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iKmcrican iOtature ^etiti 
 
 Group IV. Working with Nrture 
 
 SHELL-FISH INDUSTRIES 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES L. KELLOGG 
 
 PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY IN WILLIAMS COLLEGE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 1910 
 

 CQPYRIGHT, igio, 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 Published February 1910 
 
 !CLA2r)B732 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It was suggested to me that I should try to prepare 
 this account of our food molkisks for three groups of per- 
 sons, namely, those who eat them, those who may be or 
 desire to become directly interested in their culture, and 
 those who may have an interest in the biological problems 
 involved in their artificial control. This suggestion I 
 adopted, and many times since have wondered at the reck- 
 lessness of my courage in attempting a performance of so 
 varied a character. I recall vividly the impression made 
 on my youthful mind years ago on witnessing the evolu- 
 tions of three beautifully matched horses and the graceful 
 feat of James Robinson in riding them around a ring. 
 Though in my wildest childhood imaginings I never 
 dreamed of attempting or desired to attempt so skilful 
 an act, I have in the last months, at a period of life hat 
 should conventionally be characterized at least by sedate- 
 ness, experienced the disquieting sensation of having actu- 
 ally attempted much the same kind of a performance in 
 thus endeavoring to present several topics that might hold 
 the attention of readers possessing widely different in- 
 terests. While desiring to exhibit these subjects so as to 
 bring out their most interesting features, I, of course, 
 have been compelled to present them for brief intervals 
 one at a time, thus always giving two-thirds of my 
 readers an opportunity to yawn. If, however, it should 
 happen that the other third is interested, I shall be amply 
 paid for my effort. 
 
iv Preface 
 
 While the first three chapters, that deal with some ana- 
 tomical, developmental, and physiological facts, may re- 
 quire closer attention than some of the others, they are de- 
 signed in part to make clearer several subjects treated sub- 
 sequently. That on anatomy has been made as simple 
 as possible, and the illustrations are new. The short ac- 
 count of a few ciliary mechanisms in the third chapter is 
 from my own observations, and previously I have pub- 
 lished only those on Venus. It may be that even the 
 small part of my cilia work here presented will be of some 
 interest to biologists, for the subject itself is practically 
 new. 
 
 A relatively large amount of attention has, of course, 
 been given to the oyster. My own interest in the form 
 began nearly twenty years ago, my attention being 
 directed to it by the late Professor W. K. Brooks, the 
 great naturalist and great teacher, who will always be 
 remembered in Maryland as the father of oyster culture. 
 My first efforts, made together with another of Dr. 
 Brooks' pupils, were directed toward a solution of the 
 problem of rearing the swimming embryo in small in- 
 closures to the stage in which it became attached, and in 
 spite of the ingenuity of my friend, we failed dismally. 
 For that reason I write with some feeling the chapter 
 on rearing the oyster from the egg. I may perhaps be 
 allowed to state that from many wanderings along our 
 coast, I have been enabled to gain a more or less exten- 
 sive personal knowledge of oyster culture and familiarity 
 with parts of the oyster field described. It has seemed 
 to me that the person who eats oysters — and who does 
 not? — might be interested not merely in the manner of 
 their production and preparation for market, some de- 
 scriptions of which have appeared, but also in the oyster 
 
Preface v 
 
 fields on our shores, no connected account of which has 
 been pubHshed so far as I know. So I have given con- 
 siderable space to the history and present condition of 
 our oyster territory, and have ventured some suggestions 
 concerning its future development. 
 
 The chapters on the life history of the soft clam, Mya, 
 the conditions governing its growth, and on clam culture, 
 constitute an account of my own work begun in 1898 at 
 a time when practically nothing was known concerning 
 the biology of the form except through analogy. This 
 work was suggested by Dr. H. C. Bumpus, now Director 
 of the American Museum of Natural History of New 
 York, for the United States Fish Commission. In 
 Rhode Island, successful experiments on the growth of 
 Mya have also been carried on by Professor A. D. Mead. 
 The short account of the growth of the hard clam, Venus, 
 is also from observations that I published in 1903. Sev- 
 eral facts concerning the life histories and growth of the 
 soft clam, hard clam, and scallop have been supplied by my 
 friend and former pupil, Mr. D. L. Belding, Biologist of 
 the Massachusetts Fish and Game Commission, who has 
 had these forms continually under observation since 1905, 
 and who has experimented on a very large scale. Some 
 of these facts Mr. Belding has not yet published. Some 
 observations by Mr. J. R. Stevenson, another of my 
 pupils, have been quoted. 
 
 The attempt has been made to present the great possi- 
 bilities of clam culture, and to call attention to legislative 
 changes that are necessary to inaugurate it. Biological 
 knowledge assuring its success is at hand, while many 
 thousands of acres in New England entirely adapted to it 
 now lie barren and unproductive. It would be fortunate 
 if by some means there might be extended to other parts 
 
vi Preface 
 
 of the country, where these forms are now unknown in 
 the markets, a knowledge of their great value as food 
 mollusks, for our entire coast line is capable of producing 
 either the soft or the hard clam. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt uttered a great truth when he stated that 
 the most important problem confronting the nation is the 
 conservation of its natural resources; and the wonderful 
 awakening of the people to that truth, for which he more 
 than any other person is responsible, is one of the most 
 important events that has occurred in America during a 
 century of waste and extravagance. An attempt has here 
 been made to show that even the resources of the " great 
 and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable," 
 are very far from being inexhaustible, as many seem to 
 imagine ; but also that some of its useful forms may, by 
 directing the processes of nature that are at the same time 
 productive of so great bounty and so great waste, not 
 only be conserved, but made to produce even on waste 
 places greater harvests than ever before existed. 
 
 Acknowledgment for the use of figures is gratefully 
 made to the United States Bureau of Fisheries, to various 
 state fish commissions, to the Johns Hopkins University 
 Press, and to the American Museum of Natural History 
 of New York. All but one of the text figures are my 
 own, and, with a few obvious exceptions, are drawn from 
 my own preparations. 
 
 WiLLIAMSTOWN, MaSS., 
 
 January, 1910. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I 
 SEA FARMING 
 
 FACE 
 
 A national inventory of resources — Waste by earlier genera- 
 tions — Extinction of undomesticated food organisms in- 
 evitable — Achievements in the domestication of terrestrial 
 animals and plants — Sea farming — What has been ac- 
 complished — What may be hoped for I 
 
 Chapter II 
 
 NOTES ON THE ANATOMY OF THE FOOD 
 MOLLUSKS 
 
 The shell — Its parts — Pearls — Attachment of the oyster — The 
 mantle — The digestive tract — The palps or lips — Mouth, 
 stomach, and intestine — The vascular system — The heart 
 — The excretory organs — Sexual organs — Hermaphrodit- 
 ism — The nervous system — The foot — Creeping, digging, 
 and spinning the byssus — Swimming by means of the foot 
 — Structure of the gills of Mytilus, Pecten, and Ostrea . Ii 
 
 Chapter III 
 
 DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Structure of the male and female cells — Preparation of the 
 ovum for fertilization — Fertilization — Segmentation — 
 Formation of organs — Attachment 39 
 
 Chapter IV 
 
 CILIARY MECHANISMS 
 
 The food of bivalves — The normal process of feeding — The 
 gills as food collectors — Transfer of food to the mouth 
 by gills and palps — The mud problem and its solution 
 — Cilia tracts on the mantle of Venus leading backward 
 in the mantle chamber — How mud is discharged from 
 
viii Contents 
 
 the mantle chamber — Cilia tracts on the side of the 
 visceral mass — Mud collected by the gills — The palps 
 organs for determining whether collected material shall 
 be carried to the mouth or away from it — Ciliation of 
 organs of the oyster — Selection or rejection of material 
 determined by its volume — Experiments — Automatic selec- 
 tion of food by the gills of Pecten — Special organs for 
 the rejection of mud in Pholas 
 
 > Chapter V 
 
 OYSTER CULTURE IN EUROPE AND JAPAN 
 
 Ancient shell heaps — Oyster culture in antiquity — European 
 flat and Portuguese oysters — Destruction of natural oyster 
 beds in Europe — Scientific experiments of M. de Bon and 
 M. Coste — Great initial success of oyster culture in 
 France — Early disaster to the industry — Ignorance of the 
 biological factors involved — Revival of the industry — 
 Spat collectors — The breeding season — Caring for the 
 growing oysters — Oyster culture between tide lines — 
 Oyster parks and their construction — Racks for the young 
 — The " greening " of oysters — Final preparation for 
 market — Japanese oysters — The use of bamboo collec- 
 tors — Growth of the young 
 
 Chapter VI 
 
 CONDITIONS GOVERNING OYSTER GROWTH 
 —OYSTER PLANTING IN AMERICA 
 
 Why European methods will not be employed in America — 
 How American is different from European oyster cul- 
 ture — Biological conditions governing oyster growth — 
 Bottom to be selected for oyster culture — Food require- 
 ments — The effect of a variable salinity — Oyster planting 
 — " Seed " oysters — Time required for growth — The 
 amount of seed to be planted— Method of planting the 
 seed — Gathering the seed — Natural beds as sources of 
 seed — Former use of Chesapeake seed in the North — 
 Irregularity of the set in northern waters .... 
 
 Chapter VII 
 
 REARING OYSTERS FROM THE EGG 
 
 A method of artificial fertilization of oyster eggs— Wide- 
 spread interest in the discovery of Professor Brooks — 
 Impracticable modifications of the method by others — 
 
Contents ix 
 
 Origin of the belief that artificial fertilization might 
 simplify oyster culture — Persistence of this hope to the 
 present time — Liberated embryos gathered on collectors 
 in France — Experiments in America — Oyster and clam 
 culture have nothing to gain from artificial fertilization 
 of the egg 109 
 
 Chapter VIII 
 
 OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA 
 
 True oyster culture not extensively practised — Advantages 
 from the capture of seed on collectors — Collectors em- 
 ployed in America — When collectors or " cultch " should 
 be spread — Slime — Care of growing oysters — Labor 
 necessary for success — Varying methods in different 
 fields — Nature of the labor of the northern culturist . 118 
 
 Chapter IX 
 
 IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USES— BOATS— 
 
 THE PREPARATION OF OYSTERS 
 
 FOR MARKET 
 
 Tongs and their uses — Nippers — Patent tongs — The use of 
 dredges — Opposition to the use of the dredge — Form and 
 sizes of dredges — Hand and steam windlasses for draw- 
 ing dredges — Boats — Tonging boats — Schooner rigged 
 vessels — The lugger — Steam vessels — The " Early Bird " 
 — Increase in the number of steam vessels — A demonstra- 
 tion of the superiority of steam power — Preparing oysters 
 for market — Cleaning and culling — The freshening of 
 oysters — Bad features of the practice — The matter of 
 taste and the flavor of oysters — " Shucking " — Washing 
 the " meats " — Containers, tin cans, barrels, pails, bottles 
 — Shipping — Steamed oysters 129 
 
 Chapter X 
 
 NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE AMERICAN 
 OYSTER 
 
 The starfish in the north Atlantic — First recognized as a 
 dangerous oyster enemy in 1882 — Structure — Its migra- 
 tions — Its food — How the starfish opens an oyster or 
 clam — Removal of starfish from oyster beds by means of 
 tangles — The oyster drill — Formerly not numerous — The 
 drumfish — Sheepshead — Rays and skates — Crabs — The 
 oyster crab — Mussels — The boring sponge — The boring 
 clam — Sea-weeds and hydroids — Oyster diseases . . . 147 
 
X Contents 
 
 Chapter XI 
 BIVALVES IN RELATION TO DISEASE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Typhoid fever — Sources of infection — Contamination of 
 water over oyster or clam beds — How bivalves strain 
 disease organisms from large quantities of sea water- 
 Need of caution in eating uncooked bivalves — Danger in 
 the freshening process — How it may be prevented — 
 Safety rests largely on the demands of the consumer . i66 
 
 Chapter XII 
 
 THE NORTHERN OYSTER FIELD— HISTORICAL 
 
 Natural oyster beds north of Cape Cod — Kitchen middens in 
 north New England — The Damariscotta shell heap — His- 
 torical records — Why natural oyster beds have disap- 
 peared — Early extent of natural beds in New England 
 and New York — Cause of the depletion of the natural 
 beds — The beginnings of oyster culture in America — 
 Early laws governing the oyster industry — Lease and 
 sale of bottoms — The fear of monopolies — The futility 
 of the close season 174 
 
 Chapter XIII 
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS IN THE NORTHERN 
 FIELD 
 
 American and European oysters compared — The use of 
 southern seed — Oyster laws — The old method of local 
 control — The new method — Surveys of barren bottoms as 
 well as of natural beds — Definition of a natural bed — 
 Incontestible titles and the settlement of disputes — Other 
 features of present Connecticut oyster laws — Direct 
 revenue plan not in favor — Activities on Long Island 
 Sound — Deep water culture — Mergers — Monopoly — Work 
 during the summer — Northern markets 186 
 
 Chapter XIV 
 
 THE CHESAPEAKE 
 
 Historical — Record of the oyster industry fragmentary — 
 Origin of the present packing business in Maryland — In 
 Virginia — Estimated production of the Chesapeake in 
 half a century — Belief that the supply was inexhaustible 
 — Special Maryland Oyster Commission of 1882 — Report 
 of Professor Brooks — Destruction of the natural beds 
 by excessive dredging — Record of the decline of the in- 
 
Contents xi 
 
 dustry — Production in Virginia exceeds that of Mary- 
 land — The Chesapeake oyster in politics — Laws not en- 
 forced—Oyster pirates and their raids— Oyster culture 
 impossible— How the crews of the pirate vessels were 
 recruited — Their treatment by dredging captains — Present 
 and future of the Chesapeake industry — Ineffectual polic- 
 ing by " oyster navies " — No surveys of barren bottoms 
 —Natural beds still the chief source of the supply— Plant- 
 ing on the increase — Features of Maryland's oyster laws 
 of 1906 — Survey of the natural beds by the new Oyster 
 Commission — Criticism of the new law 206 
 
 Chapter XV 
 THE NORTH CAROLINA FIELD 
 
 Physical characters of the region — Oyster reefs — How oysters 
 form islands — Why natural oyster beds do not appear 
 between tide lines in the northern field as in the 
 Carolinas — Why, in North Carolina, natural beds seldom 
 form below the low tide line — Oyster clusters — " Rac- 
 coon " oysters and how they are formed — Small oysters 
 from clusters available for seed — Formation of river 
 tonging beds — Possibilities of oyster culture in Pamlico 
 Sound — Extension of natural beds — The appearance of 
 the Baltimore dredgers — Destruction of the natural beds 
 Dredging by non-residents prohibited — Cull laws not en- 
 forced — The future of the industry in North Carolina . 229 
 
 Chapter XVI 
 THE GULF OF MEXICO 
 
 Florida — Natural beds between and below tide lines — Laws — 
 Alabama — Mississippi — Rapid development of the in- 
 dustry in Louisiana — Subsidence of the shore line — Great 
 area available for oyster culture — Nature of the coast 
 east of the Mississippi River — Chandeleur Islands and 
 Sound — Rapid growth of oyster culture west of the delta 
 — Silt deposit — Experiments showing that the softest of 
 bottoms may be reclaimed — Great deposits of small shells 
 — Ideal collectors — Rapid rate of oyster growth— Oyster 
 enemies — Destructiveness of floods from the Mississippi — 
 Advantages in the conditions in- Louisiana — Wise laws — 
 Production rapidly increasing — Texas — Natural beds — 
 Prospect for the future 251 
 
 Chapter XVII 
 
 THE PACIFIC FIELD 
 
 The native Pacific oyster— Atlantic animals introduced into 
 the Pacific — Planting the native oyster in Washington — 
 
xii Contents 
 
 Depletion of the natural beds in Puget Sound — Introduc- 
 tion of the Atlantic oyster in San Francisco and Willapa 
 bays — Failure of reproduction — Low temperature — Ac- 
 climatization — Stock companies for rearing oysters in 
 Washington 269 
 
 Chapter XVIII 
 
 THE SOFT CLAM— DISTRIBUTION AND 
 CONDITIONS CONTROLLING IT 
 
 Former abundance in New England — Present scarcity — 
 Vernacular and " scientific " names — Character of clam 
 bottoms — Digging clams — Action of disturbed clams — 
 Conditions necessary for the growth of Mya— Effect of a 
 shifting bottom — A tenacious soil necessary — Clay, a 
 growth of algEe thatch — Water currents and the food 
 supply — Effect of close segregation — Good effects of 
 digging — Great variation in salinity not harmful — 
 Enemies few 276 
 
 Chapter XIX 
 
 THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE SOFT CLAM 
 
 The breeding season — Destruction of the swimming young — 
 Settling to the bottom — The byssus — Attachment and its 
 purposes — The creeping period and its dangers — Destruc- 
 tion by small starfish — Beginning of the burrowing habit 
 — Byssus attachment in the burrow and its purpose — 
 Atrophy of the byssus — Final descent into the ground 
 
 Chapter XX 
 
 THE GROWTH OF THE SOFT CLAM AND 
 SOME NOTES ON CLAM CULTURE 
 
 First experiments on the growth of Mya — The plan followed 
 — Determination of the amount of growth — Specific 
 example — Table showing growth of planted clams — Ex- 
 periments by the Massachusetts Fish and Game Commis- 
 sion — Early attempts at clam culture — The Bridgeport 
 experiment — Towns allowed to rent flats — The Essex 
 experiment — Peculiarities of the clam set — Immense 
 segregations and their causes — Sources of seed for plant- 
 ing — How seed clams may be planted — Amount of seed 
 to be used — Barren flats available in Massachusetts — 
 Public and private ownership of clam shores — Present 
 absurd laws— Advantages of clam culture not possessed 
 
Contents xiii 
 
 by oyster culture — Introduction of Mya into California 
 and Washington — Its rapid development — Native clams 
 of the Pacific coast 298 
 
 Chapter XXI 
 
 THE HARD CLAM 
 
 Names — Methods of capture — Marketing — Decreases in num- 
 ber — Development — First experiments on growth — Creep- 
 ing — Effect of sea-weed over beds — No growth in New 
 England during the winter — Value of a strong current — 
 Wide variation in salinity possible — Few natural enemies 
 — Demand for the " little neck " — Culture methods not 
 encouraged — Monopoly and destruction of the industry by 
 shore towns in New England — Need of legislation — Ob- 
 taining seed — Planting on Long Island — Possibilities in 
 hard clam culture 321 
 
 Chapter XXII 
 
 THE SCALLOPS 
 
 Only the adductor muscle used for food — Freshening or bloat- 
 ing by marketmen — Names — Two Atlantic species used 
 for food — Distribution — Eyes — Swimming habits — The 
 warm water scallop apparently does not migrate — Method 
 of capture — Decrease in number — Development — Swim- 
 ming by the foot — Spinning the byssus — Bearing of byssus 
 attachment on distribution — The creeping stage in bi- 
 valves — Rate of growth depends on food-bearing currents 
 — Growth ceases in winter — Actual rate of growth — 
 Normal length of life — Its economic bearing — Biological 
 problem involved — How to determine whether a scallop 
 has spawned — Economic waste in not dredging in- 
 dividuals that have spawned — Legislation needed — 
 Enemies — Results of scallop culture doubtful — Waste of 
 food in America — Failure to utilize marine food mol- 
 lusks and fishes — The inhabitants of the sea not all be- 
 yond human control 333 
 
 Index 353 
 
LIST OF PLATES 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Anatomy of the Round Clam or " Little Neck " . . . 12 
 
 Anatomy of the Oyster . . . ' 24- 
 
 The Development of the American Oyster .... 44 
 Tile Collectors in Place on a Tidal Flat at Auray, France 82 
 Arcachon, France. Oyster Parks with Low Clay Walls 82 
 Arcvchon. Parks with Somewhat Higher Walls Con- 
 taining Cases for the Growing Young 82 
 
 Newly Arranged Collectors of Bamboo on a Tidal Flat 
 
 IN Japan 88 
 
 Oyster Park or Growing Ground in Japan .... 88 
 
 Objects to Which Small Oysters Have Attached . . . 120 
 An Iron Mast Hoop from Chesapeake Bay Covered by 
 
 Thousands of Oysters of Various Sizes .... 120 
 
 A Fleet of Gasoline Tonging Boats in Hampton Roads, Va. 130 
 
 Tongers and Cullers at Work on Pamlico Sound, N. C. . 130 
 A North Carolina Dredging Schooner, Showing Dredge 
 
 and Hand Windlass 134 
 
 Drawing a More Modern Dredge by Steam Power on the 
 
 New York Oyster Grounds 134 
 
 Steam Dredging Vessel on Long Island Sound .... 136 
 
 Steam Dredging Vessel Owned at New Haven .... 136 
 
 New York Steam Dredging Vessel Towing the Dredges . 136 
 A Powerful Ice-breaking Steamer Owned at New Haven, 
 
 Conn 140 
 
 The Largest of the Northern Oyster Fleet .... 140 
 
 Oyster Cluster Covered with Mussels 162 
 
 The Nature of the Crowding in Oyster Clusters . . . 162 
 Laboratory Employees Tonging and Culling Clustered 
 
 Oysters in Louisiana 232 
 
 XV 
 
xvi List of Plates 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Natural Growth of " Coon Oyster " Clusters Between 
 
 Tide Lines in South Carolina 232 
 
 Shells of Arca with Young Oysters Attached . . . 262 
 Single Oysters Attached to Shells of a Small Clam . . 262 
 Holes of Long-neck Clams Very Thickly Set in a Beach 282 
 Long-neck Clams Dug from Beneath One Square Foot of 
 
 a Flat . , 282 
 
 Increase in Size in One Year of Clam One Inch Long 
 
 When Planted 304 
 
 Increase in Volume in One Year of Clams in an Experi- 
 mental Bed with Slight Current 304 
 
 Box Suspended from a Raft Near a Clam Flat from 
 
 May 15 Until October 15 of the Same Year . . . 312 
 Growth of Mya in Two Years on i-ioo of an Acre of a 
 Barren Flat 312 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 SEA FARMING 
 
 F one were to construct a classification of the 
 units of society, he could perhaps most con- 
 veniently group them as pessimists and opti- 
 mists. It is difficult to determine which is 
 the larger group. One is apt to say in his haste that all 
 men are pessimists. Whether this really is true or not, 
 chronic fault-finders certainly are not rare, and all know 
 where to look for the glowing face of the optimist. 
 Every one knows the cheerful friend who, while urging 
 one to go fishing with him, would turn his back on the 
 black cloud rising in the southwest and call attention to 
 the little patch of blue remaining in the east to prove the 
 impossibility of rain. On large matters of national 
 interest, as well as in small affairs, the American public 
 has had a long training in optimism. Popular writers, 
 and orators on platform and stump, have always taught 
 us that ours is the greatest of nations in achievement, and 
 that our natural resources are limitless and inexhaustible. 
 It may be that general intelligence is sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to warrant the introduction of a third group into 
 this classification. Whatever name may be given to the 
 group, it includes those who, instead of constructing argu- 
 ments to substantiate opinions, are interested only in what 
 is true. They employ the simple and common sense 
 method of modern science, stripping themselves of 
 
2 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 prejudice and desire, and attempt to see things only as 
 they are. 
 
 Assuming this reasonable attitude as fully as possible, 
 it is well to consider on its merits the question of the 
 future sources of the world's daily bread. Since Malthus, 
 more than a century ago, showed that population tended 
 to outgrow subsistence, pessimists have declared universal 
 famine to be near, while optimists have refused to con- 
 sider the matter seriously, or believed that if the worst 
 should occur, some chemist would succeed in synthesiz- 
 ing proteids from inorganic matter, or that something 
 else would turn up to relieve the situation. While there 
 is certainly no immediate occasion for alarm over the 
 matter, the recent inauguration of an attempt to make a 
 national inventory of all of our resources is a triumph of 
 common sense. 
 
 Heretofore the young continent has produced a vast 
 amount of human food that it has been necessary only to 
 gather, while other natural resources — metals, gas, oil, 
 coal, lumber, and fertile soils — have seemed to be limitless 
 in quantity. Viewing the present conditions as they are, 
 without unwarranted encouragement or discouragement, 
 it is very clear that preceding generations, giving no 
 thought to those who were to follow them, destroyed and 
 wasted, without substantial benefit even to themselves, 
 sources of natural wealth that, carefully conserved, might 
 have provided comfort for many generations. If there is 
 any excuse in the fact that our ancestors believed it to be 
 impossible to destroy our natural resources, there is none 
 for those of the present generation whose greed is delib- 
 erately and mercilessly cleaning up what remains, and 
 leaving a far-reaching inheritance of ruin. Our criminal 
 waste and our indifference to the fate of future genera- 
 
Sea Farming 3 
 
 tions, have been said, and probably with truth, to be with- 
 out precedent in the history of peoples. 
 
 The best of our forests is gone, and their actual extent 
 reduced by at least three hundred millions of acres. In 
 lumbering and manufacturing, we waste from one-half 
 to two-thirds of each tree. The method of lumbering is 
 responsible for incalculably destructive fires that often de- 
 stroy even the soils on which they occur. Nearly all of 
 the waters of the deforested areas go to the seas in dev- 
 astating floods, while summer brings its droughts. In 
 the South alone, millions of acres of rich agricultural 
 lands have been gullied beyond repair. The wonderful 
 valleys west of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon, 
 now attracting wide attention because of the peculiar fer- 
 tility of their soils, and possessing probably more than a 
 fourth of the available water-power of the nation, are en- 
 dangered by the ruthless destruction of forests. It is 
 estimated that a billion feet of natural gas — an ideal fuel 
 — is every day allowed to escape from the earth unused, 
 and that from one to two tons of coal are wasted in 
 mining each ton that is marketed. Worse than all else, 
 soils are being robbed. Agriculture is now practically im- 
 possible in Nev/ England, and farm values in the agricul- 
 tural state of Ohio have suffered a decrease of sixty 
 millions of dollars in a decade. All recall the wanton 
 nature of the extermination of the buffalo and the 
 passenger pigeon. Water-fowl are now rarely seen 
 where, thirty years ago, migrating flocks stretched from 
 horizon to horizon. The wonderful run of the salmon 
 in the rivers of the Pacific slope has until recently been 
 S believed to afford an inexhaustible supply of valuable 
 food. Beside being put to this use, millions of pounds of 
 salmon and herring have each year for a quarter of a cen- 
 
4 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 tury been utilized on the Pacific coast in the manufacture 
 of fertilizer. Cod, mackerel, shad, and other valuable 
 food fishes of the Atlantic, within the memory of men 
 now living, were many times as abundant as now. At 
 the present rate of decrease, the lobster must soon disap- 
 pear from our eastern coast. Nearly every natural oyster 
 field on the Atlantic has been destroyed. Most of the 
 clam flats of New England, once immensely productive, 
 are now almost barren. 
 
 But in spite of these depressing facts, there are many 
 hopeful conditions to which attention should be given. 
 Our natural resources may be separated into two groups, 
 namely those consisting of materials accumulated through 
 eons of time, which are replaced only by the infinitely 
 slow processes of nature, and resources that may be made 
 rapidly to perpetuate themselves under human direction 
 and control. To the first belong ore deposits, petroleum, 
 gas, and coal. These, once consumed, are gone forever. 
 The second group includes organisms useful to man. 
 Obviously the resources included in the first group should 
 be used judiciously and without waste, in the knowledge 
 that substitutes for them will one day be required. Those 
 of the second group may never disappear. 
 
 While wanton destruction and waste are always deplor- 
 able, it must be admitted that even with the greatest care, 
 animals and plants useful to man would, if allowed to re- 
 main under natural conditions, soon become too few in 
 numbers to meet his requirements. The butchery of our 
 buffalos by hide-hunters and European " sportsmen " 
 naturally excited strong disapproval, but it hurried by 
 very few years their extinction, that was inevitable from 
 the occupation of their ranges by stockmen and agricultur- 
 ists. The great multitudes of pigeons inhabiting the 
 
Sea Farming 5 
 
 northern states east of the Mississippi half a century ago, 
 met their fate largely through the destruction of their 
 nesting and feeding places. Fishes, oysters, clams, and 
 other animals propagating in a natural state, have rapidly 
 decreased when used for food. Even the most prolific 
 have proved to be anything but inexhaustible. But even 
 if these forms had been used without waste, their final 
 failure as sources of food would have been merely post- 
 poned. This inevitable destruction only becomes deplor- 
 able when it fails to be accompanied by an effort to do- 
 mesticate, or in adequate measure to control the perpetua- 
 tion of the vanishing form; for such effort in the past has 
 in nearly all cases been marvelously successful. Man's 
 achievements in domestication have been possible largely 
 from the fact that he has nearly always been able to 
 overcome in great measure the vast wastefulness of na- 
 ture. In a natural state, seed is produced in profusion, 
 but its growth is left largely to chance, and its destruction 
 is enormous. Usually with little effort on man's part, 
 intervention results in a rapid increase in the number of 
 individuals. 
 
