Distribution of Aquatic Mollusks in Minnesota

Although Minnesota is a state abounding in lakes and rivers of all sizes which contain a varied molluscan fauna, no general survey of its fresh-water mollusks has as yet been published. Such a survey is of interest from a geographical point of view because the waters of Minnesota drain in three directions, namely south through the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, east through Lake Superior to the St. Lawrence River, and north through the Red and Rainy Rivers to Hudson Bay. Moreover the rivers as well as the lakes, of which there are more than 10,000, present a wide range of size and of chemical and physical characteristics which make the distribution of mollusks interesting from an ecological standpoint.