MUSSEL FAUl^A OF MAUMEE KIVER. 



27 



The bottom of the river at its head is Devonian limestone, and the 

 banks are of white clay ; the average depth of the channel at the time 

 examined was about 3 feet and the current about a mile an hour. 



A mile and a half down the river was the clammer's camp. This 

 was the only one on the river and had been established but a short 

 time. The owner, Mr. H. S. Birge, had formerly lived on the 

 Wabash, where shelling operations are active, and had done con- 

 siderable clamming there. He had come to Fort Wayne to work on 

 the construction of a canal, and finding this work slack at times^ had 

 naturally turned to the river and begun investigating its clamming 

 possibilities. He reported clamming " fairly good but not as good as 

 one might expect from the looks of the river." As the bottom was 

 rough and stony with occasional snags and the water fairly shallow, 

 he procured shells in the same fashion that they are obtained in parts 

 of the lower Wabash — by scooping them up with a coal fork, the 

 operator standing waist deep in water. In three weeks' time, with 

 the help of his brother and two young boys, the clammers had 

 gathered 25 tons of first-quality shells^ mostly " muckets " {Lampsilis 

 ligamentinus) ^ with a sprinkling of good "long johns" or "black 

 sand shells" {Lampsilis rectus)^ a few " pocketbooks " {L. ventri- 

 cosus), etc. The shells were remarkably uniform in size and quality. 

 There were few culls or worthless shells — less than a bushel. They 

 consisted chiefly of Lampsilis alatus, a few Quadrula tuherculata^ 

 and an occasional Unio gihhosus. 



Figure 3, plate i, shows a pile of shells, with the cleaning table in 

 the background, and gives a fair idea of their size. In the matter of 

 pearls and baroques this lot of shells gave very meager returns ; there 

 were no baroques worth saving, and only two small and comparatively 

 worthless pearls in the whole lot. Mr. Birge was impressed with 

 the size and fine quality of the muckets of this region. 



Station 2, Five miles below Fort Wai/ne. — A fair bed of mussels 

 was found here, with many dead shells along the bank. The water 

 was shallow with almost no current, the bottom muddy with an 

 abundance of algae. 



Station 3. Kern Eeservation.~Th.QYe was here a large bar project- 

 ing out of water and covered with dead shells which had evidently 

 been washed out during river floods. The river was free from sew- 

 age and the water was quite clear, about 3 feet at the deepest, and 

 with very little current. The bottom was of rounded gravel well 

 covered in places with algse, and many good-sized sponges. There 

 were also large numbers of flatworms on the stones and many 

 Ancylus^ while crawfishes were numerous and hostile. 



The mussels were well bedded and quite abundant, but not very 

 large. A sample collection was preserved, after which the others 

 were thrown back. This was the first station at which Q. pustulosa 