 Whenever terrestrial animals and plants have been do- 
 mesticated, the achievement has consisted not merely in 
 accelerating the rate of reproduction, but in controlling 
 nearly every condition on which their lives depended, with 
 an effect so far-reaching that most of them bear so little 
 resemblance in structure and habit to their wild ancestors 
 that the relationship would hardly be suspected. Indeed, 
 the original forms from which many of them were de- 
 rived, have been lost to human tradition and are entirely 
 unknown. How great some of these changes are is il- 
 lustrated in the many known descendants of a wild 
 mustard plant. Among them are the numerous vari- 
 
6 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 eties of cabbages, cauliflowers, brtissels sprouts, kales, and 
 kohlrabis, that are so different from each other and from 
 their common parent, in the character of stem, root, leaf, 
 and flower, in size, and in color, that it is difficult to be- 
 lieve what is known to be true concerning their relation- 
 ships. Great changes equally useful to man, have also 
 been made in animals on which he has come to depend, 
 numerous examples of which will occur to any one. 
 
 But these great results have been worked out on the 
 land. Is it possible to hope that the waters also may be 
 made productive in any similar manner? The available 
 land area will soon be occupied, but here is an immense 
 expanse of shallow water along our shores that has al- 
 ways yielded a large amount of food. Is it possible that 
 this also may be converted into fertile and productive 
 gardens and pastures ? 
 
 Though man domesticated food organisms long before 
 recorded events began, as some prehistoric remains prove, 
 he has not yet seriously given his attention to the possi- 
 bilities of sea farming. It is true that along certain lines 
 immensely important results have been obtained, but that 
 it would be possible greatly to extend them is not to be 
 'doubted. The whole subject is one that has been in- 
 sufficiently considered. It might be urged with some 
 show of reason that as yet there is no necessity for the 
 development of sea farming, because our land area is still 
 sufficient to meet all requirements of food production. 
 But within the next decade or two all of the wheat land 
 and probably all of the arable soil of the North American 
 continent, not covered by forests, will be occupied, and 
 while this is capable of supporting a population very much 
 larger than the present one, it would be the part of wis- 
 dom now to turn to the sea, in order to determine to what 
 
Sea Farming 7 
 
 extent it also is capable of producing organisms under a 
 system of artificial culture. 
 
 It may also be argued that man is unable successfully to 
 give intimate attention to aquatic or even to semi- 
 aquatic forms. It might be asked, for example, why 
 frogs, that are sold in great numbers in some markets, 
 have not been improved by domestication ; or why fishes 
 reared from artificially fertilized eggs have not been so 
 bred that it would be possible for them to abandon their 
 natural habits of feeding and migration, to mature and 
 reproduce themselves in captivity. In the first case, the 
 answer is that selective breeding, which perhaps would 
 not be difficult, has not been attempted. It is perhaps not 
 impossible that our markets may some day display 
 gigantic frogs that will require water only to drink. As 
 to the fishes, the only cases in which the attempt has been 
 made to modify structure and habit, have not shown re- 
 sults different from those obtained in terrestrial forms, as 
 is proved by the very curious modifications exhibited in 
 the numerous varieties of Japanese gold-fishes. It must 
 be admitted that the domestication of aquatic forms will 
 be attended by many difficulties not encountered on the 
 land, but there is no good foundation for what appears 
 to be the common belief that an attempt to domesticate 
 them may not be worth the undertaking. 
 
 It is possible that some marine animals, on account of 
 their habits, can never be really domesticated. Such are 
 fishes that make long seasonal migrations, or that, as the 
 ^almon, make one migration into fresh water to spawn 
 and perish, at a definite period in life. But even in these 
 cases the human agency may become vastly helpful in the 
 matter of their propagation. At various points along the 
 Atlantic coast, the eggs of shad are hatched in the sta- 
 
8 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 tions of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, and cared 
 for through the early period of hfe, during which de- 
 struction is greatest in a state of nature. The losses 
 under this care are few, and the young fishes, now much 
 better able to care for themselves, are liberated to pass the 
 remainder of their lives in a natural state. There are 
 good reasons for the belief that the shad would have be- 
 come practically extinct years ago, if this method of 
 artificial propagation had not been practised. The num- 
 bers of several species of fishes are maintained in the 
 same manner. 
 
 In the case of one marine form not included in the 
 group of fishes, very remarkable success has attended the 
 employment of culture methods. The culture of the 
 native oyster of the Atlantic coast, the simple beginnings 
 of which date back only half a century, affords the one 
 great demonstration that we at present possess of the possi- 
 bilities of sea farming; and the extent and value of the in- 
 dustry depending on it are very significant. It is the pur- 
 pose of the following chapters to set forth the achieve- 
 ment of the oyster culturist, and to show that other food 
 mollusks, now rapidly disappearing, may also be made 
 very much more abundant than they ever have been under 
 natural conditions. 
 
 And why should this work not be extended? To be- 
 gin, we should know that the sea contains immense quan- 
 tities of nutritious and palatable food, of which no use 
 is made. The Agricultural Department is searching all 
 the corners of the earth for useful plants with a view to 
 habituating them to our own soils and climates. Why 
 should the effort not be made to introduce on our own 
 shores marine food organisms from other seas ? Probably 
 quite by accident, our eastern long neck clam was in- 
 
Sea Farming 9 
 
 troduced on the Pacific coast, where it has now spread 
 over large areas. Why may not some of the more 
 valuable of the bivalves of the western coast be reared 
 artificially in the colder waters of the Atlantic? The 
 Japanese possess a larger and better oyster than the native 
 form of the Pacific, found in Washington and California. 
 It is perhaps not superior to our eastern oyster, but the 
 latter is not able to reproduce in the cold Pacific waters, 
 in which possibly the Japanese form would thrive. The 
 state of Louisiana is about to make the attempt to estab- 
 lish the hard clam or " little neck," found near the Chan- 
 deleur Islands, on its coast west of the delta of the Mis- 
 sissippi, where shore bottoms are now entirely barren, but 
 on which conditions seem to be favorable for the ex- 
 istence of this valuable food mollusk. There are nearly 
 everywhere similar opportunities to utilize waste and bar- 
 ren places on our shores. And without becoming unduly 
 optimistic over the matter, we are probably warranted 
 in expecting that, when the experiments are made, many 
 forms beside the cod, the shad and other fishes, the oyster, 
 and the clam, will prove to be more or less perfectly 
 responsive to the new conditions that the human agency 
 shall determine. 
 
 A most auspicious beginning has been made of what 
 may in time become the. artificial control of very many 
 useful marine organisms. Why should the sea and its in- 
 habitants be regarded as essentially untameable? There 
 is something about the vastness of its resources that ap- 
 peals strongly to the imagination. Who is able to stand 
 unmoved before the awful demonstration of power that 
 the waves make on a shore? We possess no means of 
 measuring the force of the tides. Even those who pro- 
 fess to be shocked at the thought of utilitarianism in con- 
 
lo Our Food Mollusks 
 
 nection with nature's grand displays of force, may find 
 poetry in the thought that, by methods, some of which are 
 already known, much of this vast and purposeless waste 
 of energy may be made to undergo a magical transforma- 
 tion into comforts that would lighten the heavy load of 
 human toil, and make human experiences happier and 
 more ennobling. The potential fertility of the sea, also, 
 is sufficient, when use shall be made of it, largely to 
 supply man's greatest need. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 NOTES ON THE ANATOMY OF THE FOOD 
 MOLLUSKS 
 
 OME time before the publication of Darwin's 
 " Origin of Species " in 1859, a few natu- 
 ralists had come to believe that similarity in 
 structure in different species of animals or 
 plants could be explained only on the assumption that 
 these species were more closely related to each other than 
 to other species. To them it seemed unlikely that the 
 many points of resemblance in structure and habit to 
 be found in comparing scores of varieties or species 
 of violets, for example, could mean anything but a rela- 
 tionship between them. From the analogy afforded by 
 different breeds of domesticated animals, known to be 
 derived from a common parent form, it seemed reason- 
 able to assume that several kinds of thrushes, or of crows, 
 of squirrels, hares, or similar groups of species differing 
 only slightly from each other in nature, had descended 
 one from another or from common ancestors. 
 
 But this view was then founded merely on analogy 
 and met with little favor. The world continued to hold 
 tenaciously to the still less reasonable hypothesis that each 
 species of animal and plant had originated independently 
 in an act of special creation. According to this tradi- 
 tional belief, no relationship existed between different 
 species. The Creator of the animate world had decided 
 
12 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 upon several types of organisms, and each new creation 
 was made to conform more or less closely to one of them. 
 Having become a religious dogma, this idea was so firmly 
 fixed that it required a revolution in popular thought to 
 destroy it. The publication of Darwin's first great book 
 accomplished this end. 
 
 The " Origin of Species " showed how natural forces 
 now in operation might produce new species from parent 
 forms. It presumed that the same forces had been 
 operating on organisms in the same way since the dawn 
 of life. According to this view, all living organisms have 
 a real relationship to each other, recent or remote. As a 
 rule, great differences in structure indicate distant, as 
 great similarities indicate close relationships. 
 
 On account of fundamental similarities in develop- 
 ment, structure, and habit, which exist among oysters, 
 clams, scallops, mussels, and other members of the lamelli- 
 branch family, no naturalist now doubts that they 
 descended from some common ancestor, which, however, 
 must have lived in the very remote past, as man meas- 
 ures time. What this ancestral form was, is not posi- 
 tively known; but naturalists have agreed on what must 
 have been the general characters of many of its organs. 
 Why they should have a positive belief in regard to a 
 creature that no one ever saw, even in fossil form, is a 
 long story; but the reasons for it, if they were explained, 
 would probably be satisfactory to most minds. 
 
 Among the very few bivalves here considered, it is 
 not easy to determine which, in its structure, conforms 
 most closely to the hypothetical ancestor. It is not the 
 black mussel, with its aborted foot and anterior adductor 
 muscle, and its sexual glands in the mantle folds. It is 
 not the scallop, in which much of the body is modified to 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 13 
 
 conform to the swimming habit. Certainly it is not the 
 degenerate oyster that has completely lost the organ of 
 locomotion, and the anterior adductor muscle. Probably 
 it is not the soft clam, for in it, also, the ancient foot is 
 greatly reduced. Of the short list, the hard clam, Venus 
 mercenaria, probably has a greater number of organs that 
 are most like those of the ancestral bivalve, though some, 
 like the gills, depart much farther from the primitive con- 
 dition of those organs than do those of the mussel and 
 scallop. But because Venus, not by any means one of the 
 more primitive of living bivalves, is somewhat the more 
 simple of the species here described, it may illustrate best 
 some of the anatomical characters common to them all. 
 
 The Shell. The hard protective covering of Venus 
 consists of right and left parts known as valves. It is 
 composed of carbonate of lime, which is deposited in a 
 viscous secretion poured out by the fleshy mantle fold 
 lining its inner surfaces. On the shore, one sometimes 
 finds valves of clams or other bivalves, recently dead, 
 that are united on the upper or dorsal side by a piece of 
 stiff, elastic substance, resembling rubber. This is known 
 as the shell ligament. The position of its attachment to 
 the shell is represented in Figure i (/). 
 
 Just within the ligament, each valve bears prominent 
 ridges or teeth that fit into corresponding depressions in 
 the opposite valve. This mechanism, serving to hold the 
 two parts of the shell in their proper relative positions, is 
 called the hinge. It may be noticed that the shells of 
 dead bivalves are always open at the under or ventral 
 margin. In the living animal, lying quite undisturbed 
 in the water, a slight gaping of the valves may also be 
 observed; but when the animal is disturbed, the valves 
 
H 
 
 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 close. An attempt to pry them open will show that they 
 are held together with great force. The closing mecha-| 
 nism consists of two cylindrical bundles of muscle fibers, 
 known as the anterior and {)osterior adductors, running 
 directly across from one valve to the other. The ends | 
 of these muscles, severed from the left valve, are shown 
 in the figure (a a and p o). 
 
 The functional relations of ligament, hinge, and 
 muscle, may be understood by referring to the text figure 
 
 (Figure 2), which repre- 
 sents a transverse section of 
 the shell in the region of 
 hinge and ligament. The 
 rubbery ligament (/) occu- 
 pies such a position and is of 
 such a width, that when the 
 adductors (a m) contract, 
 the hinge (h) acts as a ful- 
 crum, and the ligament is 
 stretched. On the relaxation 
 of the muscles, the mechani- 
 cal contraction of the liga- 
 ment, acting on the hinge, 
 causes the lower edges of 
 the shell to separate. 
 
 Examining the outer sur- 
 face of a valve, there is to be noticed, far dorsal ward and 
 forward, in Venus, a rounded prominence, the umbo, so 
 called on account of its fancied resemblance to the boss of v 
 a shield. Its position on the shell varies in different 
 bivalves, and in some it is very inconspicuous or absent 
 altogether. 
 
 From the umbo as a center, concentric lines of growth 
 
 Fig. 2. — Transverse section of 
 the shell of Venus to show 
 relations of ligament (/), 
 hinge (/;), and adductor 
 muscles (a m). 
 
I 
 
 Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 15 
 
 spread over the entire outer surface (Figure 64). Each 
 represents what was, at one time, the edge of the shell. 
 A cross section of a tree trunk reveals similar concentric 
 growth lines. Each line in the section marks the cessa- 
 tion of growth in the fall and its resumption in the spring, 
 so that the years of a tree's life are recorded in them. 
 From such an analogy it might be assumed that the 
 growth lines on a bivalve shell indicate its age, also ; but 
 the analogy is misleading. Most shells, like that of 
 Venus, possess fine and closely crowded, as well as con- 
 spicuous lines, all irregularly arranged. While they rep- 
 resent successive deposits of lime, many are formed in a 
 summer, and no idea of age may be had from them. Dif- 
 ferences in their distinctness and size are probably due to 
 the irregular action of weather, tide, temperature, and the 
 abundance or scarcity of food. 
 
 The mantle edge secretes a thin, dark colored, rubbery 
 coat that is applied to the outer surface of the shell. This 
 probably is produced to prevent the dissolution of lime, 
 especially in the young. In some bivalves, this cuticle, 
 as it is called, is so thick and tough that it performs its 
 function perfectly throughout life; but in most cases it 
 wears away, especially on the older part of the shell, and 
 the lime is slowly dissolved. The addition of new shell 
 to the inner surface may keep pace with this, but in the 
 case of clams living in foul mud, in which humus acids 
 are abundant, the shell is sometimes perforated and the 
 animal dies. Very little of the cuticle is to be found on 
 the shells of adult oysters, clams, or scallops. 
 
 Closely connected with the addition of new layers to the 
 inner surface of the shell, is the formation of pearls. 
 These precious structures are merely shell formations un- 
 attached to the valve. Their shape has much to do with 
 
i6 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 their value. Their hue and iridescence also are im- 
 portant. Most of the pearls of commerce come from the 
 so-called pearl-oyster of the Indian Ocean. This mollusk, 
 however, is only distantly related to edible oysters. 
 Pearls have been found in the bodies of most bivalves, 
 and those from several species are valuable. Fresh water 
 clams, especially in the streams and lakes of the central 
 states, produce pearls of great beauty. Every one has 
 found them in our oysters. These are usually small, 
 though sometimes very symmetrical in outline, but are 
 not valuable, as they are not iridescent. 
 
 Pearls, really abnormal shell growths, are formed by 
 the introduction of some foreign object between the 
 mantle and the shell. This body becomes a nucleus about 
 which the sticky secretion of the mantle accumulates. 
 Just as in the case of the shell layers, lime is deposited 
 in this sticky coating. Successive layers are added and 
 the pearl gradually increases in size. The foreign bodies 
 acting as centers about which the pearly layers are ac- 
 cumulated, have been shown, in some cases, to be small 
 parasitic worms. It is easy to determine experimentally, 
 however, that an inert body like a grain of sand, will also 
 become coated with pearly layers. Professor Brooks, in 
 his book on the oyster, writes of the miraculous origin of 
 the sacred clam shells of the Chinese Buddhists. He 
 says : — " The inside of the shell has a beautiful pearl 
 luster, and along it is a row of little fat images of Bud- 
 dha, squatting with his legs crossed under him, and his 
 elbows on his knees : they are formed of pearl precisely 
 like that which lines the rest of the shell, a little raised 
 above its surface, and outlined in faint relief, but they 
 are part of the shell, with no break or joint. In the 
 process of manufacturing them, the shell of the living 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 17 
 
 animal is wedged open, and thin images, punched out of a 
 slieet of bell-metal, are inserted. The animal is then re- 
 turned to the water, and is left there until enough new 
 shell has been formed to cover them with a varnish of 
 pearl thick enough to cover them, and to hide the metal, 
 while permitting the raised outline to be seen." 
 
 Pearl growth is really very common. Fresh water 
 clams, of which there are scores of varieties, exhibit it 
 with great frequency. But usually it will be found that 
 the pearl has become fastened to the shell. Even when 
 these growths are large, they cannot be removed and 
 ground into a symmetrical form, because abrasion of the 
 surface destroys their luster. It is only the large, sym- 
 metrical growths, which have not been glued to the shell 
 during their formation, that have great commercial value, 
 and these are relatively very rare. 
 
 There is often considerable variation in the shapes of 
 shells, especially in oysters and long-neck clams. This is 
 often due, in the case of the former, to the close crowding 
 of individuals, and in the latter, to pressure against ob- 
 jects in the walls of the burrow. When young oysters 
 crowd each other closely, after their attachment, the di- 
 rect effect is that the shells grow narrow and become 
 greatly elongated. If a clam in its burrow presses against 
 an unyielding obstruction, the growing shell will be dis- 
 torted by conforming to the outline of the object. 
 
 Right and left valves are normally symmetrical in most 
 bivalves, but in the oyster there is a great inequality. The 
 animal is attached by the left valve, which is very much 
 larger than the right. It forms the stony box in which 
 the soft parts of the body lie, and the right valve is little 
 more than a lid to the box. In the embryo, the valves are 
 of the same size, and are perfectly symmetrical. This 
 
1 8 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 was undoubtedly the condition of the distant ancestors 
 of the oysters, which were unattached. The habit of at- 
 tachment is of great vakie, for oysters are permanently 
 held in favorable localities above the soft mud of the bot- 
 toms, which might otherwise smother them. 
 
 The primary function of the shell, of course, is protec- 
 tion. But in spite of its hardness and toughness, it some- 
 times fails. There is a mighty and unceasing struggle in 
 nature in which every organism strives to obtain necessary 
 ''nourishment, and at the same time to protect itself against 
 its enemies. The shells of bivalves have become strong, 
 but at the same time their enemies, which must in some 
 way obtain food or perish, have developed special organs 
 for crushing or penetrating them. The jaws of the drum- 
 fish of Atlantic and Gulf waters, for example, have be- 
 come so powerful that they are able to crush even the 
 strong shell of an oyster. But it is interesting to observe 
 that there is difficulty in doing this; for if the task were an 
 easy one, these fishes might be able to cause the extinction 
 of the race of oysters. Drumfish are able to dispose of 
 small oysters which the oyster culturist has separated and 
 scattered over the bottom to grow, but they experience so 
 great difficulty with oyster clusters on the natural beds, 
 that their mouths are often badly lacerated in their 
 desperate attempts to obtain food from them. The 
 sheepsheads, fish with jaws armed with large, hard 
 teeth, crush the relatively thin shells of young oysters. 
 Among the deadliest enemies of bivalves are some of 
 their own distant cousins, snail-like mollusks which pos- 
 sess, in the end of a proboscis, a rasping or boring organ 
 which slowly cuts through the hardest shell, and allows 
 the creature to feed on the pulpy tissues within. 
 
 There is at least one phase of what is called the struggle 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 19 
 
 for existence among organisms that popularly is very 
 little appreciated. It is that the battle, which never ceases, 
 is, in almost all cases, nicely drawn — so delicately bal- 
 anced through long periods of time, that any slight ad- 
 vantage on one side or the other may result in the more 
 or less complete extinction of one, or even of several 
 interdependent species. At one time newspaper reports 
 informed us that ordnance and projectiles had become so 
 perfected that the armor of war vessels afforded little 
 real protection. Later it was stated that armor-plates had 
 been made so hard and tough that they could be pene- 
 trated or broken only with great difficulty. Yet improve- 
 ments in both go on, and the layman understands that 
 there is a nicely balanced contest for supremacy between 
 them. Everywhere in nature, also, weapons of defense 
 and offense are slowly being perfected, but in the test of 
 actual warfare. A harder armor in the oyster and other 
 mollusks might possibly deprive drumfish and certain 
 marine snails of so much food that their ranks would at 
 least be reduced; and stronger and harder jaws in the 
 drumfish might result in the annihilation of oysters liv- 
 ing in the warmer waters of our coast. This balance in 
 the struggle among organisms sometimes is upset, and 
 fossil remains show that, as a consequence, many great 
 races, both of animals and plants, have suddenly declined, 
 and then completely disappeared from the earth. 
 
 The Mantle. This structure has been referred to as a 
 flap or fold of tissue that grows out from each side of the 
 body, expanding so as to line the inner surface of the 
 shell. Figure i shows the edge of the mantle lying 
 parallel to the margin of the shell ; but a much better idea 
 of it is given by Figure 3, which represents the body of 
 
20 Our Food Mollusks I 
 
 the oyster lying in its left valve. Here, as in many hi- | 
 valves, the margin is provided with projections or ten- 
 tacles, capable of some extension, and acting as sensitive 
 touch'organs. Certain parts of this edge are sensitive to 
 changes in the intensity of light, and in the scallop there 
 are developed eyes so perfect in function that moving ob- 
 jects are seen at a distance of several yards. It is evi- 
 dent that this is the only part of the body where visual 
 organs would be of any use. 
 
 In the two forms here illustrated, the mantle folds be- 
 low are separate from each other. In some bivalves, the 
 soft clam for example, there is an extensive fusion of the 
 edges, so that the mantle chamber becomes an enclosed 
 
 space. 
 
 Venus is a form that spends most of its time burrowed 
 in the bottom just deep enough to cover the shell. As in 
 all other burrowing lamellibranchs, two tubes, the ; 
 siphons (Figure i), grow out from the mantle posteri- | 
 orly, their purpose being to reach up to the water. '. 
 Through the lower one a stream, bringing food and ; 
 oxygen, enters the branchial or mantle chamber. After 
 passing through the gills, the water is discharged through 
 the upper tube. These siphon tubes are very long in the 
 soft clam, which burrows many inches into the bottom. 
 
 In addition to these functions, the mantle of forms i 
 that possess a large, distensible foot, serves as a blood j 
 reservoir, and thus probably functions as the chief organ ' 
 of respiration; for the blood here is separated from the , 
 water only by the very thin mantle walls. 
 
 The Digestive Tract. Referring again to the figure 
 illustrating the hard or round clam, it will be observed 
 that the mantle fold, the two gill folds that hang down on 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 21 
 
 the sides of the body, and the body wall itself, have been 
 removed so as to expose the digestive tract and other in- 
 ternal organs. In most animals that possess a tubular 
 digestive tract, the mouth is to be found at the forward 
 or anterior end of the body, and the rule holds in this case. 
 Usually, also, this opening into the digestive tract is 
 situated in a modified part of the body that may be called 
 a head. This was probably true of the very early an- 
 cestors of the bivalves, but as the result of the develop- 
 ment of a shell completely covering the body, the head of 
 all living bivalves has disappeared as a distinctly modi- 
 fied region. For this reason they are sometimes called 
 Acephala. 
 
 The mouth is not shown in either of the illustrations, 
 but its position in the oyster is indicated. The opening is 
 hidden by a pair of huge folds or lips, one placed in front 
 of, and the other behind it. These labial palps extend, 
 right and left, far out from the mouth, and are shown in 
 both figures. In Figure 3, the front or anterior palp on 
 the right side has been partially removed, and the inner 
 surface (that nearest the mouth) of the inner palp is 
 exposed. The organs are so situated that they may come 
 in contact with the anterior margins of the gills. The 
 latter are collectors of the microscopic food, which they 
 pass forward, by ciliary action — cilia being minute hairs 
 that cover various surfaces and have a rapid lashing 
 movement — to the inner surfaces of the palps. Over 
 these, in turn, it may continue forward to the mouth. 
 As will be shown later, when material is too abundant on 
 the palps, it is not directed to the mouth, but to tracts 
 that carry it out of the body. 
 
 The mouth, having the form of a funnel, leads directly 
 into the oesophagus. This tube may be traced backward 
 
22 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 to its opening into the stomach. As represented in the 
 figure, the latter appears as a simple dilation of the di- 
 gestive tube. Surrounding it on all sides, are the digestive 
 glands, which pour their secretion into it through short 
 but wide ducts. The digestive glands constitute what 
 is commonly called the liver in anatomical descriptions of 
 many invertebrate animals; but it is not similar to the 
 liver of vertebrates, either in structure or function. Its 
 secretion has the power of rendering fluid and changing 
 chemically the digestible parts of the food. The gland 
 is always of a dark color, that varies somewhat in dif- 
 ferent bivalves, and every one has noticed it in the rup- 
 tured bodies of oysters and clams. 
 
 The intestine arises from the posterior end of the 
 stomach. Its course is downward and backward, and 
 in the lower part of the body it bends in a way character- 
 istically different in different bivalves, before finally as- 
 cending to the region in front of the heart. Coursing 
 straight backward on the dorsal side of the body, it passes 
 directly through the heart in most bivalves, and then 
 over the posterior adductor muscle where it ends, the anal 
 opening of the tube being so situated that the strong 
 current of water leaving the body immediately carries 
 away the fecal matter. The parts of the digestive tract 
 in other bivalves have much the same arrangement. 
 
 The Vascular System. It rarely happens that the 
 blood of invertebrate animals is colored, though there 
 are one or two exceptions to it even in the bivalve group. 
 In our edible mollusks, it is a nearly colorless fluid, cir- 
 culating through the body along very definite paths. As 
 in all other cases, it carries liquid food obtained from the 
 walls of the digestive tract, and oxygen received in the 
 gills and mantle, to all the living tissues of the body. At 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 23 
 
 the same time it gathers up waste material resulting from 
 muscular activities, and as it flows through the walls of 
 the excretory organs, or kidneys, certain cells of the 
 latter have the power of removing these substances. 
 
 The heart is situated on the dorsal side of the body 
 under the hinge of the shell, in Venus. By opening the 
 delicate wall of the chamber in which it lies, it is seen to 
 be made up of three parts. On the mid-line of the back, 
 is a large sac, with filmy muscular walls, which is called 
 the ventricle. It is by the contraction of these walls that 
 blood is forced to various parts of the body through two 
 arteries, one running forward, and the other backward. 
 Joining the ventricle on either side are two auricles, sacs 
 even more filmy and delicate. Their office is to pump into 
 the ventricle blood which they receive from the gills. 
 
 It has been stated that the intestine courses through the 
 ventricle from before backward. This is true of the 
 clams and of most other bivalves. But in the oyste.r and 
 scallop, the heart has been moved to a position below the 
 intestine. The oyster's heart may very easily be found by 
 picking away the thin wall just in front of the large ad- 
 ductor muscle so as to expose it as it lies in its chamber 
 (Figure 3). It is the common belief among oystermen 
 that the adductor {pa) itself is the heart, and that when 
 it is cut, the animal is at once killed. The fact is that if 
 one valve of the shell is very carefully removed, and the 
 animal is placed in a favorable current of water, it will 
 continue to live for days. 
 
 The Excretory System. The organs for removing 
 waste matters formed as a result of muscular and other 
 activities are usually difficult to observe. In the simplest 
 cases among our edible mollusks, they are dark colored 
 tubes, one on each side of the mid-line of the body, open- 
 
24 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 ing by one end into the chamber in which the heart Hes, 
 and by the other to the exterior of the body near the 
 base of the gills. Their position is shown in Figure i, n. 
 Waste matter is extracted from the blood as it flows 
 through the walls of these kidneys, and is discharged to 
 the exterior through the outer opening of the tube. 
 
 These nephridia, as they are technically called, may be. 
 seen directly exposed as conspicuous swellings on the 
 under side of the large adductor muscle of the scallop, 
 but in the other forms their examination is difficult. 
 
 The Sexual Organs. As a rule, our edible mollusks 
 are of separate sexes, though there are no secondary 
 sexual characters that will enable one to distinguish 
 male from female. The small warm water scallop ( Pec- 
 ten irradians), found from Cape Cod to Texas, is her- 
 maphroditic, that is, possesses both male and female 
 sexual glands. Hermaphroditism is a very common 
 condition among lower animals and among plants t 
 where it occurs, it usually happens that the two kin ^^ of 
 sexual cells come to maturity at different times, in order 
 to prevent self-fertilization. The breeding together even 
 of nearly related animals, usually tends to produce weak 
 offspring. The sexes are separate in the northern or 
 giant scallop, and in Venus and Mya. This is also true 
 of the oyster, while its near relative, the European flat 
 oyster, is hermaphroditic. 
 
 Because the losses among young bivalves are so enor- 
 mous, immense numbers of eggs are produced. Fifty 
 or sixty millions would be a conservative estimate of 
 the actual number discharged by a large female oyster 
 during a single breeding season. Though the eggs are 
 minute, they are large enough to be distinguished by the 
 unaided eye. The sexual glands constitute the greater 
 
;^ 
 
 o o 
 
 
 o ^> 
 
 
 :' ''U 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 25 
 
 part of the pulpy body, being packed around the diges- 
 tive tract, extending down into the base of the foot, in 
 the quahaug, and backward in the oyster and scallop so 
 as nearly to surround the adductor muscle. The ducts 
 through which the sexual cells are discharged, open, one 
 on each side of the body, near the bases of the gills, 
 though in the scallop and some other lamellibranchs, 
 the opening is into the tube of the nephridium. 
 
