Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-16
BUREAU NOT ROBBER ELKS' MERRY BANQUET
United States innocent of Shafts of Wit Shot at 9th
Hurting Pearl Hunters. Annual Feast.
MERElY WANTS THE SHELL CARLIN HITS AT PRESIDENT
Propagates Virginia Representative Squares
Aid Button Industry. Things Fellow Congressman.
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS TOAST TO ABSENT MEMBERS
SeAb-
negation the Themes Of Speakers
Biological Station. Many Ladies Present
MERELY WANTS THE SHELL
Fisheries" Propagates Mussels to
Aid Button Industry.
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS
DR.. Evermann Explains What the
Government Is Doing-Work at
Biological Station.

NO, the bureau OF fisheries is not plan
ming to rob the pearl fisheries of Ceylon
of their prestige" DR.. B. w. Evermann
says. mo effort is being made on the
part Of the government to propagate pearl
bearing mussels for the pearls them
selves. but something Is being done to
produce more pearl shells. for the
shells are worth more than the
pearls. as a rule. The man who lays
aside his more serious work to go pearl
hunting may make about $500. or $500
year at the business. He may even find
a pearl worth $500. for some have been
found which will bring that much. But
as an everyday proposition the man who
makes 50 a day had better stick to It
rather than abandon his job to go in
quest Of those poetic gems. which even
when found are likely to become dim ana
lusterless and ultimately lose their value
DIR. George Lefevre and DIR. w. =.
Curtis of the University of Missouri Dr.
Evermann explained. have been expert
menting for the past two years and are
still doing so to perfect plans for the
artificial propagation of fresh water mus
sells. The shells of these mussels are
used to make pearl buttons. And those
now found in the upper waters or the
Mississippi and its tributaries are being
uSeQ up SO rdplOly lHdl lilo pedil
makers are becoming alarmed lest they
disappear entirely and destroy the indus
try.
Shields Eggs in Mud.
"a fresh-water mussel sheds its eggs IN
the mud at the bottom of the river I'm
less a fish comes along and stirs 1t up
out Of the depths and it can fasten itself
on the gill or the fins of the fish the egg
does not live. and the prospective young
mussel "dies abornin'.' This Is the nat
ural method Of propagation.
"Drs. Lefevre and Curtis have dlscoV-
cred that by placing the eggs in the mud
in tank number of fish thrashing them
up over and over again, Infinitely better
results can be obtained. 1t has been found
that by this method as high as a hundred
eggs will attach themselves to the gills
or fins of d single fish against the ten
or a dozen at most that might do so
under the most favorable circumstances
by the natural method The eggs are thus
held as parasites on the mother fish
until they hatch, when they slough off,
after about two months. and sink to the
bottom of the tank sturdy young mussels
which need only time to fully develop:
These are transplanted in the beds OF
streams where they are known to thrive
best.
Work at Biological Station.
Congress recently appropriated $1,000
for a biological station in the Mississippi
valley devoted chiefly to the propagation
of fresh water mussels. A site has been
procured at Fairport. Iowa, just above
Muscatine, in the very center of the pearl
industry. Sixty acres are now being sur
veyed in order that the proper title may
be procured.
ut is proposed to make this a Station
where fresh-water biological problems
can be studied and solved. When COM
pleted it will be the only fresh-water BIZ
illogical station In America
Some idea Of the value and Importance
of such station may be had when 1t is
recalled that by the natural method not
one egg of the fresh-water mussel in one
million ever has the good fortune to at
tach itself to a fish and ultimately be-
come a mussel, whereas by the plan dis
covered by Drs. Lefevre and Curtis $4,000
fishes were inoculated with one million
young mtssels last fall. When these
slough off they will be planted in the
they are known to thrive.
Use by Button Makers.
Button makers use about twenty-five
different species of mussels in their in
dustry,'' DR.. Evermann pointed out; but
each -pecies differs so that the conditions
best for 1t have to be ascertained. Thus
far the experiments have been made with
but three or four species. The others
will receive attention later on. No two
of .them behave alike.
1.-The station to be established at WI
mona. Mimi, will be a food fish culture
station as we'll as a collecting substation
for the biological station at Fairport
The whitefsh and lake trout hatcheries
at Duluth, Mimi, have been doubled for
food-fish purposes. There are a great
many food fishes in the Mississippi OF
which no one knows anything. Take the
spoonbill cat. for instance. whose eggs
sell for 81 a pound for the manufacture
Of caviar. No one knows when or where
or under what circumstances this fish
spawns. Then there are the commercial
sturgeon, the shovel-nose sturgeon, sew
eral species Of buffalo fish and catfish
that need to be studied The new stations
will afford good opportunities for this
work. and l have no doubt the results
amply justify their establishment"
mir DrCn nDrAYnYoH