worth
from $50 to $100." He also mentions that he has received from the
Tennessee River, in Alabama, fine round pearls both white and rose
colored.
John
G. Anthony writes: "I never have collected in Florida and but little in
Georgia, but what I can say about Ohio I presume will hold good in
other States, that the Unios of various species furnish them tolerably
abundantly there. They are not confined to any one particular species,
but are generally found in the thicker and more ponderous shells,
though even the thinner shells often have small ones, especially such
as are found in canals, ponds, and places which seem to be not so
healthy for the animal on account of stagnant water. I recollect taking
over twenty small ones out of the mantle of one specimen of Unio
fragilis, U. gracilis (Barnes), which I found in the Miami Canal; and
almost every old shell there had more or fewer pearls in it. U. torsus
(Raf.), U. orbiculatus (Hil-dreth), U. costalus (Raf.), and U.
undulatus (Barnes), also produce them in Ohio. I have seen about half
a pint of beautiful pearls, regularly formed and pea size, which were
taken in one season and in one neighborhood ; so you may judge of their
frequency, though, as I hinted before, it is probable that a kind of
disease caused by impure water may govern their production somewhat. No
doubt the southern waters are given to making pearls, as well as Ohio
streams. I have seen protuberances of the pearl character in southern
shells, and have no doubt that one collecting them with the animal in
them would find pearls. I particularly recollect Unio globulus (Say)
and U. Mortoni (Conrad), both Louisiana species, as having these
protuberances in their nacreous matter. Georgia Unios are generally too
thin to produce any excess of pearly matter and form pearls, but the
Louisiana shells from Bayou Techa, which I have seen, have a remarkably
pearly nacre, quite thick, reminding one very much of the marine shell
Trigonia, as to nacre. No doubt the bayous, which have in general no
current at all, would make first-rate places for pearl breeding."
Dr. Charles Rau1 writes: "I learned from Dr. Samuel G.
1 Ancient Aboriginal Trade in North America, Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1872, p. 38 of the author's reprint.