 The breeding season comes in the late spring and early 
 summer. All through the winter the body is swelling with, 
 the accumulating sexual cells, and it is then, of course, 
 more valuable as a food. For several weeks the sexual 
 products are gradually discharged. By the middle of 
 the summer the body has become comparatively thin and 
 watery, especially in the soft clams, and remains so until 
 fall or early winter. Oysters, and probably clams also, 
 living in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, continue 
 to spawn through the summer, and the former, in these 
 localities, produce a few eggs during every month of 
 the year. 
 
 It is often asked why oysters are not generally mar- 
 keted and eaten during the summer months, but the 
 reason is not that oysters are then somewhat less full 
 and nutritious, although that happens to be the case. 
 Reason plays no part in determining many human habits 
 and customs. The answer is simply that it is the custom 
 to eat oysters in winter and not in summer. It is the 
 custom south of Long Island Sound to eat " little necks " 
 — small, hard, or round clams — during the summer, and 
 to refrain from eating long neck clams. Just as it is the 
 custom, across the sound in Rhode Island, and in other 
 New England states, to use the long neck clams during 
 the summer in the famous clam-bake. The truth is that 
 
26 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 none of the bivalves are quite so good for food from 
 July to September; but the critical insight of the person 
 who declares an oyster stew or a clam-bake in August 
 to be failures from a gastronomical point of view, is 
 very much to be questioned. There is no very good 
 reason, except the difficulty of transporting and keeping 
 long neck clams, why all of our food mollusks should 
 not be marketed during the summer. 
 
 The Nervous System. In a great many inverte- 
 brates, the central nervous system possesses one chief 
 ganglion, or pair of ganglia, situated in the anterior part 
 of the body. But in the bivalves there are three pairs 
 of large ganglia : one, the pair of cerebrals, in the region 
 of the mouth; a second, the pedals, in the base of the 
 foot ; and a third, the viscerals, close against the under 
 side of the posterior adductor muscle. 
 
 The ganglia of the cerebral pair are often separated, 
 being placed on the right and left sides of the mouth. 
 These are connected by a strand or commissure of nerve 
 fibers crossing in front of the mouth. The two pedal 
 ganglia, connected with the cerebrals by a pair of com- 
 missures, are partially fused together. They supply the 
 muscles of the foot with nerves. The viscerals are the 
 largest, and are fused together into a single ganglion 
 from which nerves are given off to the gills and mantle. 
 A pair of commissures also unites visceral and cerebral 
 ganglia. 
 
 Structurally this nervous system seems to be simple, 
 when compared with that of higher animals, and one is 
 apt to lose sight of the very complex functions that it 
 really performs. The responses of the attached and 
 greatly degenerated oyster seem to be few and simple. 
 Superficially regarded, its functions, except those per- 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 27 
 
 formed automatically by cilia, over which the nervous 
 system has no control, are almost limited to opening and 
 closing the shell. It w^ill be shown, however, that even in 
 this degenerated form, many wonderful responses of the 
 nervous system to various stimuli occur, by means of 
 which this automatic ciliary mechanism is rendered ef- 
 fective in inducing activities that result in the acceptance 
 of microscopic food particles from the water, and the 
 rejection of useless material. 
 
 The Foot. This organ, which is characteristic of the 
 Mollusca, is simply a muscular thickening of the under 
 or ventral wall of the body. It varies greatly in size, 
 shape, and position in various bivalves, but the chief 
 features of its primitive form are probably represented 
 in Venus. Here the entire ventral wall is thickened, 
 forming an organ having some resemblance to a plow- 
 share, the point projecting forward. Though the adult 
 hard clam, and many others having a similar foot, seem 
 more or less completely to have abandoned the habit of 
 creeping, a few adult bivalves possessing a locomotor 
 organ of the same general character use it for that pur- 
 pose, sometimes covering considerable distances. The 
 very young of the long neck clam, mussel, and scallop 
 possess a foot much like that of the adult Venus, and all 
 are active creepers. Later in life the organ becomes 
 relatively much reduced in size and modified in form, and 
 in each the creeping habit is gradually abandoned. Be- 
 cause of the early form and function of the foot in these 
 species — and the same will probably be found to be true 
 of many other bivalves — it may be assumed that the 
 ancestral organ was large, covering the entire ventral side 
 of the body and projecting far forward, and that its 
 primary function was that of creeping. 
 
28 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 The descendants of these ancient forms, adapting 
 themselves to various new modes of living, found new 
 uses for the foot which gradually became modified to 
 perform these functions more perfectly. Burrowing was 
 one of these habits. It is well demonstrated by the 
 young of the long neck and little neck clams, that thrust 
 and worm the sharpened anterior end of the foot into the 
 bottom, then expand it so that it acts as an anchor. 
 Special muscles (shown in the figure of Venus) extend- 
 ing from the base of the organ to an attachment on the 
 shell, then contract and draw the body down into the 
 bottom. This is repeated until the desired depth is 
 reached. 
 
 In the black mussel and the young of the shallow 
 water scallop of the Atlantic, the foot performs a very 
 special function, that of shaping and attaching the an- 
 chor threads of the byssus. The byssus gland is an 
 organ developed in the ventral tissues of the foot, near 
 its posterior margin. It produces a viscous secretion 
 that hardens in coming in contact with water, forming 
 threads of great strength. It is also present and func- 
 tional in young little neck and long neck clams. 
 
 In the smaller scallop and black mussel, there is a 
 groove on the under side of the foot, extending from the 
 opening of the byssus gland to the end of the foot, where 
 it expands into a diamond-shaped cavity. This cavity 
 remains open below, while the groove is temporarily 
 converted into a closed tube by the folding together of 
 its edges. The foot is stretched out from the body, the 
 end placed against some foreign object, and the fluid 
 is poured out through the tube. When this is opened, 
 water comes in contact with the secretion, which instantly 
 hardens into a thread, and the foot is withdrawn to be 
 
I 
 
 Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 29 
 
 extended in anotlier direction. The process is repeated 
 until several threads are formed. Though the mussel 
 remains attached during its life, it is possible for it to 
 cast off the byssus at its base and form a new one. The 
 scallop has the same habit, but attaches less frequently 
 after attaining the adult condition. In the clams the 
 byssus disappears early in life. 
 
 Still another use is made of the foot in a few cases. 
 The large sea-clam (Mactra) of the north Atlantic 
 coast, is able to leap a distance of several inches, when 
 out of the water, by a quick movement of the organ, 
 and it is not difficult to see how such a habit may, at 
 times, be useful to it. There are some cases in which 
 bivalves are able even to swim short distances by a rapid 
 paddle-like movement of the foot. 
 
 Finally it is to be noticed that in the oyster, the foot, 
 although present in the very young, early begins to dis- 
 appear, and soon completely vanishes. This is presum- 
 ably the result of the mode of life inaugurated by the 
 attachment of the shell to some object on the bottom, for 
 the foot is then of no use. 
 
 The Gills or Branchiae. The gills are the most 
 complicated organs of the lamellibranch body. They, 
 like the foot, have been greatly changed from the primi- 
 tive condition to conform to various modes of life which 
 characterize different species. So many of the activities 
 of bivalves depend on them, and so much also concern- 
 ing their functions is of importance to those who use 
 oysters and clams for food, that they should be thor- 
 oughly understood. No one, for example, who knows 
 how these organs continually strain from the water the 
 minutest solid particles, and hold them tenaciously, can 
 have any doubt about their power to collect the organ- 
 
30 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 isms of typhoid fever and other germ diseases, especially 
 intestinal diseases, from infected waters. 
 
 The organs are exposed when the mantle flaps are 
 lifted, and there are seen to be two of them on each side 
 of the body, one lying nearly over the other. In the 
 figure of Venus, they are represented as being cut off 
 near their bases. In the oyster the gills have been moved 
 from this position on the sides of the body so as to lie 
 in four parallel folds on its ventral margin (Figure 3). 
 Behind the body the four gills unite so as to separate 
 a space above, the cloacal chamber, from the large mantle 
 chamber below. With the unaided eye, it may be seen 
 that each gill is vertically striated. Although at first 
 sight a gill appears to be a solid fold of tissue, closer 
 examination shows it to be made of two plates or 
 lamellae (from which the name Lamellibranchiata, some- 
 times given to the bivalve group, is derived), which en- 
 close a space between them. Each lamella, also, is com- 
 posed of a great number of parallel, hollow rods, the gill 
 filaments, placed regularly, side by side, so that the plate, 
 as represented in a diagram (Figure 4), has a re- 
 semblance to a picket fence. Each filament corresponds 
 to a picket, the lamella to the fence, and the entire gill 
 to two parallel fences. The spaces between the filaments 
 allow water to enter the interior of the gill. 
 
 In one important respect, the illustration of the par- 
 allel fences fails. If we trace a single gill filament from 
 the base of a lamella down to the free lower margin of 
 the gill, we will find that it does not end there, but bends 
 and continues upward as one of the filaments of the other 
 lamella. 
 
 As these rods or filaments are very delicate and much 
 elongated, their regular position might easily become dis- 
 
 i 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 
 
 31 
 
 tnrbed if there were no means of binding them together. 
 Such a means is always provided, but it is different in 
 diff'erent bivalves. The two halves or lamellae of the 
 gill must also be bound together by cross partitions to 
 prevent their spreading apart, and they, too, are always 
 present. 
 
 The simplest gills among our edible mollusks are 
 found in the black mussel (Mytilus edulis). A single 
 
 I 
 
 Fig. 4. — Diagram of the gill of the mussel (Mytilus 
 edulis). The filaments (/) are bound together 
 by round patches of cilia shown at c. Trans- 
 verse bands of tissue or interlamellar unions (iu), 
 hold the two walls or lamellae of the gill together. 
 
 filament, isolated from the gill, is shown in Figure 5. 
 The reference-letter b is placed at its point of origin from 
 the body, b is the descending, and a the ascending 
 limb. At the bend, which marks the lower edge of the 
 gill, the filament is notched, and many of these notches 
 placed side by side form a groove on the gill margin, 
 along which food is carried forward to the palp. One 
 of the interlamellar unions is shown at ? n. 
 
 The relative position of the filaments is shown in 
 
 I 
 
32 
 
 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 Fig. s. — Single 
 filament of 
 the gill of 
 the black 
 mussel. The 
 ref erence- 
 letter b 
 marks the 
 point of 
 origin from 
 the side of 
 the body, d 
 is the de- 
 sc e n d i n g 
 and a the 
 ascending 
 limb of the 
 filament, / u 
 an inter- 
 lamellar 
 union, and c 
 one of the 
 patches of 
 cilia uniting 
 contiguous 
 filaments. 
 
 Figure 4. The two rows of tubes represent 
 the outer and inner lamellae. Along 
 regular horizontal lines are found the inter- 
 filamentar unions (c). They are small, 
 rounded patches, slightly elevated from the 
 sides of the filaments, the cells of which bear 
 long cilia or hairs. These tufts of cilia are 
 placed opposite each other on contiguous 
 filaments, and are intermingled much as one 
 might interlock the bristles of two paint 
 brushes by pushing them together. This 
 intermingling of straight hairs is sometimes 
 disrupted, but they have a slight oscillatory 
 movement, and on being brought in contact, 
 soon work together as before. The inter- 
 lamellar unions (i u) are bands of tissue 
 reaching across the cavity of the gill, and 
 uniting the two limbs of the same filament. 
 The gills of Pecten (Figure 6) are es- 
 sentially like these, but are more specialized 
 in that, at fairly regular intervals, a filament 
 has become greatly enlarged, in order to 
 support firmly the interlamellar partition 
 which it develops. Another difference is 
 that the filaments between these, instead of 
 lying in a straight line, bend outward in 
 a fold. Such an arrangement allows of a 
 greater number of filaments in a gill. The 
 interfilamentar unions in the scallop are 
 ciliary, but the cilia, instead of appearing on 
 patches as in the mussel, are borne on spurs 
 that project from the filament into the in- 
 terior cavity of the gill, as shown at c s. 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 33 
 
 In the giant or northern scallop, cilia unite some of 
 the filaments near the free margin of the gill, but near its 
 
 Fig. 6. — A portion of the gill of the scallop (Pecten irradians) 
 showing the folding of lamellae. The reference-letter / 
 designates one of the filaments. The letters cs indicate 
 ciliated spurs that are sectioned, and i u an interlamellar 
 union. 
 
 base they are joined by bands of fine tissue, thus form- 
 ing a much more stable union. This growing together 
 of adjacent filaments becomes very much more extensive 
 in the clams and the oysters. 
 
 Comparing the gill of the little neck clam, Venus, with 
 that of the scallop, we find the same folding of the 
 lamellae, and largely developed interlamellar partitions. 
 But the filaments are small and all of the same size. The 
 greatest difference in the two cases is that in Venus 
 the filaments have grown together very extensively on 
 their inner margins, leaving mere slits here and there 
 where water may enter the gill. A very curious struc- 
 ture is found in this gill. Thin walled sacs grow from 
 the interlamellar partitions and the filaments into the 
 
34 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 interior chamber of the gill. They contain blood and 
 are probably developed to facilitate its oxygenation. 
 
 While the oyster has become, through degeneration, 
 one of the simplest of lamellibranchs in general struc- 
 ture, its gills are among the most highly modified and 
 perfected to be found in the group. In a general way, 
 this may be explained by saying that the extensive de- 
 generation of certain organs has resulted from the habit 
 
 Fig. 7. — The gill of the oyster (Ostrea virginica). Reference- 
 letters b s indicate blood spaces ; /' and /" enlarged fila- 
 ments at reentering angles of lamellar folds; other letters 
 as before. 
 
 of fixation, and that this mode of life has made special 
 demands on the gills, which have been rendered more 
 complex in consequence. 
 
 Comparing the diagram of the oyster gill (Figure 7) 
 with the others, the folding of the lamellae seen in the 
 scallop gill, is developed to the greatest degree. Be- 
 tween folds as in Pecten, a single filament is greatly 
 enlarged (/'), and at regular intervals a large interlam- 
 ellar partition appears, uniting the inner edges across 
 the gill chamber (/"). As in the little neck gill also. 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 
 
 35 
 
 the filaments have grown together by their inner edges, 
 leaving slits here and there for the ingress of water. 
 
 Figure 8 represents a cross 
 section of several filaments in the 
 fold of a lamella of the oyster 
 gill. Four of these filaments 
 have grown together along their 
 inner margins. If the section 
 had passed a little higher or lower 
 on the gill, one or more of these 
 would have been shown to be free 
 from the others. Several free 
 filaments are shown in the figure, Fig. 8.— Transverse sec- 
 and between them water enters tions of several fila- 
 the interior of the gill. But 
 above and below the plane of the 
 section, these also would be united 
 with contiguous filaments for 
 shorter or longer distances. 
 
 Gill filaments, when greatly magnified (Figure 9), 
 show essentially the same structure in nearly all lamelli- 
 branchs. They are tubes for the circulation of blood, 
 and their walls are single layers of cells as shown in the 
 sectional views of the oyster and scallop gills. Each fila- 
 ment contains a pair of rods of secreted, rubbery sub- 
 stance that give stiffness to the slender tube, and probably 
 tend to keep its blood space (b) open. The cells of the 
 wall are modified on the outer edge of the filament. 
 Some of them bear an immense number of cilia (/ c), 
 which are protoplasmic hairs having an excessively rapid 
 lashing movement that produces currents in the water, 
 and also removes foreign particles from the surface of 
 the gill. At the margins of this tract are rows of cells 
 
 ments of the oyster's 
 gill. A union of the in- 
 ner edges of four of 
 these is shown, and 
 their common blood 
 space is indicated at b. 
 
 // 
 
36 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 \ 
 
 bearing greatly elongated cilia. In the majority of 
 lamellibranchs, are found two such rows, but in some 
 cases there are four, two on each side. Among the cells 
 that bear the small frontal cilia, are certain ones that have 
 become gland cells (g c) producing a large quantity of 
 sticky mucus which they pour out on the surface of the 
 filament. 
 
 The functions performed by these complicated gills 
 are many. They are breathing organs, and were prob- 
 ably developed originally for that 
 purpose alone. Blood, that is con- 
 tinually streaming through the 
 many filaments, is brought so close 
 to the water surrounding the gills 
 that oxygen borne by it enters the 
 fluid by diffusion and is then car- 
 ried to all parts of the body. But 
 it is necessary that water surround- 
 ing the gills should frequently be 
 changed because its oxygen is 
 quickly exhausted. In many aqua- 
 tic animals the gills move back and 
 forth to agitate the water, or 
 special organs are developed to 
 direct a current upon them. Here 
 a very powerful current of the 
 most effective sort is produced by 
 the gills themselves. The cilia lash 
 in such a way as to drive water 
 between filaments on both sides of the gill into its inte- 
 rior. The passageway is indicated by the arrows in the 
 figures of the oyster and scallop gills. The current does 
 not pause here, but continues swiftly upward toward the 
 
 Fig. 9. — Transverse sec- 
 tion of a single fila- 
 ment of the gill of 
 Pec ten irradians. 
 Structures designated 
 are : — f c, frontal 
 cilia; fire, gland cells; 
 .y c, straining cilia ; 
 and b, blood space. 
 
Anatomy of the Food Mollusks 37 
 
 base of the gill, where it enters a tube which is without 
 obstructing interlamellar partitions, and leads backward 
 to the cloacal chamber. This has been described as a 
 space above the four gills and behind the main portion 
 of the body. 
 
 Into this cloaca all four gills continually pour their 
 streams, which unite to form a powerful current that 
 leaves the body either directly between the unmodified 
 mantle folds, or through the dorsal chamber of the 
 siphon tube. As a large amount of water is in this way 
 being constantly forced out of the body, a correspond- 
 ing volume is being drawn in. It enters directly be- 
 tween the mantle folds into the gill chamber, or, in the 
 clams, is drawn into it through the ventral tube of the 
 siphon. So rapid is the stream in all forms, that with- 
 out doubt many gallons of water flow through the gills 
 daily. 
 
 It is interesting to notice that this greatly perfected 
 pumping mechanism never ceases its activity during the 
 life of the individual. The cilia are not under the control 
 of the nervous system, and the direction of their beat- 
 ing is never changed or apparently slackened. There is 
 but one way to prevent the streaming of water through 
 the body, and that is to close the shell or contract the 
 siphon so as completely to close the gill chamber. 
 
 Now it happens that this inflowing stream bears many 
 minute marine plants that these shell-fish use for food. 
 They are not so numerous but that a large amount of 
 water must be strained to enable the animal to obtain 
 enough of them for its nourishment and growth. These 
 organisms are small enough to pass through between 
 the gill filaments and so out of the body again; but on 
 coming in contact with the gill, they are instantly en- 
 
38 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 tangled in the mass of mucus produced by the gland 
 cells of the filaments. 
 
 Cilia now carry the mucus, with its captured organ- 
 isms, down to the margin of the gill, or in some cases to 
 its base, where it is passed forward along ciliated tracts 
 toward the palps. The palps, on touching the margin of 
 the gill with their inner ciliated surfaces, remove the 
 mass, which travels toward, and finally into the mouth. 
 In addition to aerating the blood, then, the gills have 
 become modified into food collecting and food trans- 
 porting organs also. 
 
 The gills of the European oyster and several other 
 bivalves also, serve as baskets, in the female, into which 
 the eggs are discharged. Here they are held until they 
 have passed through the early stages of development. 
 This, however, does not occur in any of our Atlantic 
 food mollusks. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 DEVELOPMENT 
 
 N view of the present vast extent of knowledge 
 concerning the minute structure of animals 
 and plants, it seems almost incredible that the 
 beginnings of such studies had hardly been 
 made within the lifetime of persons now living. It was 
 not until nearly four decades of the nineteenth century 
 had passed, that the epoch-making fact was established 
 that the bodies of all organisms were composed of living 
 units which were, and still are, called cells. 
 
 The term cell is really a misnomer, for it implies an 
 investment or wall enclosing an empty space. The older 
 observers discovered that the stems of woody plants 
 were composed of bodies having thick walls that in each 
 case surrounded an empty cavity. These bodies they 
 properly called cells, but the units of structure which 
 they had discovered were really only walls, the essential 
 or living parts within having disappeared. Such empty 
 spaces are not found in animal bodies or in the living 
 and growing parts of plants. 
 
 Cells that compose the body of an animal or plant are 
 not all of the same sort, as are the bricks of which a 
 building is constructed. Some are nearly spherical, 
 others are flattened or are elongated into fibers. Most 
 of them are minute, but there is a great variation in their 
 
 39 
 
40 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 relative size. They are thus differentiated in structure 
 because they have become adapted to various uses. 
 
 So far as we are able to judge, all cells, whether ani- 
 mal or plant, are essentially similar in their nature. Each 
 is a body of living protoplasm, usually with a jelly-like 
 consistency, but with a minute structure that is difficult 
 to determine. Each cell mass contains a small spherical 
 or ovoid body called the nucleus. This is a part of the 
 living substance, and is complicated in structure. It is 
 a constant and essential part of the cell. 
 
 Among the cells of the bodies of animals and plants 
 are those set apart to perform the function of repro- 
 duction. The essential feature of sexual reproduction 
 is the union of two cells, usually one from each of two 
 parent individuals, to produce a new cell which, by mul- 
 tiplication, builds the body of the offspring. 
 
 These two sexual cells that thus unite, differ from 
 each other in size and in structure. The female cell, or 
 ovum, as it is called, is usually spherical and often rela- 
 tively large from the presence of secreted yolk or food 
 substance. With this the body of the early embryo is 
 to be fed until it possesses a digestive tract, and has some 
 means of capturing its own food; or, in animals in 
 which the young develops within the body of the parent, 
 until it forms organs by means of which it can, in a 
 parasitic fashion, take its food from the body of the 
 mother. Because they carry the food substance, ova are 
 inert, and must be sought by the male cells. 
 
 The spermatozoa, or male cells, are exceedingly minute. 
 In structure they are much the same in nearly all ani- 
 mals. Each is a single cell containing a nucleus. This 
 latter body forms what is known as the " head," and the 
 remainder of the cell is extended from it in the form of 
 
Development 41 
 
 a fine thread and is called the " tail." The object of 
 such an extreme modification of the cell becomes clear 
 when it is observed that its tail or flagellum is capable of 
 a violent lashing movement that propels it rapidly 
 through the fluid in which it finds itself after being dis- 
 charged from the body of the male. This cell is modified 
 for swimming in order that it may meet the ovum, and 
 its great motihty also enables it to penetrate the latter 
 when contact with it has been effected. 
 
 For a time the male cells possess great vitality, though 
 their life is short if they fail to meet the ovum, for they 
 carry no food. Even in higher animals, where, in per- 
 forming their function, they are neither exposed to the 
 air nor to a change of temperature, they will live for a 
 time outside the body, and apparently are not injured by 
 many salts in solution, recover from the effects of nar- 
 cotics, and may even regain their motion after being 
 frozen. 
 
 The necessity of such great vitality is especially clear 
 in the case of marine animals like oysters, clams, starfish, 
 and many others, where there is no union of the sexes, 
 but a mere discharge of sexual cells into the water where, 
 often under adverse conditions, they must find each 
 other. 
 
 The ovum and spermatozoon of the oyster, and also the 
 male cells of the quahaug and scallop, are represented 
 in Figure 10. With slight changes this figure would 
 represent equally well the sexual cells of other bivalves — 
 and, in fact, those of almost any sexual animal. The 
 ovum is seen to be relatively large, with a conspicuous 
 nucleus (;/), and bears minute granules of yolk. The 
 long flagellum or tail of the spermatozoon drives the 
 cell with the nucleus forward. The latter structure has a 
 
42 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 slightly different shape in different bivalves, as indicated 
 in the figure. 
 
 After becoming mature in the sexual glands of bi- 
 valves, usually in the early summer, both male and fe- 
 male cells are discharged into the water. Both may be 
 
 Fig. 10. — Ovarian ovum of the oyster (o) 
 showing nucleus (n) and nucleolus (»'). 
 The relative size of the male cell is repre- 
 sented by the small figure lying near it. 
 There are also shown, greatly magnified, the 
 spermatozoa of Ostrea (a), Pecten (b), 
 and Venus (f). 
 
 carried by currents. The ova are passive and gradually 
 sink, but the spermatozoa very soon begin to swim. 
 They are vastly more numerous than the eggs which they 
 are intended to find. Though a single spermatozoon 
 only, unites with an ovum in normal cases, it might ap- 
 pear that conditions are such that comparatively few 
 unions would take place, and the opinion is sometimes 
 expressed that such probably is the case. There is, how- 
 ever, no good reason for such a belief. Males and fe- 
 males with full glands, may be stimulated experiment- 
 ally by employing certain changes in the surroundings 
 
Development 43 
 
 in such a way as to cause the discharge of both sexual 
 products simultaneously. In nature, as they lie close to- 
 gether, such a stimulus as a rise in temperature probably 
 brings about the same result, and it is quite possible that 
 few ova fail to be found by spermatozoa. 
 
 An ovum unites with a single spermatozoon only. 
 When the two cells finally meet, the activity of the flagel- 
 lum soon forces the nucleus or head into the body of the 
 ovum. The flagellum itself does not enter. Its function 
 being completed, it is cast off. 
 
 In the American oyster a curious phenomenon appears 
 just at this time. The nucleus of the ovum divides and 
 a small cell containing half of it, separates from the 
 ovum. The process is soon repeated, and a second small 
 cell appears beside the first. These polar cells, as they 
 are called, are shown in Figure 11, II to VI, and are des- 
 ignated by the reference-letter p. They have no part in 
 forming the body of the embryo, and though they remain 
 attached to it for some time, they finally are lost. The- 
 oretically their nature can be very satisfactorily ac- 
 counted for. The formation of polar cells has been wit- 
 nessed in most animal eggs. It precedes fertilization, 
 and is referred to as the maturation of the ovum. 
 
 The male and female nuclei now lying within the 
 ovum, move toward each other, touch, and finally fuse 
 to form a single new nucleus. Once more we have an 
 ovum with its nucleus, but it is now a complex of male 
 as well as of female elements. This wonderful process 
 is still called fertilization, a term given to it when it was 
 supposed that the male cell simply stimulated or excited 
 the ovum to produce a new individual. We now know 
 that it has an equal part with the ovum in forming the 
 body of the young. 
 
44 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 The new cell, called the fertilized ovum, or, better, the 
 oosperm, now begins a process of division that results in 
 a large aggregate of cells, which gradually group and 
 arrange themselves into the form of organs, in which 
 form, position, size and function, conform to the con- 
 ditions characteristic of the species. 
 
 There is nothing in nature so marvelous as this mi- 
 nute fragment of living substance. It was formerly be- 
 lieved that the oosperm was a fully formed individual in 
 miniature, possessing all the organs of the adult body, 
 and that, like a plant bud, it merely expanded and un- 
 folded during development. In reality it is a simple cell, 
 undifferentiated in structure, and yet possessing the most 
 wonderful potentialities. If we place side by side the 
 fertilized ova of the simplest and the most highly special- 
 ized of many-celled animals, we are able to discover 
 only minor differences in structure, such as are easily ac- 
 counted for by secondary causes — a greater or less ac- 
 cumulation of yolk and the like. Even the fertilized 
 ova of plants are essentially similar to these. And yet 
 we know that each holds in its minute body, when living, 
 the hidden power to set in motion and to continue a long 
 series of marvelous transformations, ending in one case 
 in the production of a sponge, or in another of a human 
 being. The marvel of it was recognized before Paley, a 
 century ago, wrote : — '' A particle, in many cases minuter 
 than all assignable, all conceivable dimensions ; an aura, 
 an effluvium, an infinitesimal ; determines the organiza- 
 tion of a future body; does no less than fix whether 
 that which is about to be produced, shall be a vegetable, 
 a mere sentient, or a rational being: an oak, a frog, 
 or a philosopher." 
 
 The oosperm possesses the power of self-division, a 
 
Fig. II. The development of the American oyster, after 
 Professor W. K. Brooks. 
 
Development 45 
 
 power that its cell descendants retain. The man- 
 ner of its division or segmentation in the American 
 oyster will illustrate the process in the group of the bi- 
 valves, and, briefly following the description of Pro- 
 fessor Brooks, is as follows : — 
 
 About an hour after the male cell has entered the 
 ovum, the latter becomes somewhat enlarged at one end 
 — that to which the pole cells are attached. The nucleus 
 of the ovum divides, the two nuclei separate, and a con- 
 striction of the body of the cell separates it into two cells. 
 The cell to which the pole cells are attached soon di- 
 vides, and a stage represented by II in Figure 1 1 appears. 
 Here are shown one large and two slightly smaller cells. 
 Preceding every division, there is a division of the 
 nucleus, so that every cell always contains a nuclear 
 body. 
 
 Even thus early in development, it is possible to de- 
 termine a difference in the fate of these cells. From the 
 single larger one, will arise the digestive tract, and 
 from the two smaller, will be formed the outer wall of 
 the body. 
 
