MUSSELS OF CENTEAL AND NOKTHEEN MINNESOTA. 19 



articles in the window of this jewelry store, all of which were stated to 

 have been found in the vicinity. We saw several piles of shells that 

 had been recently made by pearlers along the stretch of river above 

 Bemidji, but did not find them anywhere else in this drainage. Evi- 

 dently there has been very little search for pearls anywhere within 

 this entire drainage. 



PROPAGATION. 



The conditions in most of the lakes and rivers of this group are 

 excellent for propagation purposes. The water everywhere is clear 

 and contains an abundance of lime ; the bottom is almost universally 

 composed of hard sand and gravel; there is nowhere any surfeit of 

 algse or aquatic vegetation, and there is apparently an abundance of 

 food. 



At Leech Lake, which, next to Red Lake, is the largest body of 

 fresh water in the State, the outlet is muddy and full of weeds, and 

 is reported to contain nothing but very thin-shelled floaters or paper 

 shells. But the lake itself presents ideal conditions, and a small 

 river which runs into it on the south shore out of Lake Linda is reported 

 by a mussel fisherman to be full of thick shells for the mile of its 

 course. The same fisherman said that Little Bay River, which 

 enters the lake on the west shore, contains no commercial mussels 

 from Leech Lake up to Laura Lake, but from there up to Little 

 Bay Lake is full of them. 



Lake Winnibigoshish was formerly a shallow mud lake, but its 

 surface was raised 14 feet by a dam across the outlet. It would 

 furnish a favorable locality for the introduction of the three-ridge, 

 blue-point, washboard, and similar mud-loving species. 



Cass Lake, Long Lake, and Wolf Lake are also very favorably 

 situated, and all three, as well as the intervening portions of the 

 Mississippi River which connects them, contain good bottom mate- 

 rial. The conditions here are similar to those on the Snake River 

 in the St. Croix drainage, and would be particularly well suited 

 to the thick-shelled fat muckets. 



The Mississippi flows through Lake Bemidji and Irving Lake to 

 Beltrami County, and here again the conditions appear very pro- 

 pitious for the propagation of the fat muckets. 



At Pokegama Lake in Itasca County there are long stretches of 

 sandy beaches and numerous sand bars, which, combined with 

 something of a current flowing through the lake, would favor the 

 introduction of the yellow or slough sand-shells. This lake is 14 

 miles in length, but is quite narrow, and is made up of a succession 

 of long arms and bays surrounded by fairly high land. A dam was 

 placed across the outlet about 8 years ago, which raised the water 

 in the lake 10 feet, and which effectually prevents any fish from 

 entering the lake out of the Mississippi River. 



