32 MUSSELS OF CUMBERLAND RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES. 



At Grallatin Landing the mussel bed is H miles long and from 40 

 to 60 feet wide, on a bottom of gravel and yellow clay covered with 

 mud. The river widens considerably, there is much dead water, and 

 the shores are low, making the conditions almost lake-like. This is 

 all the result of excessive backwater from the lock dam just below. 

 The fiist Quadrula fragosa was found here. 



At the head of Lindsleys Island we found a very large number of 

 small shells killed by muskrats ; 95 per cent of these shells were pig- 

 toes. There is no commercial fishing here nor even any pearling. 

 We found in this bed our first yellow sand-shell, and also a spectacle- 

 case, specimens of which we had not seen for some time. Farther 

 down the river, at the end of Lindsleys Bar, there was a clammer's 

 camp. About 600 pounds of shells had been collected, of which the 

 pigtoe formed 50 per cent, the washboard 25 per cent, and the 

 remainder mixed species, including a few yellow sand-shells. There 

 was a good mussel bed at Hills Island above Nashville on a muddy 

 bottom in a fairly rapid current. Many mussels had been killed by 

 muskrats who seemed to have a particular liking for small pigtoes. 



Stones Eiver, an important tributary from the South, was exam- 

 ined along its East Fork at Walterhill, Tenn. The water was shallow 

 and turbid with numerous rifiles; the bottom was composed of loose 

 rocks with intervening gravel bars, covered with plenty of water 

 willow. 



Below the ford was found a large number (70) of a beautiful new 

 species of Truncilla (see p. 46), many individuals of which had been 

 killed by muskrats. The Symphynota costata found here were remark- 

 ably large, and contained many lusterless pearls. 



The West Fork of this river was visited at Murfreesboro, Tenn. It 

 is somewhat larger than the East Fork and is broken up by divers 

 islands covered with water willows. There were many Anodonta 

 grandis and Symphynota costata of large size on the bank, recently 

 killed by pearlers. 



The mussel fauna here is remarkable in containing several species 

 not found at all in the Cumberland, and in a peculiar interchange of 

 species. L. ovata of the Cumberland is replaced here by the genuine 

 L. ventricosa and Q. perplicata is replaced by Q. undulata. The pres- 

 ence of Q. ruhiginosa is unexpected, and that of the genus Anodonta 

 is interesting, since this is the only place in the Cumberland or its 

 tributaries where representatives of this genus were found. 



At the foot of Gowers Island, 25 miles below Nashville on the main 

 river, there is one of the most important mussel beds in the entire 

 Cumberland. And we found here the largest pile of mussel shells yet 

 seen, about 80 tons with 8 tons of cuUs. The bed is 3 miles long and 

 from 60 to 175 feet wide in a strong current on a bottom of gravel 

 mixed with sand and clay. The young pigtoes here were all so 