 In the course of a few minutes, if the temperature is 
 not below 70° Fahrenheit, the two smaller cells divide, 
 forming fouV, each of which is about half the size of the 
 cell from which it is derived. Again after a pause, there 
 is another division of the small cells. One more division 
 gives us the segmenting egg represented by VI, in which 
 one large cell is partially covered by a cap of several 
 smaller ones. 
 
 The multiplication of the smaller cells continues, and 
 they spread still farther over the surface of the larger 
 one. The latter finally divides, forming an inner layer. 
 The relative positions of these parts is illustrated by VII, 
 
46 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 which represents a section cut through the center of the 
 mass. The outer cells, darkly shaded in the drawing, 
 will form the wall of the body, the inner ones the di- 
 gestive tract. The reference-letters s t indicate a pit or 
 cavity, now wide open to the surface, but later nearly 
 closed, which becomes the stomach. The reduced open- 
 ing is the primitive mouth. 
 
 Up to this time, the shape of the embryo has ap- 
 proached that of a sphere, but it now changes, assum- 
 ing a form like that represented by VIII. The outlines of 
 surface cells are shown here, but in subsequent figures 
 they are omitted. At one end of the body the surface 
 cells throw out some protoplasmic hairs, or cilia, which 
 begin a lashing or rowing movement so violent that 
 the embryo is raised from the bottom, where it has 
 been lying, and swims upward to the surface of the 
 water. 
 
 From two to four hours have now elapsed since sper- 
 matozoon and ovum united. As in the case of many 
 other animals, the rate of segmentation depends on tem- 
 perature. When this is' lower than the optimum, devel- 
 opment is retarded, and may be stopped altogether. The 
 swimming embryos of the oyster are greatly affected by 
 cold, and a heavy shower or cold wind coming when they 
 are gathered at the surface, may kill them all. This ap- 
 parently often happens on the north Atlantic coast, and 
 probably accounts for the failure of the " set of spat " 
 which sometimes occurs in restricted localities, or even 
 generally, in certain years. Such a failure is almost un- 
 known in the Gulf of Mexico. On the other hand, the 
 reproduction of the eastern oyster is almost entirely 
 prevented in the cold waters of the Pacific, where it is 
 planted and is able to grow. 
 
Development 47 
 
 Soon after the embryo begins to swim, the valves of 
 the shell appear as minute secreted plates one on each 
 side of the body. In other bivalves, the shell rudiment is 
 at first unpaired. These shells grow rapidly at their 
 edges, and soon cover the body. Sheets of cells grow 
 out to line the shell valves on their inner surfaces, and 
 become the mantle folds. The part of the body bearing 
 the cilia projects as a rounded disk which is called the 
 velum. Muscle fibers form by the elongation of cells in 
 mantle and velum, and by their contraction, these parts 
 may be entirely withdrawn within the shell. 
 
 In the meantime, internal changes have occurred. Ac- 
 cording to Professor Brooks, the primitive mouth closes. 
 In about the same locality, the surface of the body then 
 pushes in to form a pit. The bottom of this unites with 
 the anterior end of the stomach. These walls are broken 
 through, and the stomach and the new mouth become 
 connected. Posterior to the mouth a second pit from the 
 surface of the body touches the stomach. Its cavity in 
 the same way becomes connected with it, and there are 
 formed the anal opening and the rudiment of the intes- 
 tine (X and XI, oysters about three and six days old 
 respectively). 
 
 Up to this time, the embryo has subsisted only on the 
 food yolk deposited in the ovum during its growth in 
 the parent's body. Consequently it has not increased in 
 volume. With the formation of mouth and anus, it be- 
 gins to capture organisms in the water and to digest 
 them, and rapidly increases in size. 
 
 An interesting feature of the development is the for- 
 mation of a foot which is never used, because the embryo 
 becomes attached before it is large enough to make use of 
 a creeping organ. An anterior as well as a posterior ad- 
 
48 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 diictor muscle also appears. Subsequently the foot and 
 anterior adductor degenerate and completely disappear. 
 
 During the formation of the shell the small oysters 
 leave the surface of the water and continue for some time 
 to swim at lower levels. About the sixth or seventh 
 day after development begins, they settle to the bottom, 
 and, if fortunate enough to come in contact with a hard, 
 clean surface, attach themselves by a sticky secretion 
 of the mantle. In the figure, XII represents such a re- 
 cently attached oyster, and shows the finger-like rudi- 
 ments of the inner gill, which is the first of these organs 
 to form. The velum with its cilia, having now become 
 useless, soon disappears. 
 
 The early development of two or three others of our 
 edible bivalves has now been studied, and it appears that 
 the succession of changes in each is very much like that 
 of the oyster, as would be expected. But because of 
 differences in the manner of living in adults of different 
 species, we find diversities of structure appearing soon 
 after the swimming stage. The details of the early life 
 of some of these forms are not yet known, but many ob- 
 servations have been made on the growth and habits of 
 the attached oyster, the small soft clam, and the young 
 scallop, and these will subsequently be mentioned. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 CILIARY MECHANISMS 
 
 LITTLE more than a century ago, a remark- 
 able book on Natural Theology was publislied 
 by William Paley, an English ecclesiastic. It 
 presented an argument for the existence and 
 benevolence of a personal deity, and was founded on 
 some of the phenomena of nature. In essence, Paley's 
 argument was that the existence of any contrivance in 
 nature necessarily involved the existence of a designing 
 mind which created it, and he described many mecha- 
 nisms which are, without doubt, constructed for very 
 definite and particular uses. This argument was not 
 new in Paley's time. It had previously been presented 
 in published form by a Dutch writer, and undoubtedly had 
 existed in some form in man's mind since an early period. 
 But Paley developed it elaborately and with great success, 
 and it has ever since had a powerful influence on the 
 common conceptions of the Creator and the universe. 
 
 Nevertheless the world has generally come to agree 
 with Huxley's statement that Paley's argument from 
 design, as he evidently intended to apply it, received its 
 death-blow from Darwin's " Origin of Species," which 
 accounts in quite a different manner for the appearance of 
 mechanisms in nature. What Paley really accomplished 
 for the theology of his time, was the damming up of the 
 flood of knowledge that later destroyed the greater part 
 
 49 
 
^o Our Food Mollusks 
 
 of it. It was the irony of fate that the lasting benefit 
 of his labor was to natural science, the deadly foe of 
 theology, by fixing in the mind of the thinking world, as 
 nothing else had done, knowledge concerning the utilities 
 of mechanisms, the usefulness of parts, and the adaptation 
 of the whole organism to its environment — foundation 
 facts in Darwin's explanation of the origin of species by 
 natural selection. 
 
 So it has happened that the structure and operation of 
 mechanisms in animal and plant bodies have received 
 much attention from biologists, and have often excited 
 great admiration for the complexities and beauties of 
 their adjustments. Illustrations of mechanisms may be 
 had from any group of organisms, though the more in- 
 tricate ones are to be found, as might be expected, in 
 the bodies of higher animals or plants. 
 
 They are often very complicated, however, in more 
 lowly forms. Judging from the jocular references to 
 the placidity of the oyster and the happiness of the clam 
 that no popular writer has ever been able to avoid when 
 mentioning them, the common notion seems to be that 
 these are inert, structureless, functionless masses of pulp, 
 living the simple life reduced to its lowest possible terms. 
 But in the chapter on anatomy, it was shown that a semi- 
 automatic ciliary mechanism exists in the members of the 
 bivalve group for straining food particles out of the 
 water and passing them to the mouth. That such a 
 function was performed, has been known for a long time, 
 but it was first observed by the writer that there exists 
 in connection with it another and even more complicated 
 mechanism, depending largely on the nervous system for 
 its operation, by means of which mud and other useless 
 matter collected by the gills may be carried away from 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 51 
 
 the mouth and out of the body. It is because this mech- 
 anism is so intricate and so beautifully adapted to the 
 environment in which bivalves live, and because few facts 
 concerning it have yet been published, that a short de- 
 scription of it, as it appears in the common food mol- 
 lusks, will be given here. 
 
 But first, brief mention must be made of the minute 
 food organisms which the animal allows to pass into its 
 mouth. Then it may be noted how it deals with the un- 
 desirable mud particles, also brought by the incoming 
 stream, and how it rids itself of them without checking 
 the flow of water into the body. 
 
 There are reasons for believing that, from the begin- 
 ning, lamellibranchs lived on floating organisms that 
 they were able to take from the water. However that 
 may be, all living forms whether creeping, attached, or 
 burrowed in the bottom, now derive their nourishment 
 entirely from microscopically small organisms brought 
 to the body by the action of the gills. 
 
 The food forms thus captured and consumed, belong, 
 with few exceptions, to a universally distributed group 
 of plants known as diatoms. They are single-celled or- 
 ganisms, but possess some structural modifications of 
 great complexity. The bit of protoplasm constituting 
 the living part of the body is enclosed in a case of pure 
 glass, made of two pieces nearly equal in size, one fitting 
 into the other like a pill-box into its cover. This case is 
 often sculptured with extremely minute and exquisitely 
 regular markings, definite patterns characterizing many 
 species. In outline they vary from circular disks to 
 slender rods (Figure 12). On account of their beauty 
 and variety, they are the stock subjects for exhibition by 
 amateur microscopists. 
 
52 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 As might be expected, all localities are not equally 
 favorable for the growth of these plants. Temperature 
 has much to do with the rate of their multiplication. 
 
 Fig. 12. — Diatoms found in the stomachs of oysters. (From the 
 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries.) 
 
 They are numerous enough in the cold waters of the At- 
 lantic coast above Cape Cod to support large areas of 
 long neck clams, but their numbers are much greater in 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 53 
 
 warm waters like those of the Gulf of Mexico. They 
 are more numerous in the shallow waters of coast lines 
 than in the open sea, probably because the salts in solu- 
 tion, forming a necessary part of the material required 
 for their nourishment, exist in sufficient quantities only 
 near the mouths of rivers or small streams which, in 
 turn, have derived them from the soil. The tempera- 
 ture of the water on extensive flats and in shallow estu- 
 aries, also, is higher than in the open ocean. As a re- 
 sult of this distribution of diatoms, bivalves are most 
 numerous in comparatively shallow waters near the land. 
 
 The normal process of feeding, when the water is free 
 from mud, is much the same in all bivalves. Imagine 
 an oyster, for example, lying with valves open in water 
 containing only diatoms. The cilia on both surfaces of 
 each gill continually drive water from the branchial 
 chamber through the spaces between filaments and into 
 the gill interior. Here it passes upward to the base of 
 the gill, falls into the epibranchial space, and is forced 
 backward and discharged from the body above the gills. 
 
 Now and then the stream bears a diatom to the gill 
 surface. On touching a filament, it instantly adheres to 
 the sticky mucus produced by the gland cells. This 
 mucus, with its entangled diatoms, is then moved 
 by the gill cilia down to the free edge of the gill, 
 as indicated by the arrows on the gill surface in Figure 
 3. It now proceeds forward on the gill margin until 
 the palps are reached. The material is transferred from 
 the gill to the ciliated inner surfaces of the palps, and 
 proceeds directly across their ridges toward, and finally 
 into the funnel-like mouth. So much of the function of 
 the gill and palp cilia has been known to biologists for 
 many years, but practically nothing more has been ob- 
 
54 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 served, though there are several variations in the method 
 of directing food to the mouth. The fact that palps in 
 all forms also possess ciliated tracts leading away from 
 the mouth, and that the sides of the visceral mass and 
 the walls of the mantle possess complicated ciliated sur- 
 faces, has been very generally overlooked. 
 
 In some bivalves certain gill faces or lamellae carry 
 the captured organisms to the base, instead of to the 
 margin of the gill, where they also are borne along 
 ciliated paths leading to the palp surfaces ; and in one 
 case among our food mollusks, that of the scallops, the 
 transportation on the gill faces may at one time be to the 
 bases, at another to the edges of the gill, and without any 
 reversal of the ciliary action. The figure of the oyster 
 also shows a tract at the gill base that leads to the palps. 
 
 One who carefully observes oyster beds or clam flats 
 at different seasons, notices that there are often great 
 changes in external conditions. Even where tide cur- 
 rents are strong, thus mixing waters, there is consider- 
 able variation in temperature during the summer, and 
 the average difference between summer and winter tem- 
 peratures on the north Atlantic coast of course is great. 
 Continued cold checks the growth of diatoms, and so les- 
 sens the amount of bivalve food. Though it has not 
 been carefully studied in most forms, it has recently been 
 shown that scallops and little neck clams do not grow at 
 all during the winter in northern waters. Whether this 
 is true of warm southern waters is not known, but prob- 
 ably it is not. It is a safe prediction that the growth of 
 all bivalves living on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico 
 will be found to be uninterrupted. There are also great 
 changes in the salinity of water, especially near the 
 mouths of rivers entering the sea, and oysters par- 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 55 
 
 ticularly are sensitive to such changes. Along the shore 
 of the Gulf of Mexico, near the mouths of the Missis- 
 sippi and other rivers, the water for days at a time may 
 be nearly fresh enough to drink. 
 
 It is sometimes difficult to determine the precise effect 
 of such changes on the inhabitants of the bottom, but 
 there is one condition, frequently observed, the response 
 to which in the case of bivalves, we are now able to de- 
 scribe in detail. This condition is the periodical loading 
 of the water with mud, that occurs on all coasts. It may 
 be observed even on the Maine coast in regions where 
 there are practically no beaches or flats, and where the 
 bottoms are very generally rocky; and almost every- 
 where along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, but espe- 
 cially near the mouth of the Mississippi, the water is 
 clear one day and fairly thick with mud the next. The 
 phenomenon is undoubtedly due to the irregular dis- 
 charge of rivers and to tide currents. 
 
 It may readily be understood that water bearing sus- 
 pended mud or fine sand presents a serious problem to 
 the bivalve feeding on microscopic plants strained from 
 it, and if the gill apparatus that collects them were the 
 only one to deal with them, mud as well as food would 
 necessarily be carried into the digestive tract as long as 
 the shell was allowed to remain open. This ingestion of 
 mud or sand normally occurs in some animals that are 
 able to digest the organic matter included in the mass, 
 but, with the exception of one known genus, the digestive 
 organs of shell-fish are evidently not suited to perform 
 such a function. There are two ways in which the prob- 
 lem may be solved. While the water is muddy, the / 
 shell may be closed so as entirely to prevent it from 
 entering the body, or the flow may be allowed to con- 
 
56 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 tinue and the mud strained out and discharged from the 
 mantle chamber instead of being taken to the mouth. 
 But an objection to closing the shell for long periods is 
 that aeration of the blood ceases when the water stops 
 flowing. It is true that some lamellibranchs may live 
 for days or weeks out of the water, when the tempera- 
 ture is low, but they seem to be injured by such treat- 
 ment, at least in the adult state. Probably for this rea- 
 son, the second plan is the one that has been adopted. 
 
 Bivalves persist in keeping the shell open, thus allow- 
 ing water to enter the branchial chamber, even when 
 bearing mud in considerable cjuantity. On entering, 
 many of the suspended particles are brought in contact 
 with the inner faces of the mantle and the wall of the 
 visceral mass. Now all of the free surfaces of the 
 mantle chamber — mantle, visceral mass, and gills alike — 
 produce a sticky mucous secretion, so that particles 
 adhere to any of these surfaces that they happen to 
 touch. Let us first inquire into the disposition of those 
 that are lodged against the inner mantle wall. 
 
 Figure 13 represents the inner surface of the mantle 
 (m) lining the left valve of the shell of the hard clam, 
 Venus. All other parts of the body have been removed. 
 If a few grains of powdered carmine or fine sand are 
 allowed to settle through the water upon a living specimen 
 prepared in this way, they may be seen to adhere to the 
 mantle wherever they touch it, and then, together with 
 the mass of mucus in which they are held, they begin to 
 move in the direction indicated by the arrows of the 
 figure. 
 
 This movement is due to the action of cilia, lashing 
 continually in definite directions, and uncontrolled by 
 the nervous system. Everything is moved downward, 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 
 
 57 
 
 finally reaching a sharply defined tract parallel with the 
 mantle edge. Here the stream is directed backward to 
 a point just below the opening of the incurrent siphon 
 (i s). It will be remembered that the siphon is a pair 
 of tubes formed as a growth from the mantle, and that in 
 the living clam, a strong stream of water enters the 
 
 Fig. 13. — Ciliation of the mantle of the round clam or "little neck" 
 (Venus mercenaria). The arrows indicate the directions taken 
 by foreign particles in the mantle chamber that come in contact 
 with the mantle wall. The palps are represented at p. 
 
 lower one. If a mass of material being moved by the 
 mantle cilia were brought in contact with this stream, 
 it would be swept far back again into the mantle cham- 
 ber, so it comes to rest in this small bay below the siphon, 
 where a considerable quantity of it may collect. What 
 is to become of it? It could not easily be carried di- 
 rectly outward between the edges of the mantle, because 
 the entire shell is covered in the bottom. The only 
 
58 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 path to the exterior is through the lower tube of the 
 siphon, and ciha could not possibly move the mass 
 against its powerful incoming current. 
 
 When a sufficient quantity has collected, the clam 
 suddenly contracts the adductor muscles, the result being 
 that some of the water filling the spacious mantle cham- 
 ber is thrown out in a strong jet through the lower 
 siphon tube, and the waste material being in so favor- 
 able a position for it, is discharged. All bivalves seem 
 to have this habit of periodically discharging water from 
 the mantle chamber, and for the reason given. Long 
 neck clams, if steamed or baked immediately after be- 
 ing taken from their burrows, usually contain in the 
 mantle chamber a very annoying amount of sand. But 
 if they are allowed to stand over night in a bucket of 
 clean water, the sand is removed. In effecting its re- 
 moval, a large part of the water of the bucket will be 
 found on the ground where it has been thrown, some- 
 times to a distance of several feet, by the powerful jets 
 directed out of the siphons. 
 
 Though there are always differences in details, the 
 mantle ciliation of all lamellibranchs so far examined 
 is practically like that of Venus. Apparently its sole 
 function is the removal of objectionable matter from 
 the body. 
 
 The ciliary tracts of the side of the body are repre- 
 sented in Figure 14. Mud particles or fine sand grains 
 adhering to its surface are carried backward to the 
 point X, where they fall on the mantle, which disposes 
 of them as described. The figure also illustrates the 
 position of the labial palps and shows the striations or 
 ridges on the inner face of the posterior one, across 
 which food is carried to the mouth. 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 
 
 59 
 
 But the mantle and sides of the body collect com- 
 paratively little of the mud from the water, for the 
 stream that rushes into the gills brings to their surfaces 
 the greater part of it. Probably none of it is allowed 
 to enter, but all is caught by the mucus on the gill sur- 
 faces. It now is carried downward on all the gill 
 
 Fig. 14. — Cilia currents on the side of the visceral mass of the 
 round clam, Venus. The currents on the inner surface of 
 the palp are also shown. 
 
 lamellae to the edges of the gill, in Venus, and, falling 
 into the grooves on their margins, is conducted swiftly 
 forward toward the palps. The position of these organs 
 is seen to be such that the edge of the inner gill lies be- 
 tween them. 
 
 In one case at least, among bivalves (Yoldia), the 
 gills possess a special mechanism by means of which col- 
 
 i 
 
6o Our Food MoUusks 
 
 lected material may, if it is desirable, be transported di- 
 rectly to the epibranchial chamber and out of the body; 
 but in all of our food mollusks, the gills can only collect 
 and transport to the palps any material, whether food 
 organisms or mud particles, that comes to them in mod- 
 erate quantities. If the mass of material is very great, 
 it may sometimes fall from the gill margins to the mantle 
 walls, instead of going to the palps. 
 
 But in all cases in which the labial palps receive ma- 
 terial collected by the gills, they determine whether it 
 shall go into the digestive tract or be sent out of the 
 body. Their inner surfaces are seen to bear fine parallel 
 lines, the direction of which is indicated in Figures 3 and 
 14. These ridges are ciliated and the hairs lash in such 
 a direction that food crosses over them on its way to 
 the mouth. The palps being muscular and capable of 
 extensive movements, receive material from the gill edge 
 simply by placing their inner surfaces against the gill, 
 and the mass of mucus with its particles is easily lifted 
 off and carried onward. 
 
 But on the lower edge of each palp, as shown in the 
 figures, is an unstriated margin very strongly ciliated, 
 that sweeps directly away from the mouth. Now when 
 large quantities of material are delivered by the gills, the 
 palps at once respond by moving these margins into such 
 a position that they, instead of the ridges, remove the 
 gill collection. Then, swinging down, with their loads 
 of accumulated waste, the palps cast the material off 
 from their free tips into the mantle chamber. Here the 
 undesirable collection is picked up by the mantle cilia, 
 and disposed of in the manner already described. This 
 ciliated margin of the palp, then, is the special organ for 
 switching the mud accumulation on to the outgoing track. 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 6i 
 
 It is practically the same in other lamelHbranchs, though 
 in some cases the entire mechanism is much more com- 
 plex than in the little neck or oyster. 
 
 Though diatoms and useless particles are sometimes 
 brought to the gills at the same time, an examination 
 of the stomach contents of any bivalve will show that 
 there has been a selection of the food organisms and an 
 exclusion of mud or fine sand. The latter are some- 
 times found in the stomach, but in small amounts. When 
 this mixed mass of food and mud is brought, it is not 
 possible to separate them, and the whole is rejected and 
 sent out of the body. It thus happens that the bivalve 
 ceases to feed when the water is muddy to a certain de- 
 gree, though it still allows water to enter the mantle 
 chamber, presumably for the sake of the oxygen it 
 bears. 
 
 It appears that the animal is not able to distinguish 
 food from mud particles either by the gills or palps, 
 but the selection of food results directly from the dif- 
 ferences in the response of the palps to varying quan- 
 tities of matter transported to them by the gills. Under 
 favorable conditions, diatoms are collected a few at a 
 time, and are sent across the palp ridges to the mouth. 
 In muddy water the particles increase in number until 
 the palps respond by diverting everything received to 
 the outgoing tracts. 
 
 This may be proved experimentally, though the 
 operator must exercise care and skill. Very fine grains 
 of carmine, dropped on gills or palps of any bivalve, in 
 very small quantities, may be observed, with the aid of a 
 glass, to pass into the mouth. This simulates conditions 
 favorable for feeding, when diatoms are steadily 
 strained, a few at a time, from clear water. When 
 
62 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 larger quantities of carmine grains are used, their nun-' 
 ber finally causes the palps to reject them, the ciliatc 
 margins often being folded over so as to sweep clea. 
 even the striated surfaces of the palps, if carmine ha;- 
 fallen directly on them, and they are able to clean them 
 selves in still another way that cannot be described here. 
 
 Fig. 15. — Cilia currents on mantle (m) and palp (/>) of the 
 oyster (Ostrea virginica). 
 
 The general direction of currents and the possible 
 routes for food or mud in the mantle chamber of the 
 oyster will be understood without description by a study 
 of Figures 3 and 15. The gills are represented as hav- 
 ing been removed in the latter figure, their former line 
 of attachment to the mantle being shown by the line C. 
 It will be seen that undesirable matter is cast out of the 
 body over the edges of the mantle between the points A 
 and B, and that this is the most favorable region for such 
 a discharge. If farther back, as below C, this would 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 63 
 
 have to be accomplished (hrectly against the incurrent 
 stream of water. The palps function, as in Venus, in 
 disposing of material that they receive from the gills. 
 
 There is a widespread belief that oysters and clams 
 may be fattened with such substances as corn-meal. 
 Even those well acquainted with the subject often have 
 supposed that bivalves had the power of taking such ma- 
 terial into the mouth. The following is a statement 
 on the subject published in an authoritative and valuable 
 guide to oyster culture : — 
 
 " Experiments have been made with a view to feeding 
 the adult oysters upon corn-meal or some similar sub- 
 stance, but such attempts have been of no practical 
 value. There is no doubt that they would eat corn- 
 meal or any other substance in a sufficiently fine state 
 of division to be acted upon by the cilia. The oyster 
 is incapable of making a selection of its food, and prob- 
 ably any substance, nutritious, inert, or injurious, would 
 be swept into the mouth witli complete indifference ex- 
 cept as to the result. Corn-meal and similar substances 
 would doubtless be nutritious, but their use must be so 
 wasteful that the value of the meal would be greater 
 than that of the oyster produced." 
 
 In view of the account of the feeding habits of 
 bivalves here given, these statements require some inter- 
 pretation. Corn-meal ground to microscopically small 
 particles might be taken into the mouth of oyster or clam 
 if brought to the gill surfaces a very little at a time, but 
 even in a laboratory experiment, it would not be easy to 
 arrange these conditions properly. In such experiments 
 as those to which the writer of the quoted paragraph 
 refers, in which corn-meal, as ordinarily ground, is 
 merely thrown into the water over the bivalves, or even 
 
64 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 in cases in which it is placed directly in the mantle cham- 
 ber, a very small amount of it, if any, would ever reach 
 the mouth opening. Moreover, it has been found that 
 clams refuse to allow such substances as very finely 
 ground fish or shrimps even to enter the mantle chamber 
 through the siphons. Mere contact of such materials 
 with the sensory end of the incurrent siphon causes 
 violent contractions of the adductor muscles, and of the 
 siphon also. 
 
 Though the same general plan is followed in all, there 
 are many curious modifications of these ciliary mecha- 
 nisms that are characteristic of different bivalves, and 
 they occur on palps, mantle, or gills. One of the most 
 astonishingly ingenious (if the word may be permitted) 
 of these, is an arrangement on all the gill surfaces of the 
 scallops, by means of which foreign particles, strained 
 from the water, are automatically directed toward the 
 palps and the mouth, when few, and upon outgoing 
 tracts whenever they increase to a certain number. 
 
 To understand the operation of this mechanism, it 
 should be noticed that the gill surfaces are thrown into 
 marked folds, as described in the chapter on anatomy. 
 These folds extend from the bases to the margins of the 
 gills, and between them are deep grooves (Figure 6). 
 The surface cilia of the filaments near the middle of the 
 folds lash toward the free margins of the gills, while 
 those in the grooves between the folds lash in the op- 
 posite direction, toward the gill bases (Figure i6). 
 When the stream that rushes between the filaments into 
 the interior of the gill brings particles to its surface a 
 few at a time, the majority of them fall into the grooves 
 (g), and are then carried to the base of the gill. Here 
 they go to a ciliated tract leading to the palps and 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 
 
 6i 
 
 mouth (ill). This is the 
 normal food collecting pro- 
 cess. 
 
 But when much material 
 arrives on the gill, it not 
 only falls into the grooves, 
 but adheres to the surfaces 
 of the folds (/) as well. 
 Everywhere it seems to 
 stimulate a copious secretion 
 of mucus, and the whole 
 mass, both in the grooves 
 and on the folds, becomes 
 continuous. Now begins a 
 struggle between opposing 
 tracts. The material in the 
 grooves is pushed toward the 
 base and that on the folds 
 toward the free edge of the 
 srill, as at b. The tension on 
 the string of mucus becomes 
 so great that finally — and in- 
 variably — it is lifted up out 
 of the grooves and all is 
 borne to the edge of the gill 
 (c). Now, too, the whole 
 gill is responding to the 
 stimulus of a large quantity 
 of foreign matter on its sur- 
 face, by writhing and sway- 
 ing from side to side. 
 
 If it is the inner gill that 
 has made this collection, 
 
 Fig. i6.— Three folds of the 
 surface of the gill of the 
 scallop (Pecten irradians) 
 to illustrate automatic action 
 of cilia in bearing small 
 quantities of material to the 
 mouth on the tract marked 
 m, and large quantities away 
 from the mouth and to the 
 mantle wall from the edge of 
 the gill. 
 
66 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 it transfers its mass to the outer, or casts it off into 
 the mantle chamber. The outer gill often touches the 
 mantle, the cilia of which relieve it of its burden and 
 carry it away. 
 
 Thus the gills as well as the palps of Pecten reject 
 material when it is too abundant, but the process in this 
 case is purely automatic. The course taken by foreign 
 matter is determined by its volume, and so certainly that 
 the experimenter is soon able, when allowing carmine 
 particles to settle on the gill, to predict which path they 
 will follow on reaching its surface. 
 
 There are few known mechanical contrivances of 
 animal bodies more wonderful than this self-operating 
 mechanism of the Pecten gill. Cilia, in all animals 
 above the Protozoa, or single celled forms, lash only in 
 one direction. Yet here is a ciliated surface that auto- 
 matically selects from the water what usually is suitable 
 for food, and rejects that which is not suitable, carrying 
 the first toward the mouth, and the other in the opposite 
 direction, the matter being determined wholly by the 
 quantity of the material. 
 
