MUSSEL FAUNA OF MAUMEE KIVER. 



11 



in order that there might be a reasonable certainty that all the resi- 

 dent species had been found. A careful study was made of the 

 species themselves and data collected as regards food, parasites, etc. 

 The localities examined include the St. Marys and St. Joseph Kivers, 

 Spy Kun, a small tributary of St. Marys, and an old feeder canal and 

 its reservoir which was formerly connected with the St. Joseph River. 



The Aboit and Little Wabash Rivers, which belong to the Wabash 

 system, were also examined. The stations at these localities are 

 designated by letters, those on the main river by numbers. The rela- 

 tive abundance of the different species at each station is indicated 

 by giving the number of examples obtained, or by remarks. 



ST. MARYS RIVER AND SPY RUN. 



In the St. Marys River the shells are scattered irregularly every- 

 where, so that along the bank a few dead shells may be found every 

 now and then, or an occasional live mussel seen in the water. There 

 are a few shell beds, all of small size, however, where conditions 

 appear to have been exceptionally favorable for the development of 

 moUuscan life, and at such places the mussels are fairly abundant. 



Station A, Above the Bluff ton Road Bridge^ at Fort Wayne. — The 

 highest point at which the St. Marys River was examined was above 

 the Bluffton Road Bridge, about 4 miles from the mouth of the river. 

 At this place there were riffles and the remains of an old dam, and the 

 point lies above the entrance of most of the sewage of the city. The 

 water was shallow and the bottom covered with gravel, sand, or mud, 

 according to the rapidity of the current. At the date examined 

 (June 26) the water was quite turbid and nothing could be seen on 

 the bottom. We had heard reports of a goodly number of shells 

 there, but by wading about considerably we found only a few. The 

 living mussels were hard to find, partly because of the stony bottom 

 and partly because of their actual scarcity. A man fishing at the 

 place was offering boys who were swimming near by 5 cents apiece 

 for mussels, which he wished to use for bait, and it was noteworthy 

 that although the boys were searching diligently the fisherman was 

 not oversupplied. We found a fair number of dead shells on the 

 shore, representing 18 species. 



The little TrunciUa sulcata^ which seemed on the whole a rather 

 rare shell, and of which during the entire summer's work we found 

 only 1 live example (although scattered valves were occasionally 

 found along the river bank), seemed unusually common here; we 

 obtained 4 entire shells and 10 valves. None of the larger species of 

 mussels were present in sufficient numbers to be of commercial value. 



