MUSSEL FAUNA OF THE KANKAKEE BASIN. 



31 



shells from this station, therefore, includes simply what could be, 

 picked up along the shore. 



About a dozen years ago a Mr. Hill started a woolen factory in 

 Watseka for the manufacture of woolen goods, and, as an adjunct 

 to employ the surplus water power and to furnish the buttons for 

 the goods he turned out, operated a button factory. The farmers 

 along the Iroquois River and Sugar Creek kept him supplied with 

 shells, which they gathered and carried to the factory. A flourish- 

 ing business was done for six or eight years until hard times came 

 and caused the shutting down of both factories. Enough was accom- 

 plished to prove that these two streams contain a plentiful supply, 

 of shells — enough to run such a factory for a long time. 



Station 27. UErahle^ Iroquois River. — This is about 10 miles 

 below Watseka, but the river widens in that distance from about 40 

 feet to fully 175 or 200. It was about 3 feet deep at the center, with 

 a bottom of fine gravel along the channel bordered on each side by 

 sand, while the banks were soft clay mud. The current was almost 

 imperceptible and the water very muddy. The mussel fauna was 

 rich and varied, as the list given amply proves, and the species were 

 fairly well sorted according to the kind of bottom. 



In the soft mud were found luteolus and the first falladosus we 

 had seen, with an occasional ventricosus. In the sand were a few 

 lachrymosa^ also the first found in the Kankakee Basin, pustulosa^ 

 undulata^ complanata., costata^ and ruhiginosa. In the gravel was 

 the great majority of the lachrymosa and undulata^ with an occa- 

 sional ventricosus and complanata. Q. lachrymosa was more abun- 

 dant than all the other species taken together, and in many places 

 were so thick one could hardly get a foothold without standing on 

 them. The shells were exceptionally large and of fine luster an<^^ 

 quality. 



On examining the mussels for parasites, nearly all the complanata^ 

 luteolus., pustulosa^ trigona^ and lachrymosa were found to be in- 

 fested with Atax^ the distomid of Kelly, and marginal cysts. A 

 few of the shells contained pearls and dorsal baroques, but in much 

 smaller numbers than were found in the mussels of the Kankakee 

 Eiver. A small number of each of the species just named were 

 gravid, the others were free from parasites, and in none of them had 

 the eggs passed down into the gills. ^Hiile most of the ruhiginosa 

 had the characteristic reddish orange meat, a few were found almost 

 white. 



The Iroquois is a river of Quadrulas^ with comparatively few 

 Lampsilis^ in marked contrast to the Yellow and Kankakee Rivers, 

 which are nearly all Lampsilis., with comparatively few Quadrulas. 



Station 28. Iroquois River 3 miles above its junction with the 

 Kankakee. — The change in the bed of the river already noted was . 

 21432°— 12 3 