 It is possible here to make only the brief statement 
 that some bivalves develop special organs the ciliated sur- 
 faces of which are constructed to cope with peculiar 
 conditions of the environment. Such, for example, is a 
 filmy membrane that grows out from the posterior sur- 
 face of the body wall in a species of Pholas in the 
 Gulf of Mexico. This organ rolls itself into the form 
 of an inverted trough, and, collecting mud from the sides 
 of the body, carries it under cover, directly against the 
 incurrent stream, out into — and perhaps entirely 
 through — the lower siphon tube to the exterior. This 
 special apparatus is apparently necessary in this creature 
 
Ciliary Mechanisms 67 
 
 that lives in water often very heavily laden with mud. 
 One might search far among organisms to find a con- 
 trivance more strikingly ingenious, and its utility is so 
 perfectly evident that it would no doubt have enrap- 
 tured Paley, had he possessed knowledge of it. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER V 
 OYSTER CULTURE IN EUROPE AND JAPAN 
 
 European Oyster Culture 
 
 HERE is abundant evidence that marine mol- 
 lusks were extensively used for food by man 
 before historic times. In many parts of the 
 world ancient shell heaps, some of them of 
 immense proportions, are found near waters that are 
 still capable of producing the same forms. These are so 
 disposed and so constructed that it is certain that they 
 are not natural accumulations on what was formerly 
 ocean bottom, but the work of human hands. This con- 
 clusion is substantiated by the fact that among the shells 
 of clams or oysters or marine snails, the bones of aquatic 
 and land animals are often found, together with primi- 
 tive weapons or domestic implements. Such shell heaps 
 are common on our Atlantic coast, and on some of the 
 islands off the coast of California, there are mounds of 
 shells of great extent that contain mortars and pestles, 
 the bones of fishes, seals, whales, and implements and 
 ornaments of various kinds. Indeed, on the island of 
 San Nicholas there is said to have existed as late as the 
 nineteenth century a primitive tribe of people living after 
 the simple fashion of hundreds of generations of an- 
 cestors, and making the last contribution to vast shell 
 accumulations. Nothing in history is more ghastly than 
 
 68 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 69 
 
 the destruction of that race, nor more strange and 
 pathetic than the rescue, after eighteen years of solitude, 
 of its single survivor. 
 
 There are two species of oysters native to European 
 waters. The flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, is found on the 
 northern shores. It is ^^.^ssr- •-■,<^-~'--w>. 
 
 rounded and flat, and /-;=>- ■ "g- 5. ~ |^ 
 
 its shell has a diameter 
 of but two or three 
 inches (Figure 17). 
 It is hermaphroditic — 
 that is, both male and 
 female organs are de- 
 veloped in each indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 Its cousin, the Por- 
 tuguese oyster, O. an- 
 gulata, found on the 
 southern shores, is not 
 so highly esteemed as 
 the flat oyster. It is said naturally to be elongated, even 
 when not crowded in clusters. It is very small (Figure 
 18). The sexes are separate. 
 
 These oysters have been cultivated since ancient times. 
 Pliny, who may be called the father of a class of dis- 
 credited nature observers that still flourishes, states that 
 at the beginning of the seventh century oysters were 
 artificially reared with great success in Lake Lucrin; but 
 there is evidence to show that he had in this case been cor- 
 rectly informed. M. Coste, a French naturalist, and the 
 originator of modern oyster culture in Europe, describes 
 two funeral vases, one found at Pouille and the other 
 near Rome, which prove that oyster embryos were col- 
 
 FiG. 17. — European flat oyster (Ostrea 
 edulis). (This and the following 
 figure are modifications of figures 
 by Professor Bashford Dean.) 
 
70 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 
 lected and reared in ponds in the time of Angnstus, for 
 on these vases are designs in perspective, representing 
 oyster ponds and objects used in the capture of oysters. 
 There are also inscriptions that 
 make the meaning of the artist cer- 
 tain. The simple methods of oys- 
 ter culture in use to-day at Lake 
 Fusaro and the Gulf of Tarente 
 are apparently identical with those 
 of the Romans of two thousand 
 years ago. Stakes are driven into 
 the bottom enclosing small rectan- 
 gular spaces. These are connected 
 by means of ropes from which are 
 suspended bundles of twigs. On 
 this brush the swimming young of 
 the oyster attach. They are left 
 in this position to grow to mar- 
 ketable size, or are removed and 
 spread out in wicker baskets, 
 which also are suspended from 
 ropes. As tides are not great, 
 they are seldom exix)sed. 
 Oyster culture, as it is carried on in various parts of 
 the world to-day, is everywhere essentially the same 
 process, but what may be called modern methods are of 
 independent origin in Europe, in Japan, and in our own 
 country. During the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, natural beds in Europe and America were still large 
 enough to satisfy the demands of the markets, but in the 
 last fifty years very rapid social changes have occurred, 
 one result being that many of the luxuries of previous 
 times became common necessities, especially in our own 
 
 Fig. i8. — Portugese 
 oyster ( O s t r e a 
 augulata). 
 
Oyster Culture In Europe and Japan 71 
 
 country. Among other things, the demand for oysters 
 increased enormously. This soon resuUed in the de- 
 struction of natural oyster beds, and the development of 
 artificial means of supplying the market. 
 
 In the early part of the nineteenth century, natural 
 oyster beds were numerous on certain parts of the 
 French and English coasts. The history of their de- 
 struction is valuable, because it shows liow entirely mis- 
 leading statistics may become in matters of this kind. 
 In Cancale Bay, on the northern coast of France, com- 
 paratively few^ oysters were taken during the last of the 
 Napoleonic wars, and the beds, having been undisturbed, 
 had become very extensive. In 1817 dredging began 
 again without interruption from English war vessels, 
 and during that year, great numbers of oysters were 
 marketed from these beds. Year after year they in- 
 creased. Every one connected with the industry 
 came to regard the natural beds as inexhaustible. A dec- 
 ade passed, then a second and a third, and each year the 
 supply was greater than the last, until, in 1843, seventy 
 million oysters were marketed. If, during that time, any 
 warning voice had been raised, it certainly would not 
 have been heard. If any one had been able to attract at- 
 tention by his statement that the beds were becoming ex- 
 hausted, he would have been effectually silenced by the 
 statistics. It would have been useless to show that each 
 year the number of fishermen was greater, and that the 
 time and labor required in obtaining a boat-load was 
 rapidly lengthening. The significant thing to consumers 
 would have been that oysters in the market were increas- 
 ing in numbers. 
 
 This has been the experience in our own country, where 
 the people may control such conditions more directly, 
 
72 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 and perhaps more easily, than would have been possible 
 in the monarchical France of that day. The marvelous 
 natural wealth of Chesapeake Bay, as well as that of 
 other great natural oyster fields, has been nearly de- 
 stroyed, and the naturalist who was able to predict the 
 present condition with perfect certainty, had studied the 
 natural beds and the habits and life history of the oyster 
 while the public studied the display in the fish markets, 
 and, perhaps, statistical statements concerning the num- 
 ber of oysters brought to them. Fortunately artificial 
 beds have proved to be much more prolific than the 
 natural bottoms, but in nearly all cases, oyster culture 
 has been resorted to only after the natural supply has 
 been practically destroyed. 
 
 The inevitable change came to the Cancale Bay fish- 
 eries in the middle of the century. From that time the 
 supply failed with great rapidity, as it usually does in 
 such cases, until, in the year 1868, only about a million 
 oysters were obtained, where, for so many years, more 
 than fifty times that number were dredged each season. 
 The natural beds had been practically destroyed through 
 excessive dredging. 
 
 A similar destruction occurred at about the same time 
 in the districts of Marennes, Rochefort, the island of 
 Oleron and elsewhere on the French coast, and also in 
 the oyster bays of England. Everywhere the cause was 
 the same. 
 
 For such a condition of affairs two remedies are al- 
 ways possible. The supply may again be increased by 
 enforcing a long close season, or a new and artificial in- 
 dustry may be developed. Obviously the latter is the 
 only practicable course to pursue. All of the more 
 valuable sources of the world's food are founded on arti- 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 73 
 
 ficial propagation. Wheat, corn, and many other do- 
 mesticated food plants, do not even exist in a wild state. 
 Under domestication there is almost no limit but land 
 area to the possibilities of their increase. The world's 
 supply of beef, pork, and mutton, being under man's 
 control, is limited only by the amount of grain and hay 
 that he is able to raise for feed. Why should he not 
 also be able to control many of the animals of the sea, 
 that bears a vast supply of nourishment on which they 
 may thrive ? 
 
 France adopted a wise policy. Dredging was greatly 
 restricted, but investigations were begun in the hope that 
 the beds might be reclaimed by artificial means. As a 
 first step, M. de Bon, Commissioner of Marine, was di- 
 rected, in 1853, to attempt to restock the old beds of the 
 Ranee and Saint Malo. This he did by transplanting 
 oysters from the Bay of Cancale. He was an acute and 
 accurate observer, and able to detect the significance of 
 what he saw. The transplanted oysters not only flour- 
 ished, but some of them, placed on beaches where they 
 were exposed at low tide, were able to reproduce them- 
 selves as when continually immersed. It then occurred 
 to De Bon that if the young oysters, or " spat," could 
 be collected here and placed on favorable and con- 
 venient bottoms, the laborious process of dredging could 
 be done away with altogether, and that oysters could be 
 reared without the use of boats, and marketed at 
 pleasure. 
 
 It was a great idea, and De Bon at once began to 
 devise some feasible means of capturing the swimming 
 oyster embryos. Constructing platforms of planks, 
 some inches above the parent oysters on the bottom, he 
 covered them with bundles of twigs, in the hope that the 
 
74 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 swimming young might find in this brush a suitable sub- 
 stance on which to attach. This hope was fulfilled, the 
 experiment became widely known, and the beginnings of 
 modern oyster culture had been made in Europe. 
 
 At the time of these observations, M. Coste, Professor 
 of Embryology in the College of France, became greatly 
 interested in the ancient and primitive culture methods 
 which he had examined at Lake Fusaro, in Italy. He 
 seems to have been imaginative, energetic, optimistic, and 
 persuasive. He conceived the idea of transporting this 
 obscure Italian industry to the depleted shores of his own 
 country, and attracted a great deal of attention by the 
 publication of his views in 1855. He suggested means 
 similar to those employed in Italy for collecting the 
 *' spat," and proposed that a trial of them be made in the 
 salt lakes in the south of France. 
 
 He succeeded in interesting Emperor Napoleon III, 
 who two years later commissioned him to make experi- 
 ments along the lines which he had suggested. On mak- 
 ing a tour of the French coast, he received a great sur- 
 prise on viewing the work of De Bon. There, before 
 his eyes, were flourishing oysters, not only transplanted, 
 but reproducing themselves in an exposed position be- 
 tween tide lines, and this he had formerly declared could 
 not occur. With a mind fired by the possibilities re- 
 vealed, he published a report to the Emperor, in which 
 he drew a vivid and optimistic picture of the entire coast 
 of France converted into a great oyster garden and 
 bearing an inexhaustible supply of food. 
 
 M. Coste now constructed beds at various points in the 
 Bay of Saint Brieuc, deposited mature oysters over shells 
 previously spread on the bottom to serve as collectors, 
 and suspended bundles of brush for the same purpose. 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 75 
 
 At the end of the spawning season, these collectors were 
 well covered with young oysters. He now began in 
 earnest the task of reclaiming the coast, and large areas 
 at Toulon, Brest, and Arcaclion, were covered with 
 oysters, many of them imported from England for the 
 purpose. Now, too, stimulated by the success of Coste, 
 private interests began rapidly to develop the new in- 
 dustry, especially on the coasts of Normandy and Brit- 
 tany. Beds were constructed in many localities, and the 
 work proceeded with great enthusiasm. 
 
 In many places the initial successes were gratifying. 
 It became certain that oysters transplanted from natural 
 beds to other bottoms would grow well, in the majority 
 of cases, though often they did not spawn. So much 
 had been gained, however, that for three or four years a 
 spirit of great expectation prevailed. 
 
 Then, in the following years, came reverses, dis- 
 appointments, failures, and disasters. Fishermen de- 
 spoiled the natural beds. Storms scattered the oysters 
 that had been planted in the shallow waters. The beds 
 of Saint Brieuc, especially, suffered from wave action, 
 the brush collectors being torn from the bottoms, broken, 
 and swept away. The natural beds had become so 
 greatly reduced in supplying breeding oysters that 
 regions formerly producing every year a good set of 
 young became barren. Apparently the brilliant plan of 
 Coste had failed. Discredited, disappointed, and finally 
 completely discouraged, he died, perhaps not dreaming 
 that in time — not quickly, as he had hoped, but in the 
 course of normal growth — the conditions which he had 
 predicted were, in large part, to be realized. 
 
 One fact of importance, underlying these events, has 
 received little or no attention. It is not simply that the 
 
76 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 life and experience of Coste afford a beautiful example 
 of the dangers of optimism, though that is an important 
 subject on which much might be said. It is that the 
 most important element in this disaster to an industry 
 which, with rare good fortune, had begun so auspi- 
 ciously, was the failure to study the oyster from a 
 biological point of view at the very beginning. Had 
 Coste known that the European oyster is able to re- 
 produce only in water of a certain definite degree 
 of salinity, or density, and that such waters are to be 
 found in comparatively few localities on the French 
 coast; had he discovered that the oysters' food is abun- 
 dant only in certain localities, where peculiar conditions 
 are necessary for its production; had he investigated the 
 bearing of tide currents on the distribution of food and 
 of oyster embryos; in short, had he known the oyster 
 in relation to its surroundings, the greatest of his dis- 
 appointments would never have occurred, and the in- 
 dustry itself, instead of being discredited and retarded 
 by arousing public suspicion against claims made in the 
 name of science, would have grown without loss of time 
 and wealth. 
 
 The present application of these reflections is to those 
 well-meaning critics of our institutions founded for the 
 purpose of promoting a scientific study of animals and 
 plants useful to man. Our state agricultural schools, 
 and our state and national fish commissions, often pub- 
 lish at public expense, technical papers that seemingly 
 have no bearing on any economic problem. This is 
 sometimes the subject of adverse comment, but not so 
 frequently as in the past. It is cause for congratulation 
 that the public is learning that a detailed knowledge of 
 the nature of organisms and their relations to their sur- 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 77 
 
 roiindings is the first logical and necessary step toward 
 their control by man. We are beginning to give these 
 institutions credit for the great benefits that have been 
 derived from their researches. 
 
 After its disheartening experience, the French in- 
 dustry began to revive. One extremely important 
 feature of its subsequent growth was the lease of oyster 
 grounds by the state to individuals. What had for- 
 merly been public property, now came under the control 
 of private interests, ambitious to make it as productive 
 as possible. These also were afforded protection, and as 
 a consequence, capital was invested in large amounts. 
 That this was the only wise course to pursue, has since 
 been proved in every country in which an oyster industry 
 has been developed, and it is because such a policy has 
 not yet been adopted by any of our Atlantic states 
 toward the clam industry, that it has declined into its 
 present state. Common sense indicates and the histor- 
 ical record proves that this is one of the fundamental re- 
 quirements for the artificial rearing of any form. 
 
 Slowly the important facts concerning the conditions 
 necessary for the increase of the oyster were learned and 
 applied. It was found that a method, successful in one 
 locality, might not succeed in another. Each region 
 had its own peculiar problems, and these were solved one 
 after another by patient experiment. It is recorded that 
 in 1871, at Arcachon, 1,450 acres of public ground were 
 leased in private holdings. In 1875, there were 2,434 
 concessions, covering 6,625 acres. Their number in- 
 creased at various points, and to-day the industry is a 
 very extensive one. 
 
 French culture methods of the present are more com- 
 plicated than those employed in our own country. This 
 
78 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 is especially true of the means used for the capture of 
 the swimming embryos. There are but two places on the 
 French coast where oysters spawn regularly in abund- 
 ance. Here, at Arcachon and Auray, attention is given 
 chiefly to the collection of the young, which are sent to 
 various parts of the coast to be reared in what are called 
 parks — walled areas between tide lines. 
 
 The collection of young oysters is a very much more 
 serious problem in European waters than in our own. 
 There the great salinity of the water restrains the repro- 
 ductive process, while in almost all localities where our 
 oysters are found, they are extremely prolific, and it is 
 interesting to observe that when they are transported to 
 European waters, they also become sterile. The water 
 is very muddy on European shores. On settling, this 
 mud forms so soft a bottom that young oysters sinking 
 on it perish at once. A hard object to be used as a 
 collector is also very quickly coated with mud and slime, 
 so that an oyster embryo that has succeeded in at- 
 taching, is in danger of being lost even here. After this 
 coat has formed on the collector, attachment is impossi- 
 ble. For this reason, the American method of covering 
 the bottom with clean shells to capture the spat would 
 be relatively ineffective. 
 
 Whej-e waters are least muddy, bundles of twigs are 
 employed, after the ancient practice of the Romans. In 
 shallow water, where these can readily be handled, some 
 of the sediment may be washed off, giving sufficient time 
 for attachment. If oysters are well spaced on the 
 branches, the bundle may be allowed to remain sus- 
 pended during the period of growth. If they are closely 
 set, the twigs may be broken into small pieces and spread 
 on some hard bottom, or in racks that have been pre- 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 79 
 
 pared for them. Board platforms, placed one above an- 
 other with slight spaces between, are also used in the 
 collection of spat. After the young adhering to these 
 have attained a sufficient size, they are removed by means 
 of a knife. 
 
 Brush and boards, however, will not serve in most 
 localities, because both so rapidly become coated with 
 slime. In the development of the industry it became 
 necessary to devise some other form of collector that 
 would overcome this difficulty. The object that proved 
 most successful was a roofing tile. The form of tile 
 now commonly in use is a little more than a foot in 
 length, about six inches wide, and has a slight arc of 
 about one-fifth of a circle. When these are placed in 
 the water with the hollow or concave side down, very 
 little slime attaches to that surface, which is thus favor- 
 able for attachment (Figure 19). 
 
 The young oyster is very firmly cemented to the ob- 
 ject to which it is attached. To remove it from a tile 
 would usually necessitate the breaking of the shell, and 
 this would result in its death. To allow it to remain on 
 the tile to grow to marketable size, would be impracti- 
 cable for several reasons, chief among which is that so 
 many young usually attach to a single tile that they 
 would crowd each other, and the growth of all would be 
 interfered with. When tile collectors were first used, 
 therefore, they were broken into pieces after the attach- 
 ment of the young, and in such a way that an oyster was 
 borne on each piece. This required much skill and labor, 
 and the destruction of the tiles made the process ex- 
 pensive. 
 
 After a time an extremely ingenious plan was devised 
 which made the tile collector almost perfect for 
 
8o Our Food Mollusks 
 
 European oyster beds. The idea was to cover the tiles 
 with a crust of some substance that could easily be re- 
 moved after the oysters had become fixed to it. After 
 some experimenting, a cement was invented that an- 
 swered all requirements, and it is in use all along the 
 coast to-day. It is a mixture of quick-lime and sea 
 water to which is added enough fine sand or mud to give 
 it the consistency of thick cream. Into this, dry tiles are 
 dipped, and coated with a layer of the mixture having a 
 thickness of about a millimeter. The coat is thoroughly 
 dried before the collector is placed in the water. After 
 several weeks of immersion, it softens somewhat by the 
 action of the sea water, and, though still firm enough to 
 adhere while the tile is being handled, it flakes off 
 readily in the process of removing the young oysters. 
 This is effected by means of a flat knife-blade. When 
 the crust bearing the spat has thus been removed, the tiles 
 are stored to be coated and used again during the next 
 spawning season. In this way the same collectors are 
 used for several years. At Arcachon and Auray it is 
 estimated that each tile annually affords attachment to 
 about two hundred oysters. 
 
 The spawning season is not sharply limited. As in 
 the case of the American oyster, some young appear in 
 the water at almost all times of the year. But the great 
 majority are produced in the early summer, and it is a 
 matter of great importance to the French culturist to 
 determine the time of their appearance. If tiles were 
 immersed for any length of time before spawning be- 
 gan, even their concave surfaces would become so con- 
 taminated with slime, that attachment would be inter- 
 fered with. Salinity of the water, temperature, and 
 other conditions that vary from year to year, determine 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 8i 
 
 the spawning time, so that there can be no set date for 
 the laying of the collectors. By close observation, the 
 most favorable time is determined each year for the cap- 
 ture of the maximum number. This is usually near the 
 end of July, and the spat continue to appear in numbers 
 until the middle of August. 
 
 Two hundred small oysters might perhaps be left with 
 safety on the surface of a single tile during the winter 
 months when growth is not rapid. Indeed, this is often 
 done in the warmer southern waters ; but on the north 
 coast there is always great danger from frost. As the 
 collectors are so placed that they are exposed at low tide, 
 many of the young would be killed by the cold; so in Oc- 
 tober, when the shells have attained a diameter of half 
 or three-quarters of an inch, they are removed from the 
 tiles and shipped to the eleveurs, or culturists, who place 
 them in water deep enough to preserve them during the 
 winter. 
 
 The young are hardy enough to endure a journey last- 
 ing three or four days, especially at this time of the year. 
 From the collecting places, they are sent to all parts of 
 the French coast, as well as to neighboring countries. 
 Great numbers are sold in England, where, however, the 
 fact is concealed as carefully as possible, because, like 
 any other people, the English consider their own 
 products superior to others. The collection and sale 
 of spat is so extensive as to be an important industry in 
 itself, and this is a feature of oyster culture that should 
 be much more extensively developed in our own country. 
 
 An American oyster culturist would probably be ap- 
 palled by the adverse conditions that confront the in- 
 dustry in European waters. He himself has much to 
 contend against, but his task is not diflficult in compari- 
 
82 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 son with that of the European ciikurist. There is one 
 fundamental difference between the two industries. In 
 America, except on the Pacific coast, oyster grounds are 
 all below the tide lines, and some are in very deep water. 
 In Europe they lie between the tide lines. Deep water 
 farming is not possible on the coast of Europe, but there 
 is no natural condition that would prevent the employ- 
 ment of European methods here. 
 
 But the time can not yet be seen when it may be profit- 
 able to utilize the beaches for oyster culture in America, 
 though the imagination is excited when one views the 
 immense wastes of salt marsh bomiding much of our 
 Atlantic coast, that might, if expense were no object, 
 probably successfully be converted into innumerable 
 oyster ponds. Whether or not the utilization of our 
 marsh lands will ever be attempted, the difficulties that 
 have been overcome by the European culturist are very 
 interesting. He leases a plot of ground on a flat that 
 is exposed for a considerable period each day at low 
 water, and in most cases much labor is necessary to pre- 
 pare it before it can be used for rearing young oysters. 
 Enemies are numerous. Among them are the starfish 
 that infest the bottom — slow-moving, harmless appear- 
 ing creatures, but the most voracious and deadly of the 
 foes of the oyster; crabs, the powerful claws of which 
 are able to crush the fragile shells of the young; and 
 drilling mollusks that pierce the shell even of adult 
 oysters and consume the soft part enclosed within. 
 These also must be avoided or destroyed. To all this 
 may be added the fact that bottoms are often so soft 
 that they will not bear more than a man's weight. Such 
 a condition alone might seem sufficient to make oyster 
 culture impossible. 
 
Fig. 20. Arcachon, F"rancc '' : ..arks with low clay- 
 walls. Water is retained in those at the right at the low 
 tide, that at the left being emptied for repairs. 
 
 
 I* Id. 21. Arcachon. Parks witii somewiiat higher walls con- 
 taining cases for the growing voung. Fignres from Pro- 
 fessor Bashford Dean. U. S. F.' C. Bulletin. 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 83 
 
 The difficulties that have been enumerated are met by 
 converting the ground into a series of basins by means 
 of walls or dikes. These ponds are variable in form 
 and in area, but are usually rectangles of two or three 
 hundred square yards. The walls are often simple and 
 inexpensive. Very shallow basins, like those shown in 
 Figure 20, are easily constructed. To form the wall, 
 parallel lines of planks are held in position on edge by 
 means of wooden pegs. Parallel lines of stakes are also 
 sometimes employed, the space between being filled with 
 soil. If tide currents are strong, stones are used with 
 the other filling material, in order to give sufficient 
 strength to the wall. In some localities it has been profit- 
 able to build walls of solid masonry, but this construction 
 is usually resorted to only when a large area, to be 
 flooded to a considerable depth, is to be shut off from the 
 sea. The height of the wall varies from a few inches 
 to several feet. At some favorable point in the wall, 
 a gate is constructed that, when closed, may retain the 
 water that enters at high tide. 
 
 The bottom of the basin must now be prepared. In 
 the better parks, the center is made a little higher than 
 the margins, where trenches are often dug, in order that 
 sediment, settling on the bottom, may be carried 
 into them. When the gate of the full basin is opened, 
 the current leaving the inclosure by these is sufficient to 
 carry away much of the soft silt. After the bottom has 
 been roughly shaped, it is sometimes hardened by pound- 
 ing, and is covered by a layer of clay or sand and gravel. 
 If the soil in the walls is pervious, these also are lined 
 with clay in order that water may be retained. 
 
 It is interesting to observe that bottoms, originally of 
 the softest mud, are easily reclaimed and made hard and 
 
84 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 firm by a covering of shells or of sand and gravel, and 
 that this covering need be only a few inches in thickness. 
 Shifting sand on w^hicli oyster parks are built is also 
 held in place by a layer of clay. 
 
 In the simple basins illustrated in Figure 20, oysters 
 of sufficient size are spread over the bottom and left to 
 grow. At low tide they remain covered, and may thus 
 continue to feed until a new supply of water comes with 
 the flood tide. They are also protected from the sun of 
 summer and the frost of winter seasons. Not all sedi- 
 ment will drain away, even though the gates are opened 
 frequently, and though the bottoms have been arched 
 from center to margins. When a quantity of mud has 
 collected, oysters are removed^ from one basin to an- 
 other until the bottom has been cleaned. 
 
 But the entire process of removing young oysters 
 cannot be carried on in basins as simple as those shown 
 in the illustration. So much mud is deposited that small 
 oysters would be smothered. These seed oysters are 
 from half an inch to an inch in diameter, and must be 
 protected from sediment until they are much larger. 
 
 This necessity for the protection of the very young 
 has led to the construction of racks or boxes designed to 
 suspend them above the bottom. It is very important 
 also to insure a free flow of water within the boxes, so 
 these are made with narrow wooden sides, the tops and 
 bottoms being constructed of galvanized wire netting. 
 The top netting is fastened to a wooden frame provided 
 with hinges, or so fitted that it may be lifted off. The 
 box is then suspended a few inches above the bottom on 
 stakes. 
 
 Such boxes are represented in Figure 21. Evidently 
 they are roughly and cheaply made, but a large number 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 85 
 
 would be required to provide a means of livelihood for 
 the most unambitious eleveur, and his initial expense 
 would be considerable. But, properly cared for, these 
 boxes serve for many seasons. If carefully tarred each 
 year, they may be kept in use for ten, or sometimes 
 twenty years. Occasionally more elaborate boxes are 
 constructed that hold a number of trays, but all are built 
 on essentially the same plan. 
 
 Not only are these cases necessary as a protection 
 against mud, but there is great advantage in their posi- 
 tion on the flats between tide lines ; for, being exposed 
 at low water, oysters may readily be placed in them, 
 sorted from time to time, and finally removed. The 
 cases, also, may be repaired with ease. When cases 
 are used in enclosed parks, it of course is necessary that 
 the surrounding walls should be high enough to hold 
 sufficient water to cover them. 
 
 The young oysters that have been removed from tile 
 collectors are at first spread evenly, but closely, in the 
 bottom of the cases, and as they increase in size, are re- 
 moved a few at a time and placed in other cases in order 
 that all may have food and a sufficient amount of water 
 for aeration. The number of food organisms brought 
 to the growing young varies in different localities along 
 the shore, and for this reason there is a difference in the 
 length of time during which they must be kept. In some 
 localities, two years are sufficient, while in many others 
 they must be cared for during a third, a fourth, or even 
 a fifth year, before attaining marketable size. 
 
 It sometimes happens that lamellibranchs of various 
 species, living in certain localities, collect in the gills and 
 in parts of the mantle, a quantity of chlorophyl, the 
 green coloring matter characteristic of most plants. 
 
86 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 Green oysters appear in certain basins along the Eu- 
 ropean coast, and the color has happened to strike the 
 popular fancy. Such oysters are practically unmarket- 
 able in America, where they also appear, though they 
 are as wholesome as any others ; but in Europe, and in 
 France in particular, they are very highly prized by 
 connoisseurs on account of their " peculiarly delicate 
 and delicious flavor" — which, if it exists at all, does 
 not arise from the green coloring matter. 
 
 Most of the green oysters found in the European 
 markets come from Marennes in France. Here in the 
 tide basins are great numbers of green diatoms, organ- 
 isms used by oysters for food, that collect in such num- 
 bers that they form what is termed a " moss." To this 
 is ascribed the green color assumed by oysters growing 
 near it. Here it was discovered by the culturists that 
 the " moss " developed most rapidly in very muddy in- 
 closures in which water was seldom changed. These 
 basins, or claires, are usually situated so high as to be 
 filled only once or twice during the month. The tem- 
 perature of water held in such a manner rises several 
 degrees, and this condition is found to be very favorable 
 to the multiplication of diatoms. But while it produces 
 oyster food in great abundance, the water loses so much 
 of its oxygen during its stagnation, that it affects oysters 
 adversely. Those individuals that are able to endure 
 the conditions, are said to fatten rapidly, but the mor- 
 tality is usually great, being in most cases at least 
 fifty in a hundred. There is an extreme variation in 
 the rate at which the green coloration is acquired 
 by the living oysters, the necessary time in some 
 claires being two or three weeks, in others as many 
 months. 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 87 
 
 Great attention is paid to the appearance of these 
 oysters before they are marketed. After a period of 
 rapid feeding, there is apt to be some outward sign of 
 the dark colored matter contained in the digestive tract. 
 In order that this may be removed, the oysters are placed 
 in inclosures containing clear water, and allowed to re- 
 main for a week or more, during which time very little 
 food is consumed. They are then removed, and not only 
 are the shells thoroughly scrubbed with a brush to re- 
 move any trace of mud, but any marked roughness is re- 
 duced by a process of scraping. It is not necessary to 
 contrast their appearance with that of oysters marketed 
 in the shell in America. 
 
