36 



MUSSEL FAXTNA of MAtJMEE HlVER. 



stopped all the water except a small overflow stream which trickled 

 along the very deepest part of the canal. At one place, where a 

 small stream came rushing over a miniature cataract, a dense school 

 of young fish, which appeared to be the skipjack, Pomolohus chryso- 

 chloris, were crowded together making frantic efforts co leap up the 

 fall. 



In the shallow water of the canal many mussels were found alive, 

 while along the exposed portions of the canal bottom an opportunity 

 was presented for studying mussel distribution similar to that in the 

 feeder canal at Fort Wayne. 



By far the larger part of the bed of the canal was open to observa- 

 tion, the central stream being very narrow. At one place the canal 

 when full had overflowed at one side, forming a large lagoon or 

 backwater, in which the water had been from 6 inches to a foot in 

 depth. The bottom of this lagoon was nearly covered with dead 

 shells. 



It was noticeable that Quadrula undulata and Q, pustulosa with- 

 stand a scarcity of water better than most of the other species. There 

 were more of these two species alive in the water than all the others 

 together, and in several places on the exposed sides of the canal 

 examples of one or the other of these two species were found with 

 the flesh still adhering to the shells, showing that these mussels had 

 withstood drying up longer than associated species. The little 

 Anodonta iirbbeciUis was found for the first time in considerable 

 numbers at this place, both in the deeper and shallower parts of the 

 canal. The conditions of the canal also gave an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to get very young shells of some of the smaller species, such 

 as Plagiola elegans and P. donacifomds. 



In connection with the last station on the river may be considered 

 shells obtained on the beach of Put-in Bay Island in Lake Erie. 

 These represent species of the lake into which the Maumee flows and 

 from which that stream may have received some members of its 

 mussel fauna. No live mussels could be obtained at Put-in Bay 

 except a few occasionally washed up by waves. About a mile below 

 the bathing beach a number of dead shells were obtained, represent- 

 ing the species given in the table. 



In this list the words " common " and " few " refer only to the 

 relative number of shells found. Considered as a whole, shells at 

 Put-in Bay were rather rare, and all seen were much dwarfed. 



