294 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
A large steam scow for taking mussels, owned at Muscatine, is unique. It is 
provided with a huge rake or dredge operated by steam. The rake is made of iron and 
weighs 500 ])ouuds. It is 48 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 30 inches deep, and is 
])rovided with twenty-live 8-inch teeth. The rake is operated in a recess or slot in 
the bottom of one side of the scow. This recess is 5 feet wide and 40 feet long, and 
is surmounted by a framework with a double track, on which the heavy timbers 
supporting the rake slide wldle tlie rake is l)eing dragged along tlie bottom. A 
perpendicular beam is attached to the rake, by means of Avhich it is raised and 
lowered and dragged from the forward end of the recess. The length of this beam is 
such that the rake may be used in rvater as deep as 22 feet. This vessel carries a 
crew of four men and cost several thousand dollars. It has not been sufficiently used 
to demonstrate whether it can be profitably employed with the mussels so much less 
abundant and more scattered than formerly. 
Tongs and rake used iii mussel tishery of Missis8ii)pL River. 
(Only a part of handles is shoivn.) 
In the spring of 1897 a very ingenious contrivance for taking mussels came into 
use and is now the leading means of capture. It con.sists of a circular rod, G feet long, 
of ^-iuch iron, to which are attached, at intervals of about G inches, series of four- 
pronged hooks made of stout (Ho. 9) wire. These hooks are made of two pieces of 
wire so fastened together that the prongs will be at right angles tn each other. The 
hooks are 4 inches long and are fastened to the iron bar in strings containing two or 
three hooks, which are attached to eacli other and to the bar by twine, pliable wire, 
or cliains, so they will be freely movable. A strong i)iece of rope is tied at or near 