 Oyster Culture in Japan 
 
 Oysters have been cultivated in Japan for several cen- 
 turies. We are told that in ancient times a certain clam, 
 Tapes, was gathered in the Sea of Aki and kept, 
 awaiting shipment to market, in inclosures made of 
 bamboo. It was discovered that in certain places young 
 oysters attached to the brush of the bamboo, and that 
 their position was so favorable for growth that it became 
 profitable to capture them in this way, and rear them in 
 inclosures. Thus, gradually, oyster culture displaced 
 the Tapes industry. 
 
 Two species of oysters grow on Japanese shores. The 
 one that occurs most commonly and is reared by the cul- 
 turists, is known as Ostrea cucullata. It has the gen- 
 eral appearance of our Atlantic oyster, but is somewhat 
 smaller. Its cultivation is practised most extensively in 
 the Inland Sea. 
 
88 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 On the southern and eastern coasts, a very sixxdil 
 oyster, possibly a variety of O. cucullata, grows in great 
 numbers in the shallow waters of bays and inlets. The 
 shell rarely attains a length of more than two inches. 
 This oyster encrusts the rocks between tide lines, and 
 cannot be removed without breaking the shell. The 
 fishermen therefore go among the rocks at low tide, and 
 open the oysters without attempting to detach them. 
 
 Another distinct species. Ostrea gigas, an extremely 
 large and heavy form, is found in a few localities on the 
 Japanese coast. It seldom occurs in very shallow waters, 
 where other oysters are commonly found, but at a depth 
 of ten or twelve fathoms. Though this oyster is used 
 for food, it is so rarely taken that it does not often ap- 
 pear in the market. Its habit of life in deep water per- 
 haps has made its culture impossible. 
 
 Because the habits of all oysters are very similar, the 
 methods employed in rearing the Japanese oyster, though 
 entirely independent in origin, are essentially like those 
 of Europe and America. In the Inland Sea, as else- 
 where, oysters require for the process of reproduc- 
 tion the comparatively fresh waters of bays receiving 
 streams from the land. On the Japanese coast, as in 
 Europe, localities having waters of the optimum density 
 are limited in area and more or less narrowly defined. 
 At certain points, however, it is possible for the culturist 
 to obtain his own set of young, and rear them for mar- 
 ket on a single small plot of bottom which he has 
 rented. In Europe it is almost everywhere necessary 
 for him to purchase his young oysters from another 
 who possesses ground on the very few bottoms favorable 
 for oyster reproduction. 
 
 Japanese culturists have not adopted the tile collector 
 
Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 89 
 
 of the European industry, but retain the ancient and ef- 
 fective brush collector. For this, the light, strong bam- 
 boo is employed. It serves its purpose admirably, and 
 is easily obtained. Short pieces, usually bearing their 
 branches, are thrust into the bottom between tide lines. 
 In this position they are easily examined and kept in 
 order. There is little trouble from mud, or the forma- 
 tion of slime. The collectors, arranged in lines or clus- 
 ters so as best to be exposed to the currents, are set out 
 in the early spring, and young oysters begin to appear 
 near the middle of April and continue to attach for some 
 weeks. The character of such a collecting ground is 
 well shown in Figures 22 and 23. Here the bamboo 
 rods are arranged in long rows, three or four feet in 
 height. 
 
 If left to themselves, young oysters, greatly crowded 
 on the stakes, would not be able to attain a rounded 
 form, and very many would perish. So those oysters 
 that have attained a certain size are detached from the 
 collectors and removed to a deeper bottom, that has 
 been prepared for them. On this they are immersed for 
 a longer period each day and grow more rapidly in con- 
 sequence. Oysters are from one to two years old when 
 thus spread on the bottom, and remain for another year 
 or two before attaining marketable size. Very few 
 enemies trouble them. One or two species of boring 
 mollusks appear at certain points on the coast, but these 
 may easily be removed at low tide. The starfish gives 
 little trouble. 
 
 Usually the larger oysters from such a bed are re- 
 moved from time to time, and placed in still lower beds 
 where they are uncovered but once or twice each month, 
 and here they attain the greatest possible rate of growth. 
 
90 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 In this way are produced fine, large oysters much like 
 our own in size. 
 
 Many natural conditions make oyster culture easier in 
 Japan than in Europe. The coastal waters are less 
 muddy ; there is no necessity for artificial ponds ; oysters 
 reproduce over a large area; the cheap bamboo is a good 
 collector, and is easily handled; and there are few 
 natural enemies to contend against. 
 
 It is fortunate, also, that oyster grounds in Japan are 
 not exploited as a government monopoly, but are rented 
 to private interests, for it is only in this way that the 
 greatest success in such an industry is possible. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CONDITIONS GOVERNING OYSTER 
 GROWTH— OYSTER PLANT- 
 ING IN AMERICA 
 
 YSTER culture in America is very simple as 
 compared with that in Europe. There it is 
 difficult to obtain the young, or the " seed," 
 and laborious and costly methods are resorted 
 to in effecting its capture, and in protecting it during the 
 period of its growth. Here seed is abundant, growth is 
 vigorous, and bottoms are naturally better adapted to 
 the industry. 
 
 The complicated methods, necessary for success in Eu- 
 rope, will not be employed in this country until the price 
 of oysters is relatively very much higher than it is there. 
 These foreign methods if introduced on our shores, 
 would reclaim much marshy shore-land now entirely un- 
 productive, and the American oyster would undoubtedly 
 respond to the treatment as the foreign form does. 
 Nevertheless, it will be many decades before the simpler 
 American method will be superseded by any other on our 
 coasts, if indeed the event ever occurs. 
 
 There are two reasons for such a belief. One is that 
 the area along the American coast available for oyster 
 culture after the less expensive American method, is 
 enormous. No one can now accurately estimate its ex- 
 tent. It includes not only the territory formerly occu- 
 pied by " wild " oysters, but also great tracts where 
 
 91 
 
92 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 oysters have never existed, and which may be discovered 
 by intelhgently directed experiment. Already many of 
 these have been determined in Long Island Sound, where 
 oysters are successfully cultivated miles from shore, 
 and under water as deep as one hundred feet. Else- 
 where on the coast, these unoccupied areas have hardly 
 been considered ; but in certain localities, as in Pamlico 
 Sound, and about the delta of the Mississippi, they will 
 undoubtedly prove to be very extensive. 
 
 For yet another reason, European methods can hardly 
 obtain in this country. Extensive oyster culture abroad 
 would, on account of the labor involved, be impossible 
 without a social caste system. This is everywhere pres- 
 ent in Europe, and, to a genuine American, presents an 
 appalling state of affairs. Even in republican France, 
 society retains a real reverence for its princes and its 
 counts, and every other nation but Switzerland staggers 
 under the heavy burden of an idle and expensive aristoc- 
 racy. Below its members in the scale are the middle 
 classes, the trades people, subservient to their superiors, 
 and often brutally contemptuous of the under stratum, 
 the common people. The latter, born into humility, sel- 
 dom have independence bred into them, but calmly sub- 
 mit to their heaven-sent estate. And they obediently la- 
 bor for a pittance that an Americanized Oriental would 
 scorn. It is this one condition that makes oyster culture 
 possible in Europe. 
 
 Labor of that character would be necessary if the 
 same method of oyster culture were to become profitable 
 in the United States. That it ever will exist here is im- 
 probable. It is, however, interesting to observe that 
 European social customs continue to have a great influence 
 on our own. Some of us believe that they do things bet- 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 93 
 
 ter there. Waves of fashion in (h^ess, and manners, and 
 social customs, sometimes degrading enough, continually 
 roll toward our shores from abroad. Though these 
 break and spend their force largely on the northern 
 coast, some of them continue westward across the con- 
 tinent as very noticeable ripples. Not all of them are 
 alarming, and some sinister ones may hardly succeed in 
 crossing the ocean, but they are all worthy of attention. 
 
 Much more interesting is the growing aristocracy of 
 wealth that is desperately striving to establish itself 
 among us, and it is inevitable that there should be many 
 who regard it complacently. A little too frequently in 
 speech, and even in the editorial writings of leading jour- 
 nals, appear such phrases as '' our middle class " or " our 
 common people." Even this attempted social segrega- 
 tion of the few persons of great wealth, however, is not 
 disturbing in view of the fact that, with every year, 
 democracy more clearly appears to be the fundamental 
 element of the nation's life. 
 
 The chief differences between the oyster culture of the 
 continent, in Europe, and that of our own shores, are 
 that here oysters are cultivated below tide lines; we 
 neither employ tile spat collectors, construct reservoirs 
 for the growing young, or for the growth of diatoms on 
 which they feed, nor build racks on which to support 
 them above the bottom. Small oysters from natural 
 beds are spread on suitable bottoms to mature, or the 
 swimming young are captured on simple collectors, and 
 planted in the same way. There has been little change 
 of procedure since the days of the City Island men who 
 began oyster culture in America, because natural condi- 
 tions have remained so favorable that a change has not 
 been necessary. 
 
94 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 Success in oyster farming, however, is not so easy of 
 attainment as it may appear to be. There are a great 
 many necessary details to be learned, especially in regard 
 to the natural requirements of the oyster. One should 
 be able to recognize suitable bottoms. Water currents 
 must be considered. One must know the varying ef- 
 fects of muddy water on mature oysters and swimming 
 larvae. A low temperature of the water in the spring 
 or early summer, while not apparently harmful to adult 
 oysters, may be sufficient to prevent reproduction. In the 
 north, water less than a certain depth may be dangerous 
 in winter. It is important to know the extremes of 
 salinity within which oysters can live. The successful 
 oyster farmer should also know the optimum density for 
 adult and young alike. The amount of food in the 
 water, of course, vitally affects rapidity of growth and 
 the condition of oysters. Thus it is not always easy to 
 select areas that conform to all the conditions necessary 
 for success. 
 
 For many reasons the character of the bottom must be 
 carefully considered. A rocky or very uneven surface is 
 out of the question, but bottoms rough from the presence 
 of small obstructions are sometimes made suitable for 
 oyster planting, even in deep water, by a thorough scrap- 
 ing with dredges. 
 
 Over the greater part of the oyster territory bottoms 
 are more or less muddy, and the nature of this mud must 
 be determined. On many of the best northern oyster 
 grounds there is but a thin surface layer of it covering a 
 firmer foundation. This, without any preparation, is 
 found to afiford a secure resting place for planted oysters. 
 In many parts of the Gulf of Mexico, however, the bot- 
 tom is composed of mud so soft and oozy that a pole may 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 95 
 
 be driven into it, by force of hand alone, to a deptli of 
 several feet. It is very generally believed that such con- 
 ditions cannot be overcome, the assumption being that 
 any kind of pavement placed on it would sink below the 
 surface. That such is not true, will be shown in the 
 discussion of the Louisiana field. In parts of Long 
 Island Sound, where mud is deep but not so soft as in 
 the Gulf, bottoms have been successfully prepared by 
 paving with shells or with sand and gravel. Bottoms 
 naturally sandy are also often selected by the oyster 
 farmer, but under shallow water, where they may be 
 shifted by wave action, they are unsafe. It is specially 
 desirable that the bottom should be firm, to withstand 
 wave or tide action where spat is to be gathered oji col- 
 lectors, for the young are quickly smothered in a quan- 
 tity of mud that would not seriously affect mature 
 oysters. 
 
 The oyster finds almost its entire food supply in 
 diatoms of various species. These are floating plants, 
 microscopically small, which derive their nourishment 
 from substances brought down in solution from the land. 
 Their distribution along the coast is universal. They are 
 not confined to the surface, but may be found at all 
 depths. Every one has noticed the brown coat left on 
 the surface of a clam flat when it is exposed at low 
 water. When examined, this is found to contain vast 
 numbers of diatoms, though it is not by any means en- 
 tirely or even chiefly composed of them, as sometimes 
 stated. 
 
 The amount of available oyster food over a given area 
 depends largely on water currents. Where there is no 
 current, oysters quickly exhaust the water about them 
 of the food that it carries. A current continually re- 
 
96 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 plenishes the supply. Up to a certain point, the more 
 rapid the current, the greater will be the amount of 
 available food. But one current bears more food than 
 another. Salt water, for example, that flows out from 
 shallow marshes during the ebb tide, usually bears great 
 numbers of diatoms because the marshes are warmer 
 than the sea water outside, and the higher temperature 
 stimulates a rapid multiplication of these organisms. 
 Food is sometimes so abundant that a rapid current is 
 not necessary. For this reason it is not possible to give 
 a rate that shall be most favorable for oyster growth 
 in all localities. 
 
 The presence of suspended silt in the water is a con- 
 dition to be observed with care. It is an especially im- 
 portant problem in the Gulf of Mexico. There it is 
 found that oysters often thrive and reproduce in local- 
 ities where, much of the time, the water is very muddy. 
 But it is also true that currents in such places are too 
 rapid to deposit much of their silt. In more quiet 
 waters, where mud slowly collects on the bottom, ma- 
 ture oysters may be able to exist, but even a slight deposi- 
 tion is fatal to newly attached spat. Finally, there are 
 many places where mud collects so rapidly that life on 
 the bottom is impossible. Much experience is needed to 
 enable one to recognize these conditions, when searching 
 for available bottoms not already occupied by oysters. 
 
 Oysters will grow in water having a summer tem- 
 perature so low as to prevent reproduction. At several 
 points on the coasts of Washington and California, small 
 Atlantic seed oysters grow to marketable size. The 
 summer temperature is much lower than on the Atlantic 
 below Cape Cod, and the sexual products mature only in 
 certain warmer coves. Experiments made many years 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 97 
 
 ago in North Carolina and in the Chesapeake, indicated 
 that reproduction practically ceased when the tempera- 
 ture during the breeding season fell below 60° Fahrenheit, 
 and that the swimming stage was rarely reached when 
 the water was warmer than 80°. But it is probable that 
 the minimum temperature at which reproduction is pos- 
 sible is nearer 70° than 60°, and it takes place in water 
 above 80° in certain parts of the Gulf of Mexico. If the 
 facts were known, it might possibly be found that there 
 Avere variations in minimum, optimum, and maximum 
 temperatures, oysters having accommodated themselves 
 to the varying conditions in different localities. 
 
 Because of danger from frost or ice, oysters are not 
 left in very shallow water where the winter temperature 
 is low. Young oysters, especially, are susceptible to ex- 
 treme cold. 
 
 Though a determination of the salinity of the water, 
 and a systematic observation of its variations, would be 
 of value to oyster culturists, few have interested them- 
 selves in the subject. It is nearly as easy to observe 
 salinity as temperature. All that is necessary is a simple 
 case containing two glass floats (Figure 24), with hollow 
 bulbs so weighed that in distilled water, each sinks until 
 the surface of the water reaches the zero point on a 
 scale borne in the stem. The density of distilled water 
 is read i.ooo. 
 
 The salt in solution in sea water prevents the float 
 from sinking to so great a depth as this. If the water, 
 in a test case, reaches the numeral 9 of the scale, the 
 density is read 1.009. This scale measures densities 
 from I.ooo to i.oii. The second float bears a scale 
 registering densities ranging from i.oio to 1.021, the 
 range for both covering variations likely to be found 
 
98 
 
 
 c 
 
 ! 
 
 LMi- 
 Mll 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 E 
 
 Mt - 
 
 I 
 
 E 
 
 ,m-. 
 
 5 
 
 E 
 
 Mi': 
 
 J 
 
 E 
 
 mil 
 
 S 
 
 : 
 
 m. 
 
 ( 
 
 E 
 
 .ML 
 
 1 
 
 : 
 
 .m 
 
 1 
 
 E 
 
 oa» 
 
 9 
 
 z 
 
 m 
 
 l 
 
 -- 
 
 [sal 
 
 1 
 
 
 Fig. 24. — Salino- 
 meter. A glass 
 bulb weighted 
 with shot and 
 carrying a scale 
 for measuring 
 the amount of 
 salt in sea- 
 water. 
 
 The extremes 
 
 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 over oyster beds. The floats are about 
 eight inches long, and nothing else is 
 required but a vessel that will hold a 
 column of water of that height, in 
 which the apparatus may be immersed. 
 Temperature corrections are not neces- 
 sary in ordinary observations. 
 
 Surface and bottom densities often 
 vary greatly, and obviously that at the 
 bottom is the one of greatest interest 
 to the oysterman. It may be obtained 
 by sinking a corked vessel and then re- 
 moving the cork by means of a cord. 
 
 Oysters are brackish water forms. 
 Their natural distribution has always 
 been close to the shore where waters 
 are fresher than in the open sea. If 
 other conditions are favorable, they 
 will exist in very salt water, but grow 
 little, and do not reproduce. On the 
 other hand, mature oysters have been 
 known to live for some time in water 
 nearly fresh. Such an experience, 
 however, is always harmful. It some- 
 times happens, as in the Carolina field 
 and in the Gulf of Mexico, that long 
 continued freshets cause widespread 
 destruction. On a considerable part 
 of the latter shore, especially, the 
 freshening of the water is a con- 
 tingency on which the oyster culturist 
 must take his chances, 
 of salinity between which the growth of 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 99 
 
 mature oysters is possible, are greater than those limiting' 
 reproduction. The optimum has not been precisely de- 
 termined in either case. When food and temperature 
 conditions are favorable, growth apparently is most rapid 
 in water with a salinity varying from about 1.012 to 
 1. 01 6. There may be no very narrowly limited opti- 
 mum salinity, but whatever its limits, it is possible that 
 they are not the same on all parts of the coast. 
 
 In the matter of reproduction, also, very few experi- 
 ments have been made to determine the optimum salin- 
 ity. Some observations made several years ago indi- 
 cated an optimum much lower than that of growth, and 
 these are usually quoted. It would naturally be expected 
 that the most favorable density for growth would also be 
 best for reproduction, and recent observations confirm 
 this. Where it has been noticed by a trained observer, 
 the best set of spat occurs in water the density of which 
 varied between 1.010 and 1.017. Whether or not there 
 is an optimum of narrower limits, is not known. 
 
 Sudden changes of density, so common everywhere 
 in shallow water near the shore, are always harmful and 
 sometimes fatal. Swimming embryos, for example, are 
 often destroyed by a fall of rain. Though the resulting 
 change of temperature may play a large part in it, it is 
 possible that the sudden change of density is also very 
 harmful. Recent experiment has proved that the trans- 
 planting of oysters to water of a different density, 
 whether greater or less, has a bad effect even when the 
 difference is slight. If the difference is considerable, 
 oysters may cease to grow or may die. These effects are 
 specially marked on mature individuals. The very young 
 attached oysters are better able to adapt themselves to 
 such changes. : 
 
100 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 It thus appears that the conditions necessary for oyster 
 growth are numerous and more or less sharply defined. 
 Some writers extolling the peculiar advantages for oyster 
 culture afforded by certain untried waters, have had the 
 belief that oysters would grow and multiply anywhere 
 in them. But the required conditions are as exact as 
 those governing the production of wheat, or cotton, or 
 rice. It is a fortunate circumstance that the require- 
 ments are met by so great a part of our Atlantic and Gulf 
 shores. ' Nevertheless there are many localities on these 
 coasts where one or more of these conditions are lack- 
 ing, and where an attempt at oyster culture might result 
 in failure. 
 
 It need not be said that where oysters flourish in a state 
 of nature, the conditions are fully met. If one were to 
 use only such a locality for his oyster garden, a careful 
 study of the conditions governing growth would be un- 
 necessary; but the application of such a study has shown 
 that vast tracts that have never borne oysters, only lack 
 some requirement that may be supplied by the culturist. 
 In this way, the productive territory has been greatly ex- 
 tended, and is yet capable of vast expansion. 
 
 Oyster Planting 
 
 For the sake of convenience in description, the methods 
 of rearing oysters employed in America may arbitrarily 
 be separated into two groups, those that have to do with 
 oyster planting, and those employed in oyster culture. 
 
 Oyster planting, as here defined, consists in gathering 
 oysters from one locality and spreading them out in an- 
 other to grow. It is the only culture method employed 
 over a considerable part of both of our coasts. In oyster 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth loi 
 
 planting, the number of oysters is not increased, but only 
 those are used that have been produced under natural and 
 unmodified conditions. 
 
 The term oyster culture, on the other hand, may con- 
 veniently be applied to that process that increases the 
 number of oysters by artificial means, as when artificial 
 collectors are employed to capture the young that would 
 perish if nature were not thus aided. 
 
 In some cases oyster culture has become diversified, a 
 division of labor being effected, in which certain individu- 
 als devote their entire time and energy to increasing the 
 number of oysters by means of artificial collectors, while 
 others complete the process by caring for them during 
 their growth. 
 
 Usually a barren bottom is selected for planting, as the 
 laws of most states reserve the natural beds for seed. 
 When this has been cleared, and if necessary, made firm 
 by the deposition of shells or sand and gravel, small 
 seed oysters are spread evenly over its surface. These 
 are allowed to remain until they have attained a market- 
 able size, when they are gathered and sold. This method 
 is carried on extensively, and often gives large returns for 
 the money and labor invested. 
 
 Seed oysters vary greatly in size. Sometimes the al- 
 most microscopic young, newly attached to the shells of 
 adults or to pebbles, are employed. In other cases, oysters 
 two or three inches in length are planted. The usual size 
 of seed oysters is perhaps about that of a silver half- 
 dollar. 
 
 There are some evident advantages in planting large 
 seed oysters. The first is that they need to grow for a 
 relatively short time. More important still, they seldom 
 need to be disturbed until they are ready for market. 
 
102 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 When large, they usually have been culled, or separated, 
 after they have been taken from the natural bed, and con- 
 sequently grow more rapidly and assume a better shape 
 than if closely crowded. On the other hand, increase 
 in the size of large oysters is relatively slow, and the 
 amount of increase is not great. A bushel of very small 
 seed may eventually produce ten bushels or more of mar- 
 ketable oysters, while seed may sometimes be so large as to 
 yield but two or three bushels from the one planted. 
 
 The most important feature of the planting of small 
 seed is the possibility of its great increase in volume. In 
 Europe, seed oysters as small as one's finger nail are 
 carefully separated from each other when removed from 
 the collectors on which they have become attached. But 
 the price of labor in this country, when compared with 
 the market price of oysters, precludes the possibility of 
 employing such methods here. So very small oysters 
 are planted still attached to the collectors — shells or 
 gravel — and allowed to grow for some time closely 
 crowded as they are. 
 
 Usually a time comes when they should be removed 
 from the bottom and separated in order to prevent crowd- 
 ing. This is accomplished much more easily and with 
 smaller loss with oysters that have been growing for a 
 year or two than with very small seed. Planters natur- 
 ally differ greatly in their methods. Some will allow 
 small seed to do the best that it can without attention, 
 and finally dredge and sell the oysters that have been able 
 to attain marketable size. Others really cultivate the 
 beds, culling the oysters and removing useless shells, sea- 
 weed, and other obstructing material, and they receive 
 larger returns, because their oysters are of better shape 
 and size. 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 103 
 
 There has ahvays been much discussion among those 
 who are interested in oyster cuhure over the relative ad- 
 vantages of different sections of the coast, especially as 
 they concern rapidity of growth. But it is evident from 
 the statements that have here been made, that the length 
 of time during which planted oysters must be left in the 
 water to mature, depends on several factors that must 
 vary even in neighboring localities. 
 
 One might ask how long planted oysters must be al- 
 lowed to grow in Long Island Sound as compared with 
 the Gulf of Mexico, before attaining marketable size. 
 But to answer accurately would recjuire a volume of com- 
 parisons and averages. The rate of growth may be twice 
 as fast on one bed as on another a mile or two distant, 
 for it depends on the nature of local currents, tempera- 
 ture, salinity, the character of the bottom, and the num- 
 ber of oysters placed on it. The size of the seed when 
 planted would make it necessary to leave one lot six or 
 eight times as long as another. As a matter of fact, this 
 time in northern waters varies from six months to three 
 or four years. 
 
 The question of relative rapidity of growth in certain 
 specified localities is one worth determining when pos- 
 sible, and some known cases of increase, from the time 
 of the attachment of the embryo, will be mentioned in 
 another place. 
 
 After the culturist has prepared the surface of his bed, 
 he must determine the number of oysters to be planted on 
 it. If there are no other beds in the immediate vicinity 
 on which the matter has been tested, he may need to ex- 
 periment in order to determine how great a number the 
 waters will support. The greatest danger is from over- 
 crcnvding, for when numbers reach a certain limit, the 
 
104 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 food supply will not be sufficient for maximum growth. 
 In Long Island Sound the limit is from three hundred to 
 six hundred bushels for an acre of bottom. It is quite 
 possible that some waters in the South may yet be found 
 capable of supporting a greater number. 
 
 On the shore of the continent in Europe, oysters are 
 planted between tide lines. There they are spread out 
 evenly on the ground at ebb tide, or arranged by hand in 
 racks. On our shore, all planting is done below the tide 
 lines, so seed oysters must be thrown overboard from 
 boats. The planter tries to spread his seed as evenly as 
 possible. If he has a large area to cover, he temporarily 
 divides it into small plots, by stakes in shallow water, 
 and by buoys in deep, and then plants one plot at a time. 
 
 Let us suppose that he has but a few acres that are to be 
 planted from skiffs, and that he desires to spread about 
 three hundred bushels of seed oysters on an acre. If he 
 does his work carefully, he temporarily divides an acre 
 into sixteen squares that are somewhat more than fifty 
 feet on a side. Loading a skiff with eighteen or nine- 
 teen bushels of seed, he takes it to one of the small 
 squares, and, with a shovel, flirts the cargo as evenly as 
 possible over the area. A like amount, spread in the same 
 way on each of the other squares, gives him an evenly 
 seeded acre bearing about three hundred bushels. The 
 advantages of even planting are obvious, but the work is 
 not always done carefully. 
 
 Those who practise planting on a large scale, especially 
 in the deeper waters of Long Island Sound, employ steam 
 vessels for towing scows, loaded with seed, slowly back 
 and forth over an area marked by buoys, while a gang of 
 men on each scow unloads it by means of shovels. 
 
 In northern waters especially, planted areas are very 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 105 
 
 extensive, and one naturally asks where the planter ob- 
 tains his seed. When the states with oyster shores passed 
 laws allowing individuals or companies to buy or lease 
 bottoms for oyster culture, they very generally reserved 
 the natural beds for common seed grounds. Serious 
 trouble has arisen everywhere because of the difficulty in 
 formulating a satisfactory definition of a natural bed. 
 But the plan of reserving wild oysters was essentially a 
 good one, because they usually assured a set of spat. 
 Planted oysters, of course, also spawn, but it might hap- 
 pen in any locality that there would be few or none of 
 them left during the breeding season. Planters are usu- 
 ally allowed to gather small oysters from natural beds 
 for planting. These are culled and placed on new bot- 
 toms. In the North, where this has been practised for 
 many years, the natural beds in some localities have be- 
 come depleted; but in Connecticut, the greatest of seed 
 producing states, there are still six thousand acres of 
 natural beds that usually yield a large number of seed 
 oysters. 
 
 Many years ago the planters of New England and New 
 York conceived the plan of purchasing seed from the 
 South. There were many localities, especially in the 
 Chesapeake, where the set of spat was abundant and 
 rarely failed. There was then no planting done in Mary- 
 land or Virginia, and the business of transporting seed to 
 the North became, and for many years remained, a very 
 great one. To-day, however, it has quite passed. 
 
 There were two reasons for this. The people of Vir- 
 ginia finally woke to the fact that if it paid to transport 
 seed to the North for planting in the relatively unfavor- 
 able waters there, it certainly should pay to plant the seed 
 already at hand on barren bottoms in their own fertile 
 
io6 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 waters. Laws were passed giving citizens rights to pri- 
 vate holdings, and the planting industry was established. 
 The second reason for the decline of seed transportation 
 from the South was that northern oystermen learned to 
 supply their own needs, and even, finally, to produce more 
 seed at home than they required, thus allowing them to 
 export to Europe and to transport to the Pacific coast. 
 This was accomplished when certain companies and in- 
 dividuals gave up oyster planting for collecting alone. 
 As on all oyster coasts, there are several specially favored 
 localities in Long Island Sound where young oysters 
 may be collected in great numbers. Li such places avail- 
 able bottoms are utilized for obtaining the young on col- 
 lectors, and the material so gathered is sold to planters. 
 Much seed is also taken from natural beds. 
 
