MUSSEL FAUNA OF MAUMEE EIVER. 



31 



of specimens easy. Shells of all the species found were large, some 

 of them exceptionally so, being the largest of their kind we had yet 

 seen. This was notably true of Symphynota costata and Alasmidonta 

 truncata. The shells were also of the finest quality and best luster, 

 making them very desirable material for commercial purposes. 



The Z. ventricosus were buried rather deeply and were compar- 

 atively hard to dig out. Quadrula pustulosa^ which had been 

 dwarfed thus far in the Maumee, was here of good size. It will be 

 noted that several species were found here which had not been en- 

 countered before, viz, Quadrula lachrymosa^ Plagiola donaciformis 

 and elegans^ and Ohliquaria reflexa. (See fig. 5, pi. ii.) 



Station 15. The Auglaize River^ i miles above Defiance. — The suc- 

 cess at station 14 determined us to try the river again 2 miles farther 

 upstream. The bottom was much the same as at the previous station, 

 except even more slippery and with fewer islets; and the only place 

 the mussels could obtain any foothold was in sheltered coves along- 

 shore, now on one side and now on the other, according to the cur- 

 rent and swing of the river. The coves differed somewhat as to 

 bottom, some being sandy or gravelly and others muddy. The shells 

 found here included more of the smaller species than at the preceding 

 station, although there were also some very large ones. On one of 

 the fine gravelly bars a number of mussels, chiefly of the smaller 

 species, were very actively crawling about in the shallow water; 

 a recent shower had probably moved them out of their places and 

 they were readjusting themselves. Here was found the only living 

 example of Truncilla sulcata seen during the whole summer's work. 

 In the protected coves with muddy bottom Anodonta grandis Avas 

 the most common shell. Lampsilis ligamentinus was just beginning 

 to show an approach to the gravid condition ; the lower edges of the 

 outer gills were becoming faintly distended and margined with 

 black. Ptychohranchm phaseolus was considerably further ad- 

 vanced, the gills being thrown into wavy folds. There were many 

 small schools of minnows here, which kept nibbling at our feet and 

 ankles when we waded into the stream and which clustered eagerly 

 about bits of bread which we threw into the water. 



Among mussel parasites the marginal-cyst distomid was quite 

 common, and there were a few Atax and Cotylaspis present. The 

 Anodontas were heavily infested with Atax and the distomid of 

 Osborn. 



Station 16, Maumee River ^ ^ miles below Defiance. — Four miles 

 below Defiance a State dam, 7 feet high, crosses the river. This 

 dam, known also as the Independence Dam, was built by the State 

 of Ohio to make the river a feeder to the Miami and Erie Canal, 

 which enters the river at this point. In the palmy days of the 

 22367°— 12 3 



