86 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. VII, No. 4, 
SOME NOTES ON COLLECTING MOLLUSCA IN OHIO DURING 
1906.* 
V. Sterki. 
The summer of 1906 was not favorable for collecting mollusca 
in rivers and creeks. The water was higher and more turbid than 
it usually is. The same has been reported from other states. Yet 
there was some good in this state of things; on the one hand, the 
mussels and snails had a favorable season for growth, and on the 
other, they were somewhat protected from the shell and pearl 
hunters. 
A few, somewhat hurried, collecting trips were made to some 
parts of the state; the expenses of most of them were paid from 
the McMillin fund of the Ohio State Academy of Science. The 
results of these trips were somewhat below expectations, partly 
on account of the conditions of the water and. weather; as for 
some of them the season was too much advanced. Yet, a few 
species were found which had not yet been listed for the state, 
and many localities were noted. The finding of a fossiliferous 
deposit in Defiance County was also of interest. Like the sim¬ 
ilar deposits in the Ohio and Miami Valleys it shows that there 
was a time when land snails especially were plentiful. Compared 
with this, our present molluscan fauna is very poor, especially 
in the northwestern part of the state. 
On the whole stretch from the western parts of Stark and 
Summit counties to Defiance, there are few places where land 
snails can find “congenial surroundings,” even approximately 
suitable conditions of life, in consequence of deforestation, drain¬ 
age and culture of the soil. It is evident that not only the num¬ 
ber of individuals is diminished to a small per cent of their num¬ 
bers even of a few score years ago, but that many species are be¬ 
ing exterminated over large tracts of land. And the same can 
be said, to a large extent, of fresh-water mollusca, gastropods as 
well as bivalves. 
It is generally understood that limestone is favorable for the 
growth of snails; but at Tiffin, e. g., I was badly disappointed. 
A several hours’ tramp left my boxes almost empty, and ap¬ 
parently favorable and promising places were found absolutely 
barren. But the rocky rapids of the Sandusky river yielded a 
few things which had not been looked for—although no Unioni- 
dae— and show that at favorable places of that river a rather 
rich harvest may still be expected. 
The Licking River (or creek) at Newark is very poor; a few 
snails were found, but not a trace of a mussel. Yet there is no 
doubt that it had its fair share of them. Rather the same con- 
* Presented at the meeting of the Ohio State Academy of Science. 