 This business of collecting and selling seed in northern 
 waters is sometimes remunerative, but it is precarious, be- 
 cause the set is irregular and beyond control. The total 
 number of oysters in Long Island Sound has been increas- 
 ing rapidly for many years, but there has not been a pro- 
 portionate increase in the set of young. During the sum- 
 mer and fall of 1899 there occurred a very profuse and 
 long continued set of spat. This year is still spoken of 
 as " the year of the great set." Attachment was not con- 
 fined to the vicinity of natural beds, but occurred in deep 
 water as well. The phenomenon was so general that the 
 price of seed oysters became very low. The industry as a 
 whole was greatly benefited by the condition, but dealers 
 in seed made less from it than did the planters. 
 
 No marked changes in natural conditions were ob- 
 served during the next year, but they must have ex- 
 isted, for the spawning season was a failure. Hopes for 
 the following season, also, were not realized. Up to this 
 
Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 107 
 
 time, oysters from the set of 1899, now two years old, 
 continued to be taken from the natural beds and planted. 
 It was thought that the season of 1902 would surely 
 bring relief, but no relief came, and the whole industry 
 began to suffer. 
 
 It may be imagined that shells from the natural and 
 artificial beds were anxiously examined for newly at- 
 tached oysters in the early summer of 1903, and that 
 alarm was felt when none appeared. The summer and 
 then the fall wore away, and the fourth lean year proved 
 to be the leanest of all. There was no set on the natural 
 beds. Five years previously the great Stratford and 
 Bridgeport natural bed alone had yielded more than 
 400,000 bushels of seed oysters, and on this year it did 
 not produce a bushel. The matter had become serious 
 for all northern planters, for seed from the Connecticut 
 beds had for years supported not only the planted areas 
 of the state, but also very largely those of Massachusetts, 
 Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey. In the 
 waters of these states, three years, on an average, are 
 required for the maturing of seed oysters. Those planted 
 during " the year of the great set " were now marketed, 
 and a long delay in the future was inevitable. 
 
 Again no changes in natural conditions were noticed, 
 but the season of 1904 brought a harvest of young 
 oysters that was nearly equal in volume to that of 1899. 
 This time dealers in seed received large returns for their 
 labor. Planters everywhere, not yet discouraged, bought 
 every bushel that could be produced, and the price of seed 
 rose to an unprecedentedly high level. More than a dol- 
 lar a bushel was often paid, and the average price for the 
 entire season was nearly seventy-three cents. Planters 
 were compelled to wait long for returns, but the industry 
 
io8 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 was safe once more. The set of 1905 was small and 
 much scattered, as was that also of the year following. 
 The oysters of the natural beds produced very few young. 
 In a few localities the set was good, while neighboring 
 beds were barren. 
 
 Such a sequence of events excites the interest of a 
 biologist as well as that of an oyster culturist. Though 
 oystermen have observed no marked changes in the 
 natural surroundings of the oysters that at one time pre- 
 vent and at another stimulate reproduction, such changes 
 undoubtedly occur. It is possible that a close observer 
 who should, for a long period, keep a daily record of 
 salinity and temperature, and all other conditions known 
 to effect reproduction, would be able to offer a simple and 
 satisfactory explanation of irregularities in the appear- 
 ance of young oysters ; or he might be able to discover 
 some other factor, now unknown, that causes the phenom- 
 enon. Whether, after having found the explanation, he 
 would be able to suggest a remedy for the present state 
 of affairs, is another matter; but at least it is certain that 
 the remedy will not be discovered until the cause of the 
 trouble is known. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 REARING OYSTERS FROM THE EGG 
 
 T has been suggested that the set of spat might 
 be made certain by an artificial fertihzation of 
 the eggs. It is perhaps not to be wondered 
 at that this possibiHty has for many years 
 proved very alluring, not only to oystermen, but also to 
 some biologists who have been interested in the life- 
 histories of bivalves, because of its novelty, and because it 
 would give so great control over natural processes. 
 Nearly every one who has written about oysters within 
 the last quarter of a century, has referred. to this proposed 
 method, and many have become enthusiastic over its pos- 
 sibilities. 
 
 If a score of millions of young oysters may be brought 
 into being in a tumbler of water — as they may with the 
 greatest ease — and if these, or any considerable number 
 of them, may be caused to attach and be reared to matur- 
 ity, one of the greatest obstacles to oyster culture will be 
 overcome. Truly, it is a fascinating suggestion, but to 
 the present time it has become nothing more. Because it 
 has attracted so much attention, because it still is prac- 
 tically an unsolved problem for the American oysterman, 
 and because it really is not so necessary to the industry 
 as it has been assumed to be. a few rather unusual com- 
 ments on it may not be out of place. 
 
 109 
 
no Our Food Mollusks 
 
 Previous to the year 1879, the anatomy of the Amer- 
 ican oyster had heen studied very httle, and nothing was 
 known of its breeding habits or development. A few 
 European biologists had found that the oyster of their 
 northern coast was hermaphroditic, that the eggs were 
 fertilized and developed within the body of the parent, 
 and that they were retained there for some time. It was 
 supposed that the American oyster was structurally and 
 functionally very much like its European relative. 
 
 In the year mentioned, the late Professor Brooks of 
 the Johns Hopkins University, made some observations on 
 our form that have become classic, and in their publica- 
 tion showed, among many other things, that the Amer- 
 ican oyster is unisexual, and that the eggs are fertilized 
 and develop outside the body of the female. He also dis- 
 covered that it was possible, at will, to bring about the 
 union of the sexual cells in a dish of water, and to ob- 
 serve the process of segmentation and the formation of 
 organs. He was not able, however, to devise means of 
 keeping the swimming embryos alive until they had be- 
 come attached. 
 
 In performing the experiment. Professor Brooks 
 simply opened the ovaries of a mature female with a 
 scalpel and pressed the almost microscopic eggs into a 
 dish of water. From a mature male he obtained a few 
 drops of the spermatic fluid in the same way, and mixed 
 them with the ova, the great majority of which became 
 united with male cells. 
 
 Attention was at once attracted by this experiment. 
 In the light of what had been accomplished in fish culture 
 by means of artificial impregnation, possibilities seemed 
 great in this case. Others took it up with enthusiasm. 
 Before very long what purported to be an improvement 
 
Rearing Oysters from the Egg in 
 
 on the original process was published. This designated 
 the original method as " barbarous," because crude, and 
 singularly enough, it attracted much attention from those 
 interested in oyster culture, though in reality it meant 
 nothing. 
 
 It was merely a detailed description of a method of 
 procedure by which, one might be able to press mature 
 eggs from the ovaries or the spermatic fluid from the 
 testes of oysters without actually rupturing the sides of 
 their bodies, after the manner of stripping the sexual cells 
 from the bodies of fishes. But even if artificial fertiliza- 
 tion had possessed some practical value, this added 
 nothing whatever to the method employed by Professor 
 Brooks, for unlike the fish that may not be injured in the 
 stripping process, the oyster to be treated must first be 
 opened by severing the adductor muscle and tearing off 
 one valve of the shell, and not so many eggs can be ob- 
 tained. This publication mentioned some anatomical 
 facts and referred to implements that might be employed. 
 It dealt simply with artificial fertilization, and proposed 
 no method for the care of the embryo. Its author almost 
 certainly did not regard it as a real contribution to oyster 
 culture — indeed, he stated his opinion that the artificial 
 fertilization of oyster eggs would probably never be prac- 
 tically important. Without doubt, if he had had any idea 
 of the immense amount of attention that it was destined 
 subsequently to attract, of the mistaken interpretation it 
 was to receive, and of the false hopes that it was to 
 waken, he would not have published it. But matters of 
 that sort never can be foreseen, and it was launched on 
 a very remarkable career. 
 
 Shortly afterward there appeared in a publication also 
 designed to encourage the oyster industry a further de- 
 
112 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 velopment of the operation, by another writer. It was as 
 impracticable as the one just mentioned, and perhaps even 
 more compHcated. After long-continued and patient ex- 
 periment, this investigator had met only with discour- 
 agement in his attempts to carry the swimming embryos 
 to the period of attachment, and apparently not being op- 
 timistic concerning the possibilities of artificial fertiliza- 
 tion, he also stated that he formulated this method only 
 for those who would persist in the attempt to make some- 
 thing of it. He reached one conclusion that was sound 
 when he stated that " it will at any rate do no harm to 
 liberate a few millions of embryos [obtained] in this 
 manner over a bed." 
 
 It is strange that some person living on the shore has 
 not appeared, during the last quarter of a century, with 
 curiosity enough to crush a few oysters with a stone, 
 and shake them in a bucket of water in imitation of the 
 above mentioned experiments. If he had done so, the 
 chances are that he would have succeeded as well in ob- 
 taining swimming embryos, and gotten nearly as far 
 toward a solution of the practical problem of rearing them 
 as any one has to the present. 
 
 The unfortunate thing concerning these publications is 
 that they have been read and copied and read again by 
 the really intelligent element among oystermen and others 
 who were interested, until the popular mind from New 
 England to Texas seems perfectly possessed with the 
 idea that the culture of oysters — and clams, also — from 
 artificially fertilized eggs may, with a little more experi- 
 ment, become a great achievement of science that will 
 give wonderful practical results. After twenty-five years, 
 shell-fish commission reports still refer to it hopefully. 
 The cornmissioner of one great oyster state, for example, 
 
Rearing Oysters from the Egg 113 
 
 writes in his report for 1906, of these early and 
 abandoned efforts to obtain practical results from artifi- 
 cial fertilization as if they were recent, and concludes 
 with the statement that '* Meanwhile those engaged in 
 the industry are watching these experiments with the 
 greatest interest and hopefulness." If those engaged in 
 biological work are sometimes regarded as impractical, 
 it was not so in this case. 
 
 It is true that some advance has been made beyond the 
 mere production of the swimming young. In 1881, 
 Lieutenant Winslow, U. S. N., published the statement 
 that he had found it possible to bring about the fertiliza- 
 tion of the eggs of the Portuguese oyster, in which as in 
 our own, the sexes are separate. A year later M. Bou- 
 chon-Brandeley, a Frenchman, who seems not to have 
 known of Winslow's statement, showed that he had been 
 able not only to cause the fertilization of the eggs of the 
 Portuguese oyster, but also to catch the young on col- 
 lectors. 
 
 This was a great achievement, but it depended on a 
 condition that would make it impracticable in American 
 oyster culture. M. Bouchon-Brandeley had at his dis- 
 posal a very large fish pond excavated in a marsh. The 
 water in this had a depth that varied from three to six 
 feet. Several times a week, for a period of two months, 
 artificially fertilized oyster eggs were placed in it, and a 
 set was obtained on the collectors. He proved, too, that 
 the attached young were really those that had been lib- 
 erated, and not those borne into the reservoir from out- 
 side waters. Since that time a few repetitions of the ex- 
 periment in large French claires, seem also to have been 
 successful. 
 
 This French experiment excited much interest in this 
 
114 C)ur Food Mollusks 
 
 country, and many attempts were made to repeat it here. 
 The first of these was made in 1883 by Professor John 
 A. Ryder, in a small pond on the shore of the Chesapeake. 
 The excavation was a little more than twenty feet square, 
 and about three and a half feet deep. Water from the 
 bay was led into it by a ditch. In order to exclude young 
 swimming oysters from the entering water, it was caused 
 to flow through a sand diaphragm constructed in the 
 ditch. After stakes, suspending shell collectors, had been 
 placed in the bottom, artificially fertilized oyster eggs 
 were poured into the pond from time to time. About 
 seven weeks after the beginning of the experiment, the 
 collectors were found to bear young oysters varying 
 from a fourth to three- fourths of an inch in diameter; 
 but the set appears to have been so meager as to have 
 offered no encouragement to oyster culture. In sum- 
 marizing his results. Professor Ryder concluded, " The 
 writer does not think that the rearing of oysters from 
 artificially impregnated eggs will ever be a profitable 
 business." 
 
 Similar results were obtained from ponds constructed 
 on the shores of Long Island Sound and elsewhere, but 
 none were really successful, and some were entire failures. 
 The accounts of most of the experiments are too vague 
 and imperfect to be valuable. For example, a " good 
 set " was obtained in a Long Island pond two hundred 
 and eighty feet long and one hundred feet wide, and con- 
 taining from two to six feet of water. But we do not 
 know the observer's idea of a good set. From the ac- 
 count one must assume that water was led directly into 
 the pond from the harbor near at hand, and that no at- 
 tempt was made to exclude swimming oysters from it. 
 Some years later that Jiarbor was literally paved with 
 
Rearing Oysters from the Egg 115 
 
 growing oysters from which such young might have been 
 derived, and perhaps was at that time also. 
 
 All attempts to keep young oysters alive in tanks or 
 aquaria until the time of attachment, have proved to be 
 failures, though it is claimed in one case, that a few 
 spat became attached in a tank containing somewhat more 
 than two hundred cubic feet of water. 
 
 Laboratory experiments have been made, in which 
 water was caused to flow steadily and rapidly through a 
 series of aquaria. Filters of sand and other substances 
 were provided to prevent the escape of the young oysters ; 
 but although the water was rapidly renewed, and the tem- 
 perature kept constant, they perished, many of them be- 
 coming entangled in the filter. 
 
 Thus it seems probable, from observations already 
 made, that the chances are much against the future dis- 
 covery of facts that may make it practicable in America 
 to rear oysters from artificially fertilized eggs. It has 
 been shown that the young of our oyster will become at- 
 tached in large and deep ponds so constructed as to pre- 
 vent the deposition of mud on the collectors, but most of 
 those who have conducted the experiments admit that 
 they do not solve the commercial problem involved. 
 
 The matter might appear in a different light if it had 
 been shown that the set in the reservoirs was much 
 greater than in open water. It would be interesting to 
 know, also, if a set could be obtained in a pond from 
 artificially fertilized eggs in one of those occasional 
 seasons in which it more or less completely fails on 
 outside oyster beds. But even if these were demon- 
 strated facts, they probably would be of little commercial 
 value. 
 
 Usually the natural set is sufficient. If it fails in one 
 
ii6 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 locality, a neighboring shore most often produces enough 
 seed to meet the demand. When widespread failure 
 continues for three or four years, an abundant supply of 
 seed certainly could be obtained from other parts of the 
 coast. Failure is most common in the North, but the 
 New England planters might obtain seed in an emergency 
 from the Chesapeake, the Carolina sounds, or even from 
 the Gulf, where the set is practically always good. The 
 present difficulty in this is simply that seed is not yet 
 gathered for sale in large amount on these sections of the 
 coast. All coasts do not fail at the same time. During 
 the lean years in Long Island Sound following the large 
 set of 1899, seed oysters were very numerous along the 
 shores of Pamlico Sound and elsewhere, and were left un- 
 touched. 
 
 When the oyster industry shall have become as greatly 
 developed in other sections as it now is in the North, 
 and when everywhere the gathering of seed shall have 
 become an extensive business, there will be no possibil- 
 ity, with present means of transportation, of suffering in 
 any section from the lack of it. The seed problem, when- 
 ever it arises, will, in the future, be solved in this man- 
 ner. Natural oyster seed is, and probably always will be, 
 sufficiently abundant to supply all demands. It is only 
 necessary to gather it from natural beds or on collectors 
 and distribute it cheaply, and without doubt this can and 
 will be done. 
 
 There have been many ardent expressions of the hope 
 that the time might soon arrive when long neck and little 
 neck clams shall be reared for market from artificially 
 fertilized eggs. It would be well if that hope might now 
 be completely destroyed. With these forms such a prac- 
 tice is an impossibility. The culture of clams by any 
 
Rearing Oysters from the Egg 117 
 
 method has not yet been seriously attempted, though sim- 
 ple and successful methods have been tried and proved ex- 
 perimentally. When these are put into practice on a 
 large scale, there will be seed clams for planting, and 
 without lack, but they will not have been reared from arti- 
 ficially fertilized eggs. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA 
 
 MORE or less arbitrary distinction has been 
 made between oyster planting and oyster cul- 
 ture, the latter being defined as a method by 
 means of which the number of oysters are in- 
 creased by artificial means above that produced under 
 natural conditions alone. Except in Long Island Sound 
 and in the region about the mouth of the Hudson, true 
 oyster culture is still rarely practised in this country. In 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and the Gulf states, 
 the universal opinion appears to be that while natural 
 beds continue to exist, seed should be obtained from them. 
 All these states possess extensive natural beds. In most 
 cases oysters are still taken from them directly to mar- 
 ket, and where planting is practised, they furnish the 
 seed. The idea seems to prevail, also, that the New 
 England and New York oystermen are driven to the 
 use of collectors because their natural beds are so nearly 
 destroyed. 
 
 It should not escape attention in the southern states 
 tijat there are some important advantages in the method 
 of gathering spat upon artificial collectors. The first of 
 these is that the number of oysters is increased. Such an 
 increase may not seem necessary at present in most places, 
 and the fear, sometimes expressed, that it would glut the 
 
 ii8 
 
Oyster Culture in America 119 
 
 market, is certainly without foundation; for it would 
 come gradually, and the market might easily be made 
 much more extensive than it now is. Nothing but good 
 could come to the industry from its gradual extension and 
 improvement. Again, seed gathered on collectors, while 
 somewhat more expensive, is in every way superior to 
 seed from natural beds. It is of uniform size. When 
 planted, it all comes to maturity at nearly the same time. 
 Young oysters so gathered are best able to withstand 
 changes in environment encountered when the transfer is 
 made to planting grounds in different localities. The in- 
 crease in volume, also, is much more rapid and relatively 
 much greater when the small seed from collectors is used. 
 
 On the other hand, oysters taken from natural beds 
 for planting, are of all sizes and ages. To put the seed 
 into good condition for planting, it should be separated 
 from oysters of larger growth. To grade oysters taken 
 from a natural bed according to size, requires much labor. 
 Usually all are planted together. The young must grow 
 with the old, which are often weakened by the changed 
 conditions, and grow slowly. Many of these old oysters 
 are ill-shaped, and can be very little improved. 
 
 More important still, the development of a branch of 
 oyster culture for the collection of seed, would give 
 stability to the whole industry. If the natural set should 
 fail at one point, seed might be obtained at another, and 
 probably not distant locality, where it had been collected 
 for sale. Under such conditions there would be no lean 
 seasons in the oyster territory. 
 
 Before the beginnings of oyster culture were made in 
 Europe, the method of culture employed to-day had been 
 established in our own country. From the fact that the 
 young become attached to any clean, hard, foreign body 
 
I20 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 accidentally present in the water (Figures 25 to 28), the 
 practice arose of purposely throwing objects on the bot- 
 tom to capture them. Naturally, old oyster shells ac- 
 cumulated on the shore suggested themselves as collectors, 
 and from that day to this, they have been the most gen- 
 erally used of collectors in America. 
 
 Shells are cheap, and are to be had near oyster grounds. 
 Firm bottoms are usually selected for spat collecting, but 
 the young are sometimes secured on soft ground. This 
 is possible because the shells settle with their concave or 
 inner surfaces uppermost. The edges of the shells are 
 thus held above the mud, and even when the deadly silt is 
 sufficient to kill those attached to the upper faces, others 
 continue to exist on the under side of their margins. 
 
 The great disadvantage in using the oyster shell for a 
 collector is that it is so large that a great many young 
 may attach to it, and so tough that it cannot be broken to 
 separate them. A large cluster may thus arise on a single 
 shell, the individuals of which, from crowding, die or be- 
 come elongated; and it is only after they have attained a 
 considerable size that the cluster can be broken apart 
 without great loss. But, on the whole, the oyster shell 
 has proved to be the best of available collectors on the At- 
 lantic coast. 
 
 There are some shells that are superior to it in many 
 respects. Such are the thin, brittle shells of the scallop, 
 the mussel, and the small " jingle shells " found on some 
 beaches. If these are used where currents are not strong 
 enough to bear them away, oysters that grow on them 
 will break them into bits as soon as pressure is developed 
 from crowding. In quiet waters these shells are ideal 
 collectors because of this fact that the clusters formed 
 on them will separate automatically without handling ; but 
 
Fig. 25. 
 
 Fic. 26. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Fig. 2^ 
 
 Figs. 25-27. O'ojects to which small oysters have attached. 
 
 From N. Y. Forest. Fish and Game Commission. 
 Fig. 28. An iron mast hoop from Chesapeake Bay covered by 
 
 thousands of oysters of various sizes. From Va. State Board 
 
 of Fisheries. 
 
Oyster Culture in America 121 
 
 very unfortunately they are not to be had in large quan- 
 tities. 
 
 Large parts of the Gulf oyster field possess an ad- 
 vantage over the Atlantic coast that some day may prove 
 to be very important, in its immense deposits of small 
 shells. These could hardly be improved on for the pur- 
 pose of collecting oyster spat. They are hard, but so 
 small that clustering on them would be impossible. At 
 the same time, they are heavy enough to remain unmoved 
 in a strong current. These will be described in another 
 place. 
 
 In certain parts of Long Island Sound, water-worn 
 pebbles or fragments of crushed rock are employed as 
 collectors, or " cultch." Though this material is some- 
 what more expensive than shells, its pieces are so small 
 that oysters cannot cluster on them. It cannot, how- 
 ever, be used on soft bottoms, unless enough of it is em- 
 ployed to act both as pavement and cultch. On hard 
 bottoms, from five to six hundred bushels are spread 
 over an acre — somewhat more than when shells are 
 used. 
 
 Rarely spat is collected over very soft bottoms where 
 the water is shallow. This is accomplished by driving, 
 the bases of saplings into the mud, leaving their branches 
 immersed. Now and then a heavy set is gathered on 
 them. If oysters are allowed to grow where they have 
 attached, they are likely to fall into the mud because of 
 the decay and softening of the bark. For this reason, 
 the brush is usually removed soon after attachment is 
 accomplished. 
 
 It is possible to use many other kinds of material for 
 cultch. Scraps of tin and tin cans, for example, serve 
 the purpose well when they are available, and very sue- 
 
122 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 cessful results have been obtained from them. Though 
 a great many young may attach to a can, the corrosive 
 action of the sah water soon reduces it to fragments, 
 thus freeing the oysters before they have begun to crowd 
 each other and eventually the cultch is entirely de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 It would be possible to manufacture saucer-shaped col- 
 lectors of thin sheet-steel, gypsum, cement, tar, or as- 
 phaltum, that would be successful where currents were 
 not rapid — the targets or " clay pigeons " used by trap- 
 shooters would be ideal for the purpose — but the cost, in 
 any case would be prohibitive, and it is not likely 
 that any form of cultch will be discovered or invented 
 that will take the place of the shell collector in our 
 waters. 
 
 One of the things learned early in the practice of 
 oyster culture was that collectors may be placed on the 
 bottoms onJy after the breeding season has arrived. 
 Usually it will not do to plant the shells at any conven- 
 ient season during the year to await the appearance of 
 swimming embryos. The reason for this is that they 
 soon become covered by a slime upon which the young 
 oysters are unable to attach. The material which thus 
 coats all exposed parts of the shells is composed of ma- 
 rine algae, diatoms, hydroids, or sponges. These organ- 
 isms are apparently able at all seasons to establish them- 
 selves, and their growth is rapid. It is therefore neces- 
 sary to have the collectors ready on shore, and to spread 
 them on the collecting grounds after the oysters have 
 begun to spawn. Spat then attaches before the slime 
 coat has formed. 
 
 If, during July, August, or September, the spat has 
 failed to attach on the collectors, it may be necessary to 
 
Oyster Culture in America 123 
 
 dredge all the cultch and expose it to the air so that the 
 slime organisms may decay, dry, and flake ofif the shells 
 before they are again planted. 
 
 Most of the slime organisms, however, inhabit rela- 
 tively salt water only, and collections placed in brackish 
 water may for a long tijiie remain free from this orgariic 
 coating. It thus happens that young oysters become at- 
 tached to the shells of others that may have been grow- 
 ing in brackish water for some time. This explains why 
 the clustering of oysters is more rapid where the water 
 is relatively fresh, in or near the mouths of streams, 
 than in deeper and salter water. 
 
 When a farmer has plowed his field and planted his 
 corn, he must still expend much labor on the growing 
 plants if he expects to harvest a good crop. Thistles, 
 ragweed, cockles, and other weeds spring up with the 
 corn, and if they are not plowed under and kept down 
 until the corn is high enough to shade them, much of the 
 crop becomes stunted or perishes. If planted too thickly, 
 the struggle among the corn plants would bring the same 
 results. 
 
 So it is in rearing oysters. Only labor insures a good 
 crop. This should seem reasonable, for one's experiences 
 teach him that he seldom receives benefits without work- 
 ing for them. By analogy, he should hardly expect an 
 exception in this case, but the fact is that a great many 
 who have undertaken the cultivation of oysters seem to 
 have had this very expectation. Analogy is usually a 
 poor form of argument, but it is safe in this case. 
 
 In ignorance of the methods of the thrifty Connecti- 
 cut oyster grower, many a prospective culturist on other 
 coasts has taken a few boat-loads of " coon " oyster 
 clusters from a natural reef, dumped them on a barren 
 
124 ^^r Food Mollusks 
 
 bottom, and left them to work a miracle for him. He 
 has then been ready to declare that oyster culture is a 
 delusion. Talk of that sort is not uncommon to-day in 
 some quarters, but at many points on our long shore line, 
 that type of oysterman is learning his lesson from his 
 more intelligent and more thrifty neighbors. Success in 
 oyster culture requires work. 
 
 There is one extreme variation in this work that de- 
 pends partly on the condition of the industry. The na- 
 ture of the labor required when one collects and sells seed 
 and another plants, is different from that required of 
 one who must depend entirely on his own efforts. Sta- 
 bility arises from cooperation, but the isolated oyster 
 farmer is apt to suffer many hardships. But the great- 
 est variation in the work necessary for success in oyster 
 culture arises from differences in local natural conditions. 
 It has been proved by several failures that it is impos- 
 sible to follow successfully in Pamlico Sound precisely 
 the same methods that have succeeded in Connecticut. 
 Oyster culture in Jamaica Bay is not exactly like that 
 at New Haven. In Long Island Sound the work on deep 
 beds is not like that near the shore. Culture is, of course, 
 everywhere the same in its main features, but the neces- 
 sary details, that are essential, vary with the locality, 
 and must be discovered by experiment. This fact should 
 be kept in mind, especially on the Gulf coast, when the 
 time comes for introducing all phases of oyster culture 
 there. The chief thing necessary everywhere to assure 
 success is painstaking labor. 
 
 An examination of the labors of the Long Island 
 Sound oystermen, who have carried oyster culture to 
 the highest point of perfection in this country, shows 
 them to be extensive. After the preliminary work of 
 
Oyster Culture in America 125 
 
 preparing the bottom for planting, which has already 
 been mentioned, the seed demands attention. If a 
 planter has obtained his seed from a natural oyster bed, 
 it will be more or less clustered, and these masses are 
 made up largely of decaying shells, of hydroids, sponges, 
 and other organisms. The clusters are culled, the living 
 oysters, of many sizes, being gathered together, and the 
 debris is thrown away. 
 
 When shells, or some other form of cultch, have been 
 used for collecting the young, they are sometimes left 
 without being disturbed until some of the oysters have 
 grown to marketable size. In such a case the oysters, 
 when dredged, are culled, the smaller ones being re- 
 turned to the water to complete their growth. 
 
 Usually, however, the young are all removed soon 
 after attachment and placed on other bottoms where ex- 
 perience has shown growth to be more rapid. The cul- 
 turist sometimes plants them closely, for small oysters 
 require a relatively small amount of food : but they must 
 soon be removed and spread over a greater territory. 
 The process of dredging and replanting is often re- 
 peated two or three times. 
 
 Those who carry on the most extensive business, own 
 tracts in various localities. If they have obtained a set 
 of the young near shore, these may be removed to deep- 
 water beds several miles out in the sound. If a culturist 
 owns no bottom on which a natural set is likely to occur, 
 he sometimes spreads his cultch, and on it places " breed- 
 ers " — mature oysters about to discharge the sexual cells. 
 This is — or should be — done with due regard to the 
 salinity and temperature of the water, and some time be- 
 fore the breeding season normally begins, in order that 
 the oysters may become accustomed to their new sur- 
 
126 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 roundings. From tweTity-five to fifty bushels of these 
 are usually placed on an acre. 
 
 Seed oysters having been spread on beds where they 
 may complete their growth, sometimes recjuire little at- 
 tention; but usually their safety depends on constant 
 vigilance and care. Much also depends upon the locality. 
 In the year 1882 several of the Connecticut oystermen 
 prepared beds in deep, salt water far from the shore. 
 When oysters planted on these began to be removed, it 
 was found that great numbers of starfish were present, 
 and in succeeding years they became more and more 
 numerous. This was the beginning of an affliction that 
 has continued to the present time. Starfish are terribly 
 destructive to oysters, the soft parts of which they con- 
 sume, and no really effective means of destroying them 
 has been devised. Other enemies, to be referred to later, 
 also demand the oysterman's attention, especially in salt 
 waters. 
 
