46 



MUSSEL, FAUNA OF MAUMEE RIVER. 



above the Bluff ton Eoad Bridge, and 11 were obtained at the riffles. 

 In the feeder canal 2 examples were secured. It was probably not 

 uncommon there, but on account of its general abundance no more 

 were taken. From 1 to 3 were found at most of the stations on 

 the Maumee, so that it would be unnecessary and tedious to give its 

 occurrence in detail. It was common in the Auglaize, where 13 ex- 

 amples were secured, and abundant in the Maumee below the dam 

 at Grand Eapids, Ohio, where we obtained 23. One was found in 

 the canal just below Grand Eapids. Some of the examples are 

 beautifully rayed. The nacre is usually of a peculiar and pleasing 

 yellowish shade. On account of the usual thinness of the shell, how- 

 ever, the species is commercially unimportant, few or none being used 

 in the button business. Altogether we obtained in the Maumee 

 Basin 125 shells belonging to this species. 



13. Symphynota compressa (Lea). In the Maumee Basin we 

 found only one example of this widely distributed species. This was 

 found in the St. Joseph Eiver near its mouth. The species is rather 

 small and thin, and of no commercial importance. 



14. Anodontoides ferussacianus subclyindraceios (Lea). This 

 subspecies was found in only one locality in the Maumee drainage, 

 and there it was the only species found except one fragment of Lamp- 

 silis iris. This was in a small stream, Spy Eun, which enters the 

 St. Marys at Fort Wayne. In this stream seven examples were 

 found, all small dead shells. This species is of no commercial impor- 

 tance on account of the thinness of the shell. 



15. Anodonta grandis (Say). This species delights in a muddy 

 bottom and a slow current. It was rather common in such places as 

 the feeder canal and its reservoir, and a few large examples (dead 

 shells) were found along the St. Joseph Eiver near Eobinson Park. 

 It was found only occasionally in the rivers ; 5 were obtained at the 

 riffles of the St. Marys Eiver ; 10 were taken of many found in the 

 feeder canal; 12 were collected in the reservoir of the feeder canal. 

 We found 8 in the St. Joseph Eiver near its mouth. In the Maumee 

 it occurred rather sparingly, 1 example having been obtained at the 

 Maumee Center Bridge, 10 in the Auglaize Eiver, 1 in the Maumee 

 below the dam at Defiance, 5 below the dam at Grand Eapids, and 2 

 in the canal below Waterville. A number were seen below the dam in 

 the canal at Maumee. Only a few of the examples seen were col- 

 lected ; the total number taken was 51. 



The specimens from the feeder canal were unusually thick, appear- 

 ing as if a second nacreous layer had been deposited. 



Of all the species of mussel encountered, Anodonta was the richest 

 in parasites, harboring the greatest number of species, and (except 

 in the case of some Lampsilis alatus obtained at Grand Eapids which 



