MUSSEL FAUNA OF MAUMEE KIVER. 



33 



The canal has a moderate current and is a picturesque waterway, Avith 

 a winding towpath on one side and a country road on the other. 



Station 17. Maumee River at Florida Bridge^ Ohio. — This is 4 

 miles below the dam, and the river had very much the same character 

 as at the previous station, except that there appeared to be more water 

 than at the very foot of the dam. There was not a great deal of cur- 

 rent, and the water was clearer than any we had yet seen ; the mussels 

 could be clearly distinguished in 18 inches of water. The bottom 

 was still of flat rock, so that it was only in favorable places that the 

 mussels could anchor. They were fairly abundant, but considerably 

 smaller than at the dam. 



Station 18. Miami and Erie Canal., near Texas., Ohio. — Near a small 

 village named Texas considerable dredging was done in the canal. 

 The uniformity of bottom and absence of rocks or snags made the 

 dredging very easy. The bottom was of soft black mud and the water 

 about 5 feet deep with a moderate current. We found here a scat- 

 tered bed of Quadrula nndulata; every dredge haul brought up a few 

 examples. These were large and rather plump, with a black epider- 

 mis, and approached more nearly to the form of Q. plicata than the 

 very compressed brownish examples we had been finding hitherto. 

 These shells bore colonies of Plumatella polymorpha. Below Texas 

 there are two tedious locks in the canal, after which we entered the 

 broad expanse of the Maumee above Grand Eapids Dam. At the 

 last lock we saw valves of Q. lachrymosa. 



Station 19. Maumee River above the Grand Rapids Dam. — Here, 

 as at Defiance, the dam backs up the water for several miles, and at 

 this place the river is widened to 2,000 feet or more. Mussels were 

 reported plentiful in this dead water and a few hauls with the dredge 

 verified the correctness of the report. The water here is 18 feet in 

 depth and the bottom is covered with mud in which are patches of 

 sand and rocks, and it is very good dredging, being free from snags. 

 Only three species were obtained, but they were all large, fine shells. 



Station W. Maumee River helow the Grand Rapids Dam. — This 

 dam, like the one at Defiance, was built by the State of Ohio as a 

 feeder for the Miami and Erie Canal. It is 5 feet in height and a 

 little over 1,800 feet in length and interrupted at the center by an 

 island 350 feet in width, known as Purdys Island. At the time of 

 our visit (Aug. 17) no water was running over the dam, all the sur- 

 plus escaping by the canal on the north bank of the river and a mill 

 race on the south bank. The river bed below the dam is broken up 

 into numerous channels separated by islands covered with water wil- 

 lows and other plants much as it was below Independence Dam at 

 Defiance. Here, however, the bottom is a fine-grained sandstone 

 which has been largely quarried for building purposes, with the 



