Excerpt from A Descriptive Catalogue, Vol. 1: Of the Naiades, or Pearly Fresh-Water Mussels

This work was begun immediately after the publication of my "Synopsis of the Naiades" in 1900 and was completed, substantially as it now appears, in the latter part of 1901. It was prepared in anticipation of an immediate publication with illustrations of all the species. But owing to the failure of that expectation and my removal to Florida in 1902, the Mss. was laid aside and nothing further done upon it until recently.

There can be no doubt but that the lack of a convenient handbook of the Unionida, which would enable the student to have adequate descriptions of all the species before him, has had much to do with the comparative neglect that the family has suffered, especially in this country, where it is so remarkably and characteristically developed. The literature is scattered, expensive, largely out of print and in many cases practically unattainable. The necessary consequence has been that the identification of nearly all of the rarer species has been based upon the individual conceptions of the more prominent collectors rather than on a careful study of the original descriptions. The resulting uncertainty and misapprehension as to the correct understanding of many of the species is widely prevalent among collectors and, even in the museums, there is not a little incorrectly named material.

It is with the hope of supplying, to some extent at least, this deficiency that it has been deemed advisable to publish this work in its present form, without illustrations.

What we should have in this country is a fully illustrated manual of the Naiades such as has been published on the land and fresh-water univalves. But, unfortunately, there seems to be no prospect of a publication of this kind and, in its absence, it has been thought that the gathering together of descriptions of all the species in a single volume would be of service to those already interested in our native species and might tend to excite a greater interest among those, who might be inclined to collect and study them, but who have been deterred by the lack of accessible literature.

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