Evening star., 1921-06-05
The MusseI Industry.

THERE are many interesting things
that have been found out about
mussels by scientific men devoted to
thing of greatest popular interest about
them is the economic uses to which
| they are put. And so rapidly are mus
sci shells being used in industry thai
this shellfish verges on extinction. and
the artificial propagation of 4; is being
carried on, ard tho bureau Of FISH
cries urges that the work of propa ga ton
be very much extended. The great use
to which the shells of mussels are being
put is in furnishing the discs or blanks
from which pearl buttons are made.
Pearl ornaments are also produced from
these shells.
There are commercial and non-com-
| mercial varieties of mussel shell and
! those mussels which live in the Chesa-
peake and Ohio canal. in the Potomac
river. the Eastern branch and in all our
creeks have not yet become of CONNER
chalky and brittle. The inside of 1h,,
shell is pearly and the outside. when
the black husk is scaled off is opales-
cent and iridescent, but the button
makers reject them in favor Of those
varieties called the hickory-nut, pimple-
back, maple-leaf. monkey-face, pig-toe,
Chic river pig-toe, blue point three
| ridge. washboard mucket, butterfly and
pocketbook. These seem to be strange
they are the popular names
The principal mussel fisheries are on
the MISSISSIPPI river, the Ohio. Wabash
Illinois, Cumberland. Tennessee the
White and Black rivers in Arkansas. the
he Lala
and Grand rivers in Michigan. the Kan
kakee in Indiana and Illinois. the St
Joseph in Indiana and Michigan, the
sangamon in Illinois. Duck river in Ten
neSSee, kaskaskia in Illinois. Fox river
in Wisconsin and Minnesota Muskir-
gum in Ohio and Neosho in Kansas.
1t was about 1857 that Jewel pearls
were found in certain varieties of the
mussel and pearl hunting or pearl
fishing became an industry along a.
number of western and southern riy-
ers. In 1891 it was discovered that
pearl buttons and pearl novelties
, could be cheaply sawed and turned
from the shells of several species and
this industry developed so rapidly and
to such dimensions that the supply of
commercial varieties of mussels is be-
ing depleted. The bureau of fisheries
estimates that the pearl button indus
try yields buttons and by-products
valued at more than s5.0oo.000 a year.
SiNCS Sihpioy " o.VVV pCIcOHS anu
has invested capital of something
over $3.000,000. The mussel fisheries
that supply this industry yield an an
nual value of 100000 in shells. and
the jewel pearls found are valued at
100000. in addition to the value of
the mussel shells.
The bureau of fisheries has said:
aside from the fact that the mussels
support such an extensive fishery and
are the basis of so widespread an in
dustry, they are of extreme impor-
tance from the standpoint 81 the
United States at large. Why? Be-
cause the fresh-water pearl button.
ranking as the cheapest durable pearl
button that can be produced today, is
in practically universal use. Exter-
inmate the mussels. and an article
now regarded as common necessity
is denied to all persons OF this and
future generations"
Among the non-commercial vAr5e-
ties. Of the mussel are the 6o<ter,
slopbucket or "anadonta corpuiehta."
the papereshell, the sQuaw-foot ana
the spectacle-case. Mussels are hatch
ed from eggs. The bureau of fisheries
says: Nearly all the mussels in tie
uuadrula class are short-term s1r.-
mer breeders. This means that the
eggs are fertilized and incubated in
the gill pouches of the female, passed
out to become parasitic upon hsh and
liberated after the period Of parasit-
ism, all within q relatively short pc
riod Of weeks or months and generals
ly during the summer season.