Dear Tom and ptotic stragglers,
I think there was no time for commingling of St. Lawrence and Hudson R.
waters until 1825 (possibly a lot later) based on my reading of:
<http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/whitford/1906/chapter6.htm>.
Just the same, I suffer, along with you and others, the angst of an
incomplete description and lack of palpable material. Clearly this is a
matter of degree - not scientific rigor, but what the hell else could the
shell be???? (There is slightly more to the story; I found a paper by Mark
Gordon).
XXXX,
Harry
At 06:52 AM 10/11/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Harry and other members of Sam's Club:
>
>>Dear Tom, other floater-fanciers, and those who haven't the grit to simply
>>delete these messages before reading,
>>
>>(1) Sam, as you refer to him, specifically mentioned "rousse" in referring
>>to the nacre of his Anodonta atra.
>
>I have seen many rousse, rose, et jaune P. grandis. Seems to be related to
>old age and possibly parasites.
>
>>(2) Sam specifically said the taxon was collected in the Hudson River
>>(which nicely coincides with his tutoring some of my children's cousins
>>(true!) at Livingston-on-Hudson just before his first trip west through
>>Pennsylvania. Once across the Allegheny divide, he had his first chance
>>for a Pycanodon grandis.
>
>Mon erreur! The locality is indeed mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
>However, Strayer & Jirka's 1997 The Pearly Mussels of New York State
>(highly recommended) clearly puts P. grandis in the Hudson River, although
>they speculate that it is a "recent" immigrant through the Erie & Champlain
>Canals. These canals were built between 1797 and 1857 (don't have the exact
>date for these specific canals) so they may have been in place in Sam's time.
>
>For me the fact remains that a) the description could apply to more than
>one species, b) these species are sympatric in the Hudson, c) no
>illustration exists (not that Sam's stick-figure drawings could help), and
>d) I have not heard of a "type" being found in the Poulson collection or
>anywhere else. My conclusion: nomen dubium.
>
>
>
>
>*****************************************
> G Thomas Watters, PhD
> Ohio Biological Survey &
> Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
> The Ohio State University
> 1315 Kinnear Road
> Columbus, OH 43212 USA
> v: 614-292-6170 f: 614-292-0181
>******************************************
>
>"The world is my oyster except for months with an 'R' in them" - Firesign
>Theater
>
>"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he
>has to buy a license" - GTW
>
>"Beliefs are more powerful than facts" - Duke Paulus Atreides
Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA 904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm
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