>Date:    Tue, 16 Jan 2001 17:55:32 -0500
>From:    Alan Gettleman <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Spoon River
>
>The Spoon River, which eventually runs into the Illinois River, has a long
>history with freshwater shells.......I remember live Quadrula pustulosa and
>rarely a live Q. metanevra, of course the Lampsilis cardium (ventricosa) and
>others, but that was back in the 1970's.  Only remnants of Elliptio
>dilitata, a
>common shell almost everywhere else but rare in the state outside eastern
>Illinois.

The Spoon River (like many in the agricultural Midwestern US) has
been fairly hard hit by siltation, thus reducing the unionid fauna.
Historically 41 species known from the basin but the only recent
(post 1980) species collected alive have been: Q. pustulosa, Q.
metanevra, Q. pustulosa, Pleurobema sintoxia, Strophitus undulatus,
L. cardium, and Leptodea fragilis.

>Dr. Strode, a local physician, who wrote in the 1890's in the early Nautilus
>years was an early freshwater shell collector.  He chronicled shells there in
>1892 and wrote how he would load the family into the horse driven buggy on
>Sundays and hunt shells which he brought back in moist burlap bags.

Strode collected extensively in central Illinois and many of his
specimens can be found in museums across the country.  Strode also
had a dog named Belva that helped him collect mussels (see the last
reference below). I had a dog that used to roll in dead mussels for
apparent use as doggie cologne but he never helped collect.  A
bibliography of Strode's work on mussels:

Strode, W.S.  1891.  Mollusks of Thompson's Lake, Illinois.  Nautilus
4(12):133-134.
Strode, W.S.  1891.  Mollusks of Spoon River, Ill.  Nautilus  5(6):61-63.
Strode, W.S.  1891.  Destruction of Anodonta corpulenta Cpr. at
Thompson's Lake, Ill.  Nautilus  5(8):89-90.
Strode, W.S.  1892.  The Unionidae of Spoon River, Fulton County,
Illinois.  American Naturalist  26:495-501.
Strode, W.S.  1895.  A day on the Spoon River in Illinois.  Nautilus
9(2):19-21.
Strode, W.S.  1896.  The Unionidae or freshwater mussels.  The Museum
2(4):107-109.
Strode, W.S.  1896.  The size of mussels.  Nautilus  9(10):115-116.
Strode, W.S.  1898.  Unio collecting.  Nautilus  12(1):8.

>A simpler
>time, and some would say a happier time, however as you read Spoon River
>Anthology (which I heartily recommend even for those who do not
>think they care
>for poetry), not all the characters lived carefree lives. But nonetheless, a
>beautiful place.
>
>Alan Gettleman
>Former Illinois Resident,
>Merritt Island, Florida and
>Happy to be in the Location for COA 2001, Cape Canaveral, FL July 7-11.

Kevin

Still a resident but wishes he were in Florida about now.
--
Kevin S. Cummings
Illinois Natural History Survey
607 E. Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
[log in to unmask]
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/mollusk.html