Feb, 1907.] 
Collecting Mollusca in Ohio. 
87 
dition is coming on in the Great Miami river, where I was collect¬ 
ing a few years ago at and above e. g., Hamilton, also at Dayton. 
The very wide river bed is in striking contrast to the little shallow 
stream at low water. The few species of Unionidae still there, 
and few in numbers, are of large forms and show that the river 
must have offered very favorable conditions for their develop¬ 
ment. But very few young and half grown specimens were 
found; before very long, most or all of them will be gone; and 
the shell and pearl hunters are hastening their extermination. 
A few words may be added with respect to Lake Erie. Un¬ 
fortunately, I have had no chacne yet to do systematic and thor¬ 
ough collecting in the lake itself with the dredge. But repeated 
collecting along the shore, at Sandusky and Vermilion showed 
that there is still a fair number of Unionidae. Pleuroceridae, etc. 
A strange contrast to this is seen, e. g., at Fairport, Lake County. 
All I was able to find there was a dead shell of Lampsilis luteolus, 
not a trace of anything else, in spite of all search east and west 
of the Grand River, along the lake. And that was a few days 
after one of the severest storms of the season A man coming 
along the beach held a water-worn Pleurocera in his hand, as a 
rare find; and a fisherman who has lived there for the last thirty 
years told me that he knew of no place where I might find a mus¬ 
sel. Probably the same condition as that of mollusa is found with 
respect to other groups of animals. What is the cause of such 
utter barrenness? And how is it with other parts of the lake, 
further eastward? 
It may be repeated that it is high time to take an inventory 
of our mollusca fanna, that some more systematic collecting be 
done' in various parts of the state which are still as much as un¬ 
explored. Students of nature are urgently invited to pay their 
attention to these interesting animals. A pamphlet giving di¬ 
rections for collecting and preparing specimens will be published 
by the Carnegie Museum. Correspondence with anvbodv in¬ 
terested—or to be interested—in this line, is solicited. 
New Philadelphia, Ohio. 
