Evening star., 1909-05-09

J1On OF Cn1S SOfC tndt the manu-
facturers called upon Congress. and that
body called upon the Bureau of Fisheries for
an investigation George NJ. Bowers, Com
missioner of Fisheries instituted scientific
investigation which disclosed many of the
traits of the mussel in the privacy of its home
life and with reference to the bringing up of its
family.
Career of Mussel
THE young mussel begins its life egg
This egg is a helpless thing 1t floats for
awhile about in the water. and then sinks to the
bottom. Here it drifts about in the silt and
sediment, and if one particular thing does not
happen. it dies This one particular thing is the
appearance Of the fish as nurse. If the fish
comes lollng along, stirring up things with its
fins and feeding from the water through its
gills, that is the opportunity of the embryonic
mussel to save its life 1t grabs its savior and
attaches itself good and Strong In fact, it
drills hole into the skin of the fish and gets in
under.
The mussel is a very small creature at this
stage OF its existence. and causes the fish little
or no inconvenience Many fishes not more
than SIX inches long were examined and found
to be harboring five hundred of the young mus
sells and still not inconvenienced. The parasite
clings to its host for thirty sixty days in the
meantime developing its organism. At the end
of that time it IS a complete mussel. though no
larger than at the beginning 1t bids its nurse
goodby, turns loose, and starts out on a life of
its own To be sure, it is in the mud at the bot
tom of stream. but its product may sometime
adorn the gown of Queen Anyway. it is in
dependent and self supporting
Solving the Problem
TT was the discovery of this particular part
the fish plays in the life of the mussel that
the solution of the problem of supply. All
through the country the Government is main
tanning fish hatcheries for the purpose of keep
ing up the supply of desirable fish in the
streams Each year hundreds of thousands of
fishes are liberated into the streams for that
purpose Why not inoculate each fish and con-
vert it into plant for the propagation of mus
sells and for the distribution of the maturer
form? Why not load each of these fish with
five hundred musses to be sown on the bed of
whatever stream the fish happens to nhabit
month hence or at whatever time the parasite
becomes mature? Certainly the clam was so
liberal with its eggs that there were plenty and
to spare for all fishes in the business. and these
had only to be introduced into the tanks just
previous to the liberation of the fish.
Last year the Bureau of Fisheries did just
this thing to the extent of inoculating twenty
five thousand fishes recovered from being
stranded by overflow streams These were ma
ture fish and able to carry one thousand OF the
little parasites each, or an aggregate OF twenty
five million. The streams in which they were
liberated later showed great numbers of the
young mussels and the experiment was pro-
claimed highly successful.
A station to be utilized for further replenish-
ing the Upper Mississippi with mussels has al
ready been established at Fairport, Iowa and
another such station is authorized Through
the coming season many hundreds of thousands
of fishes will be turned loose with their cargoes
of parasites and will 60 about sowing them in
profusion There seems no question but any
desired quantity of CLAIMS may be planted, and
the button makers have only to wait until the
crop natures, which will be in from three to
five years Anybody who owns mud bot
toned lagoon is invited to sow it with mussels
and go into button farming business