A PRACTICAL JOURNAL OF 
HOME ARTS. 
Vol. IY. NEW YOEK, FEBRUARY, 1881. No. 2. 
and dashes of a dark and intensely rich 
green. 
Fig. 2 is the Anadon JiuviatUis, the 
most common of all fresh water mussels 
in New York State. In color, it is a dark 
brown in the young specimens, and in the 
matured, almost black, with the she I s 
more or less decomposed by the action of 
water which causes an exposure of the 
pearly structure of the shell as shown in 
the illustration. 
The white foot of the mussel is shown 
in the figure partly extended from the 
shell. With this foot it burrows into the 
sand and pushes itself about from place 
to i^lace. After having burrowed, it 
opens its shells and extends its syphonal' 
tubes for the purpose of breathing and 
feeding. If closely watched, a cur- 
rent of water may be seen passing down 
and out of the tubes, this current is [pro- 
duced by a fringe of tentacles that sur- 
round each tube, each tentacle being fur- 
nished with rapidly moving cilia, which 
cause the water to pass in and out of the 
syphonal tubes. These tentacles when 
examined under a microscope are very 
beautiful objects. In the figure the tubes 
are shown at the lower end of the mussel 
I have found mussels indispensible 
fresh Water Mussels for the 
Aquarium. 
BY A. W. ROBERTS. 
N MOST works on 
fresh water aquaria, 
mussels, (bivalve 
molluscs), are spo- 
ken of as being of 
little use, and devoid 
of interest. Such 
has not been my 
exx^erience, ;is I 
have found them 
to be very useful, 
very interesting 
and beautiful ob- 
jects for the fresh 
water aquarium. 
Fig. 1 (see next p^ge) represents the 
Unio radiatiiH, one of the most highly 
colored of this very large genus of mol- 
luscs common in our lakes, and slow 
flowing rivers and streams. The shell of 
this unio is of a light green color, merging 
into a yellow. From the " beak " (the 
highest T~)oint of the shell), radiate streaks 
