever since my boyhood, with 

 the fact that these animals live largely upon the mus- 

 sels and other shell-fish of our rivers and creeks. It 

 is also well known to duck-hunters, at least in this 

 region of country, that they pick up no inconsiderable 

 portion of their subsistence from dead and wounded 

 birds found by them after the sportsman has aban- 

 doned the search. Only last spring I killed a duck in 

 this vicinity which fell out of reach and floated off. 

 Upon recovering it within less than an hour after- 

 wards, on the farther shore of the ' slough,' its 

 breast had already been eaten away by a muskrat; and 

 it is no uncommon occurrence to surprise them at 

 such repasts. Theo. S. Case. 



Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 9. 



If those interested in the carnivorous habits of the 

 muskrat will refer to Science, No. 62, they will find 

 there a notice of a discussion upon this subject, which 

 took place before the Biological society of Washing- 

 ton in the spring of 1884. In regard to the fact that 

 piles of unbroken Unio shells are found near musk- 

 rat burrows, it seems to me that there can be but one 

 explanation, and that is the suggestion made at the 

 Biological society, that the shells are gathered by 

 the muskrats, piled up, and left out of water until too 

 weak to keep their shells closed, when the rodent 

 finds it an easy matter to pick out the meat. 



Ralph S. Tarr. 



Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 6. 



JOHN GWYN JEFFREYS. 



The ranks of English naturalists have met 

 with a serious loss in the death of John Gwyn 

 Jeffreys, LL.D., F.R.S., etc., which took 



place suddenly at his residence, Kensington, on 

 the 24th of January. 



Dr. Jeffre3's was born at Swansea, Jan. 18, 

 1809, and at the time of his death, with the 

 exception of Sir Richard Owen, was probably 

 the oldest British naturalist. Up to the last 

 he was busily engaged on the investigation of 

 the deep-sea dredgings of the Lightning and 

 Porcupine expeditions ; and, only three days 

 before the reception of the news of his death, 

 a cop}^ of a recent paper on the relations of the 

 American and European mollusk faunae was 

 received from him. 



Dr. Jeffreys was the descendant of one of 

 the oldest families of Wales, and was called 

 to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. For many years, 

 however, he had retired from practice, and had 

 been devoted to the investigation of the natu- 

 ral history of mollusks, especially those of the 

 British islands, northern Europe, and the ad- 

 jacent seas. His work on the British mollusca 

 is the standard book of reference on that topic, 

 and his investigations into the fauna of the 

 deep sea were known and appreciated among 

 men of science everywhere. 



Dr. Jeffreys, from a lad, had been a student 

 of conchology, devoting his holidays to col- 

 lecting, and was among the earliest, most 

 energetic, and persistent dredgers of the Brit- 

 ish seas. In his earlier da}^s he was intimately 

 acquainted with that classical band of British 

 naturalists to whom science owes so much, 

 and who toiled for the most part unappreci- 

 ated. In later years he was equally active, 

 and participated in the important expeditions 

 of the Lightning, Porcupine, Valorous, etc., 

 and was only prevented by an accident from 

 participation in the voyage of the Challen- 

 ger. His first important paper was pub- 

 lished by the Linnean societ}' in 1828 ; and 

 since then hardly a year has passed b}~ with- 

 out contributions from his pen, many of which 

 were printed by the Royal society, of which 

 he was for forty-five years a fellow. The extent 

 and importance of his researches can only be 

 fully appreciated by specialists engaged in 

 similar studies. He was president of the bio- 

 logical section of the British association in 