 There is also work to be done on the brackish water 
 beds. Much of this arises from the spawning of the 
 oysters themselves, which are more prolific in such 
 waters. An oysterman plants young that must grow 
 three or four years before being marketed. During the 
 following July a great many embryos may appear. The 
 shells of the planted oysters may be ({uite free from 
 slime, as often happens in brackish water. The spat 
 collects on them and begins to grow. In another year or 
 two the beds are covered with clustered oysters which, if 
 allowed to remain longer, ten.d to destroy each other. 
 Survivors will be stunted, ill-shaped, and poor. The en- 
 tire contents of clustered beds must be dredged and culled, 
 and a part of it removed to other bottoms. 
 
 In the care of planted oysters there are still other con- 
 
Oyster Culture in America 127 
 
 ditions that often call for labor. Two or three varieties 
 of sea-weeds frequently appear on the bottoms, often 
 attached to the oysters themselves. In a current, these 
 are matted down so as to interfere with the feeding pro- 
 cess, and if allowed to grow, may become a serious 
 menace. Strong currents frequently drag rubbish of 
 various kinds on to the beds, and waves from heavy 
 winds may cause the bottoms to shift. Oysters in this 
 way are frequently " sanded," but even if completely 
 covered, they would continue to live for some days, so 
 they may be saved if cared for in time. All of these 
 conditions the successful culturist must heed. There 
 is nothing to be done but to dredge the entire crop, scrap- 
 ing the bottom clean. Then sea-weed and rubbish are 
 removed, and the oysters are returned. 
 
 For still another reason it is often of advantage to 
 disturb the oysters. There are bottoms on which they 
 increase in size, but fail to fatten. Indeed, on most of 
 the deep water beds, oysters do not attain so favorable 
 a condition as in fresher water. In order to improve 
 them as much as possible before marketing them, many 
 culturists remove their oysters in the spring from the 
 less favorable deep water to warmer and fresher shore 
 beds, where fattening rapidly takes place during the 
 summer. Such oysters are callel '' harbor plants," and 
 though now often in a more favorable position for strain- 
 ing the bacillus of typhoid out of the water, they are 
 plump, and are sold for a higher price than that obtained 
 for the " sound stock." 
 
 Perhaps it has appeared from these statements that 
 the oyster-culturist's year is not made up of days of idle 
 waiting for his crop to mature. He has his " slack sea- 
 son," to be sure. In some years starfish may give him 
 
128 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 little trouble. The set of spat may be so abundant as 
 to make planting operations easy and certain of success. 
 But there are always strenuous weeks of harvesting; rub- 
 bish and sea-weed may collect on the crop, or a hurri- 
 cane may descend upon it at any time; and he, like the 
 farmer, must be observant and always prepared to battle 
 against enemies and the weather if he expects to be 
 successful. Rewards are often large, but are only to 
 be had as the result of much labor. 
 
 It will be interesting to compare the labors of the 
 oyster and clam culturists — when the latter come into 
 being. The returns to the clam culturist undoubtedly 
 will be large, and the labor that he will be compelled to 
 put on his fields will be trifling as compared with that of 
 the oysterman. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USES— BOATS— 
 
 THE PREPARATION OF OYSTERS 
 
 FOR MARKET 
 
 [HE expense to the oyster culturist of provid- 
 ing himself with apphances for carrying on 
 his trade is shght as compared with that in 
 many other fields of labor. He must have 
 boats, large or small as the magnitude of his undertaking 
 demands. But besides these, there is little else that he 
 must purchase if he does not himself attempt to market 
 his crop. Oysters are removed from the bottom by 
 means of tongs and dredges, the former being used in 
 shallow and the latter in deep water. 
 
 Tongs are of the same general pattern everywhere on 
 the coast. As shown in Figure 48, tw© long wooden 
 shafts or handles are crossed like scissors blades and 
 held together with a " pin," or " pivot." The lower 
 end of each shaft bears an iron head fashioned like a 
 garden rake. Just above this is a basket-like arrange- 
 ment of small iron rods that prevents oysters from falling 
 when the two rakes are brought together. 
 
 Tonging is done from boats the length of which 
 seldom exceeds twenty-five feet. These are usually fitted 
 with a plank on either side level with the gunwale and 
 extending from stem to stern. On this the tonger stands 
 and lowers the head of the tongs to the bottom (Figures 
 
 129 
 
130 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 29 and 30). With his hands on the shafts three or four 
 feet above the water, he opens them, then pressing down- 
 ward on the bottom, brings them together again. This 
 operation is repeated several times until the weight in- 
 dicates that the rakes have gathered a full load of shells. 
 The tongs are lifted and the load is allowed to fall on 
 the culling board placed across the boat back of its 
 middle. 
 
 The sizes of tongs vary with the depth of water in 
 which they are used. The shortest have a length of 
 about twelve feet. It is obvious that a heavier load may 
 be lifted from shallow than from deep bottoms; so in 
 order to make the area of the " grab " sufficiently large 
 the heads of the short tongs are usually about thirty 
 inches wide. 
 
 To the inexperienced, ten or fifteen feet might seem to 
 be the greatest depth at which oysters could be taken by 
 this means, but as a matter of fact, they can be tonged in 
 thirty feet of water. As a rule, however, tongs are sel- 
 dom used in water more than twenty-five feet in depth, 
 and the greater number are taken at a depth of less than 
 fifteen feet. 
 
 Tongs are obviously the implements of the poorer 
 oystermen, who have not the means to purchase large 
 boats from which dredges may be used. But they are 
 also frequently used in oyster culture by those whose 
 operations are extensive; for oysters are often planted 
 in water too shallow to float dredging boats. On the 
 shallow natural beds of Chesapeake Bay, Pamlico Sound, 
 and the Gulf of Mexico, a great many men make a living 
 by the use of oyster tongs. The figures will give an idea 
 of their occupation. 
 
 When oysters are greatly scattered in shallow water, 
 
Fig. 29. A fleet of gasoline tonging boats in Hampton Roads, 
 Va. From State Board of Fisheries, Va. 
 
 4 
 
 - '.■::^!^^~^'^'-' 
 
 jM 
 
 is 
 
 fr 
 
 Fig. 30. Tongers and cullers at work on Pamlico Sound, 
 N. C. From the U. S. F. C. Report. 
 
Implements and Their Uses 131 
 
 they are sometimes secured one at a time hy hght tongs 
 having very narrow heads. These are called " nippers," 
 and can only be used w^here the water is clear and very 
 quiet. 
 
 A modification of the principle of the tongs is em- 
 ployed for use in deep water. There are many deep beds 
 in the Chesapeake and its larger tributaries that are in- 
 accessible even to dredges. Such beds may easily be 
 reached by the so-called patent tongs, invented by a 
 Maryland oysterman in 1887. Every one is familiar 
 with the mechanical principle involved in a pair of 
 ice-tongs. The iceman lifts on the handles to secure a 
 grip on the load to be lifted, and the heavier the piece 
 of ice, the tighter this grip becomes. Imagine that rake- 
 heads, with teeth pointed inward, are fastened to the 
 ends of such a pair of tongs where the calks or spurs are 
 placed, and one has all but a few details of the patent 
 oyster tongs. A rope is tied to each handle, and these 
 are fastened to a single rope a few feet above. Before 
 being lowered into the water, the tongs are locked open 
 by a simple device. This lock is disengaged when the 
 weight of the tongs rests on the bottom, and a pull on the 
 rope causes the rakes to come together. The heavier 
 the load, the tighter it is grasped. In order to scrape 
 the bottom with force, weights are attached, or the tongs 
 themselves are made of heavy material. This necessi- 
 tates the employment of a windlass. The area of the 
 bottom scraped, or the extent of the " grab " of the tongs 
 now manufactured is one square yard, and the imple- 
 ment has proved to be very useful where oysters are 
 numerous. 
 
 The dredge is much the most important implement 
 used in American oyster culture. It does its work so 
 
132 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 thoroughly and so rapidly that it sustains a never-end- 
 ing chorus of protest against its employment all along 
 the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Naturally, this is largely 
 from the tongers engaged in the laborious task of com- 
 peting with it on what seem to be very unequal terms. 
 But the dredge is also sometimes condemned by much 
 more influential and generally well-meaning persons, 
 who see in it a menace to the industry, at least where it 
 depends on natural beds. State legislatures have lis- 
 tened with attention, and the influence on them of this 
 cry against the dredge is still recorded in the oyster laws 
 of almost every coast state. 
 
 Many now living may remember the profound dis- 
 turbance in the minds of some, caused by the introduc- 
 tion of such labor-saving devices as the combined reaper 
 and binder for harvesting grain. They seemed inevita- 
 bly to involve the end for the farm laborer. To persons 
 who formerly held this view of the matter, the frantic 
 appeals for help that each year come out of Kansas when 
 the grain harvest approaches, must have a strange sound. 
 
 The oyster dredge bears much the same relation to 
 tongs that the reaper does to the old-fashioned cradle. 
 The reaper gathers the crop, but the cradle is still useful 
 on small areas, and on the edges of large fields. Oyster 
 culture can never be what it should be without the unre- 
 stricted use of the dredge. If the industry is to depend 
 on natural beds, it may be well to restrict its use, but 
 there is no part of the coast where these conditions 
 should be allowed to exist. On the northern coast, where 
 states have been so educated in the matter as to have 
 perceived the wisdom of leasing — or better still, of sell- 
 ing — oyster bottoms to culturists, there has been granted 
 with the property right, the equally sensible right to 
 
Implements and Their Uses 133 
 
 work upon the property without greater restrictions than 
 are placed on the farmer who is allowed to cut his grain 
 with a reaper. This seems like common sense and com- 
 mon justice, but there are still those who are strongly 
 prejudiced against the use of the dredge. 
 
 But the old conditions are fast passing. There was 
 too often just cause for complaint against the use of the 
 dredge when state laws set apart some natural beds for 
 the use of tongers only, and others for dredgers. But 
 now that any citizen, in most states, may lease or buy 
 bottoms in deep or shallow water, to wdiich he confines 
 his operations, and in which he is supposed to have the 
 protection of the state, he should be allowed to handle 
 his own crop as he chooses, so long as he injures the 
 property of no one else by so doing. 
 
 The implement is very simple in construction. In the 
 foreground of Figure 31, a dredge is shown lying on the 
 deck of a North Carolina dredging boat. It consists of 
 a rectangular iron frame from the corners of which 
 rods lead forward and join at a distance of about three 
 feet from the frame. The towing rope is attached at this 
 point. Fastened all around the frame is a sack con- 
 structed of iron rings which is dragged behind it. The 
 lower side of the frame that rests on the bottom, is 
 sometimes provided with teeth that turn the oysters up- 
 ward into the sack. 
 
 The size of the dredge varies greatly. The one just 
 referred to is about three feet wide, and probably weighs 
 about thirty pounds. This is near the minimum size. In 
 Chesapeake Bay such dredges are employed on boats 
 having a capacity of from three to four hundred bushels. 
 On larger boats dredges more than five feet wide are 
 used. These weigh about one hundred pounds and will 
 
134 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 hold five bushels or more. The average capacity of 
 dredges used on steam vessels by Connecticut oystermen 
 on private grounds, is ten or twelve bushels, but some 
 are of immense size, and capable of gathering thirty 
 bushels at a haul. 
 
 Almost everywhere at present, except in Long Island 
 Sound, sailboats are used for towing the dredge. There, 
 the more powerful and more reliable steam power bar 
 come into general use, and it probably will not be lorn, 
 before the example of the northern planter will be fol 
 lowed elsewhere, though the cheaper, if more primitive , 
 sail power may never be entirely abandoned. 
 
 Two masted, schooner-rigged vessels, such as is shown 
 in the illustration, have long been employed in Chesa- 
 peake Bay, in Pamlico Sound, and elsewhere. These 
 carry two dredges that are hauled by hand winches or 
 windlasses bolted to the deck back of the foremast. Op- 
 posite each windlass, three or four feet of the rail are 
 removed, and level with the deck there is placed a bar 
 or, more commonly, a roller, over which the dredge rope 
 plays. When the oyster beds are reached, dredges are 
 thrown over and dragged until it is supposed that they 
 .have been filled. 
 
 Each windlass has two long handles and is operated 
 by four men. The dredge, with its load, is hauled upon 
 the deck and emptied. From natural beds a great 
 amount of waste material is brought up with the oysters. 
 When dredging is done in the daytime, the dredge load 
 is at once culled, the oysters being stowed below the deck, 
 and the waste thrown overboard. At night, culling is 
 dispensed with until daylight. 
 
 When the bed has been crossed, the boat tacks, haul- 
 ing the dredges across once more. In this way the work 
 
Fig. 31. A North Carolina 
 dredge and hand-windlass. 
 U. S. F. C. Report. 
 
 dredging schooner, showing 
 From Dr. Caswell Grave in 
 
 Fig. ^2. Drawing a more modern dredge by steam power on 
 the New York oyster grounds. From a Report of the N. Y. 
 Forest, Fish and Game Commission. 
 
Implements and Their Uses 135 
 
 in the Chesapeake is continued day after day until a 
 load has been secured. This usually means two or three 
 weeks of dredging. The boat then puts in to market. 
 
 While the dredges used. by the oystermen of Long 
 Island Sound are of usual pattern, their operation has 
 been greatly perfected. On many of the modern steam 
 \essels as many as four of them arc handled simultane- 
 ously, and the winches, instead of being operated labor- 
 iously by hand, are controlled by steam power. By this 
 means dredges are drawn in very rapidy. They are usu- 
 ally much larger than those drawn by hand, and the 
 number of the boat's crew is greatly decreased. 
 
 Reference has been made to the tonging boat, which 
 is of much the same pattern everywhere. Every one is 
 familiar with the common schooner and sloop rigs. 
 These are found on the oyster grounds from New Eng- 
 land to Texas. The hulls of these boats of course vary 
 in size, in depth of keel, and the use of center-board, con- 
 forming to the nature of the oyster region. A brief 
 reference to an unusual and specialized form may not 
 be out of place. 
 
 At the present time in Louisiana, many schooners and 
 sloops are employed by oystermen, and under the intel- 
 ligent and progressive management now in force, the 
 more modern power boat is being added to the oyster 
 fleet. But not long ago the oyster boats were all of a 
 class seldom seen on our coasts, which, from its Medi- 
 terranean rig, was known as the " lugger." A few of 
 these boats may still be seen on the oyster grounds. 
 
 The lugger, varying from sixteen to forty feet in 
 length, is decked over fore and aft, the center being left 
 open. There is one long mast carrying a large, nearly 
 square sail that is suspended from a long yard. The 
 
136 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 lower corners of the sail are secured at the bow and 
 stern on travelers, so as to work across the deck. There 
 is no jib. In sailing close to the wind, yard and sail are 
 drawn so as to lie nearly parallel to the keel. It is said 
 that these boats are superior even to schooners and sloops 
 in beating to windward. Before the wind, yard and sail 
 are swung across the boat. They are fast sailers, and 
 may be handled quickly; but the long yard is apt to give 
 trouble in squalls, and it is said that the danger of cap- 
 sizing is great. 
 
 The most highly specialized craft employed in the 
 oyster industry, are to be found in Long Island Sound, 
 and vessels of a similar sort will doubtless eventually be 
 employed over much of the oyster territory. As early 
 as 1874, an oyster planter of Norwalk, Conn., put steam 
 power into one of his sloops for the purpose of towing 
 oyster dredges. The advantages of steam power in this 
 work would seem to be obvious. It may be used as an 
 auxiliary to sail power, the latter being employed alone 
 in weather favorable for it. It may be used on calm 
 days, and is at command at all seasons, and in every 
 sort of weather. Its power may be made as great as 
 desired, and is easily controlled. Steam may be used not 
 only for propelling the boat, but also for drawing in 
 the dredges. But the expense of installing boilers and 
 engines is relatively great, and this, with operating ex- 
 penses, may have convinced oystermen at this time that 
 steam would not be profitable. At any rate, when Cap- 
 tain Decker began to convert his sloop into an oyster 
 steamer, he was ridiculed by all the oystermen in the 
 region, and the failure of his experiment was predicted 
 with the utmost confidence. 
 
 But, contrary to all expectations, its success was im- 
 
Fic. 33. Steam dredging vessel on Long Island 
 From a Report of the R. T. Shell-fish Commission. 
 
 Fk;. ;i4, Mi-ani dredging vessel nwiied at Xew Haven. From 
 a Report of the R. I. Shell-hsh Commission. 
 
 Fk;. 35. Xew York steam dredging vessel towing the 
 dredges. From a Report of the I-orest, Fish and Game 
 Commission. 
 
Implements and Their Uses 137 
 
 mediate and complete. Captain Decker owned about 
 sixty acres of bottom in deep water that he had been un- 
 able to use, largely because he could not keep it free 
 from starfish. With his new boat, that proved to be able 
 to operate large dredges rapidly, he thoroughly cleaned 
 his ground, and after oysters were placed on it, was able 
 to handle them easily and to keep down the numbers of 
 their foes. The result of this first attempt to use steam 
 power on an oyster boat in America was a tenfold in- 
 crease of the boat's capacity for dredging oysters with- 
 out great increase in operating expenses. 
 
 When this fact was realized, as it was immediately, 
 a great cry was raised by all the oystermen along the 
 shore against the employment of steam in the oyster in- 
 dustry. The state legislature became convinced that 
 something should be done to reassure these conserva- 
 tive petitioners, so it prohibited the use of steam power 
 on the natural beds, and that prohibition remains to-day 
 in Connecticut. 
 
 But a revolution in American oyster culture had been 
 inaugurated, and has resulted in an enormous increase 
 in the number of oysters produced, and in the reclama- 
 tion of much of the deeper area of Long Island Sound. 
 Steamers to be used in oyster culture at once began to 
 appear in Connecticut and New York, and have steadily 
 increased in number, size, and efficiency ever since. 
 
 The little converted sloop " Early Bird " measured 
 but seven tons. In 1880 there were six steam oyster 
 vessels in Connecticut, one of them measuring thirty 
 tons, net. Five years later the number had increased to 
 forty-eight vessels, averaging twenty-seven tons — but 
 three tons less than the greatest in 1880. By 1887 there 
 were fifty-seven oyster steamers in the Connecticut field, 
 
138 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 but for some years following, the increase was very slow. 
 
 By this time there were probably as many steam ves- 
 sels as the condition of the industry in Connecticut de- 
 manded, and they increased in number slowly as it grew. 
 Growth has been steady, and each season sees a few 
 steamers added to the fleet. In 1903 there were about 
 one hundred of them; in 1906 one hundred and fourteen, 
 and that rate of increase may be maintained for some 
 time. 
 
 The average displacement of the steamers employed 
 by the oyster culturists to-day is nearly thirty tons, net. 
 Several of them recently built have a displacement of 
 more than a hundred and forty tons, or nearly ten times 
 the average size. The tendency seems to be toward the 
 construction of larger and more powerful vessels. 
 
 It should be stated that there is still much work on 
 the oyster field that can be done by schooners, sloops, 
 and small boats, and that there has also been a steady 
 increase in their number. 
 
 This demonstration of the utility of steam in northern 
 waters should be of great value to culturists in those 
 fields where steam vessels are not yet in use. So much 
 of the success of northern oyster culture has depended on 
 the development of these boats that it is of prime im- 
 portance that their construction and the nature of their 
 work should be studied by, and generally known to, the 
 culturists in the Chesapeake, the Carolina sounds, and in 
 the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, publications on the 
 subject are few and meager. 
 
 The great superiority of steam-driven vessels may be 
 indicated by a brief statement of what one of them is 
 actually able to accomplish. This vessel is of seventy-three 
 tons displacement. It has a length of eighty-three feet, 
 
Implements and Their Uses 139 
 
 a beam of twenty feet, and a deptli of six feet. It car- 
 ries a crew of eight men. Its original cost was sixteen 
 thousand dollars, and a hundred dollars a month pur- 
 chases fuel, water, and oil. 
 
 The carrying capacity of the vessel is twenty-five hun- 
 dred bushels of oysters, and it is able to dredge eighteen 
 hundred bushels a day from beds under thirty-five feet 
 of water. In order to equal a single day's catch by this 
 vessel, it is stated that it would be necessary for the sail- 
 ing vessel of average size employed by the oystermen in 
 Long Island Sound, carrying a crew of three men, to 
 dredge the same bottoms for nearly izvo and a half 
 months. 
 
 The fearful tortures to which the crews of many 
 dredging vessels in the Chesapeake have in the past been 
 subjected by their masters, form an interesting subject 
 that will be referred to later. To these cruelties have 
 been added the sufferings caused by exposure to winter 
 weather. Under the most humane treatment, the lot of 
 the crew of a dredger with exposed decks is a hard one. 
 In the North especially, where winters are so severe, the 
 limit of human endurance is required of the crew of an 
 open boat. In contrast, life on a modern steam dredger 
 is pleasant. It is housed over so as to afford almost 
 complete protection to the crew, no matter what the 
 weather may be. The four dredges are hauled by steam 
 winches, and powerful propelling engines make frequent 
 visits to port a certainty. 
 
 One extremely important advantage possessed by the 
 steam dredger that should not be overlooked, is that its 
 owner is able at all times during the winter to deliver 
 his oysters when he has promised to do so. If he is to 
 dredge them from deep water and in the middle of the 
 
140 ■ Our Food Mollusks 
 
 sound, neither ice nor storm can prevent him. The 
 work is done so rapidly that dates may be set for the de- 
 livery of large quantities. Market demands may be met 
 at once. On the other hand, the market is not glutted, 
 as is the case when several sailing vessels, that have been 
 weeks in obtaining a cargo, happen to reach port to- 
 gether. 
 
 The recent increase in the number of gasoline boats 
 everywhere on the coast is one of the most remarkable 
 phenomena that the shore has witnessed in many de- 
 cades. Naturally, these boats have become very useful 
 in the oyster industry. But fuel for the new motors, 
 whether gasoline or alcohol, will be too expensive for 
 large boats, and steam will have no rival here. 
 
 In many instances, the preliminary work of prepar- 
 ing oysters for market, begins when they are dredged. 
 In the Chesapeake, for example, where dredging for 
 market until the present time has been done only on nat- 
 ural beds, state law requires the culling of oysters on tlie 
 beds in order that empty shells and young oysters may be 
 returned to the bottoms. This culling makes handling 
 more easy and rapid for the dealers who receive the 
 cargo. In other localities, culling of the material taken 
 from private beds may, for various reasons, be done on 
 shore. 
 
 Oysters are usually very muddy when taken from the 
 bottom, and must be cleaned. On the steam dredgers the 
 greater part of the mud is removed before the dredge 
 load has reached the deck. The older winches or wind- 
 lasses were provided with what is called a positive clutch 
 — the same device that is employed on well windlasses 
 to prevent them from turning back and lowering the 
 bucket. Now what is called a friction clutch is em- 
 
Fici. 36. A powerful ice-breaking steamer owned at Xew 
 Haven. Conn. This vessel is capable of dredging 1.200 
 bushels of oysters an hour in water forty feet deep. From 
 a Report of the Conn. Shell-fish Commission. 
 
 Fig. 2)7- ^ lie largest of the northern oyster fleet. This ves- 
 sel, drawing six huge dredges, has a capacity of 8,500 
 bushels of ovsters a dav in fortv feet of water. 
 
Implements and Their Uses 141 
 
 ployed. It may be only partially released and acts as a 
 brake to stop the descent of the dredge. A load of 
 oysters is drawn up close to the surface of the water, 
 then suddenly dropped, checked, and raised again, this 
 being repeated until the mud is washed out. 
 
 On reaching the shore, the culled oysters are sorted 
 into the various grades that are required by the whole- 
 sale trade. 
 
 Before being marketed, oysters are almost invariably 
 placed for a time in fresh water. The danger to the 
 consumer resulting from this process, as it is usually 
 carried on, is great because the fresh water is so often 
 contaminated with sewage. Even if it were clean, the 
 procedure is not defensible, for its chief object is to 
 bloat the oysters so that they will fill a larger measure. 
 For freshening, they are placed in flat scows or floats and 
 towed into a stream, or are unloaded from the dredg- 
 ing boat into tank-like inclosures, where they may be 
 covered for a short time with fresh water. 
 
 On the Atlantic coast, the shell trade, as it is called, 
 has for many years centered in New York City, most 
 of the oysters sent out from Baltimore and Norfolk be- 
 ing " shucked." The marketing of oysters in the shell 
 has assumed great proportions. Formerly inland cities 
 and towns were satisfied with oysters shipped in tin cans. 
 Later the container more often employed was a wooden 
 pail. But finally, in city restaurants and hotels it be- 
 came customary to eat oysters from the half-shell, and 
 to-day there is a large demand for them in that form. 
 
 For the most part, however, oysters are still marketed 
 removed from the shell. It is not often possible to ob- 
 tain anything but shucked oysters in smaller towns and 
 villages. It should not be imagined that such oysters are 
 
142 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 necessarily inferior to the " shell stock," even when they 
 are to be eaten raw. It is probable that the tissues of 
 an oyster live longer within the shell, though shell stock, 
 also, usually is subjected to the fresh water treatment 
 before being marketed, and it would be a difficult matter 
 to distinguish a difference in the flavor of oysters on the 
 half-shell and those that have been shucked. 
 
 Popular requirements in articles of food are usually 
 arbitrary and without reason. Appearance often seems 
 to be more important than quality or taste. There is a 
 demand for pure rich butter, but few would care to 
 eat it, for pure, rich butter is not bright yellow. Oranges 
 and plums are desired only when they are bright colored 
 and large, which too often means that they are sour and 
 tasteless. Rice must be polished by removing its most 
 nutritious outer parts. Oysters must be bloated and must 
 have their natural salt removed in order readily to be 
 salable. The same is true of a long list of food-stuffs. 
 
 If one were to write a dissertation on the sense of 
 taste, he would have ample room for reflection on the 
 causes and significance of diseased tastes, such as those 
 that are trained to an enjoyment of some fancy foreign 
 cheeses, of partridges and grouse in a state that might 
 be naturally pleasing to a buzzard, or of oysters so cop- 
 pery that one possessing a taste in its naturally innocent 
 state would fear poisoning by them. One curious char- 
 acteristic of persons who possess such tastes is that they 
 sometimes believe themselves to be able to appreciate the 
 most subtle and delicate flavors. Possibly that may be 
 true, but carefully conducted experiments on such sub- 
 jects might prove interesting. Even consumers of oys- 
 ters on the half-shell, possessing normal and unperverted 
 tastes, would probably, with few exceptions, declare 
 
Implements and Their Uses 143 
 
 them to be of much l)ettcr flavor than shucked oysters. 
 It is always interesting to hear comments on the fine 
 flavor of the oysters, when canned " New York Counts " 
 or oysters of a similar brand are served on shells saved 
 for the purpose. It is just as interesting to blindfold an 
 expert in matters of taste, who then possesses the ad- 
 vantage of knowing that he is being tested, and to serve 
 him with oysters fresh from the shell, and shucked oys- 
 ters, in either case the best that the market affords, but 
 both of the same size, in order that his discriminating 
 taste may try to distinguish one from the other. 
 
 It cannot be successfully maintained that all oysters 
 are alike in flavor when all come fresh and unspoiled from 
 the water, or even when all are more or less spoiled by 
 the fresh-water treatment. There certainly are very 
 positive differences in the flavor of oysters from different 
 localities. But probably an unprejudiced observer whose 
 sense of taste is normally acute would be slow to admit 
 after a trial, that a peculiar and particularly delectable 
 flavor characterizes the oysters of every bay, cove and 
 river-mouth, as is locally claimed for each of them all 
 along the shore. 
 
 Observations of this sort may be of little value to one 
 who is fond of oysters and believes that those that he is 
 able to purchase are a little superior in flavor to any 
 others ; indeed it would be a loss to him to be convinced 
 that he had been mistaken. But on the other hand, there 
 are persons who believe that they are being given a little 
 the worst of everything, and if such may possibly be 
 cheered by following the line of experiment suggested, 
 it will not have been proposed in vain. 
 
 Returning to the marketing of oysters; it may be 
 said that the greater number are opened where they are 
 
144 ^^^ Food Mollusks 
 
 landed, and hurried to all parts of the country in a fresh 
 condition. In former years there was little organization 
 in the preparation and distribution of raw oysters, and 
 because they soon became spoiled, they were not shipped 
 far from the shore. 
 
 Any one who has attempted to open a living oyster, 
 appreciates the task of the professional shucker. The 
 thin edge of the shell often cuts like a knife. Even 
 leather gloves afford slight protection, being cut to shreds 
 in a short time. The most successful covering for the 
 hand that holds the oyster in shucking, is a thick woolen 
 mitten. In spite of every protection, the shucker's hands 
 are always covered with cuts. 
 
 When a living oyster is handled, its adductor muscle 
 draws the valves of the shell together with such force 
 that prying them apart is impossible. More than that, 
 the valves fit together so nicely that there is no space 
 into which a knife blade may be inserted. The only 
 thing to be done is to break off the edges of the shell 
 enough to allow a blade to enter, and it is so ex- 
 tremely tough that a blow from a hammer is required 
 to accomplish it. The oyster is then held with the flat 
 valve uppermost. A quick side cut severs the muscle 
 from the upper valve, which is thrown off. Another 
 cut frees the " meat " from the deep lower valve, from 
 which it is thrown into a receptacle of some kind. The 
 knife used possesses a blade that is rounded at the tip, 
 and cuts on both edges, but is not kept sharp. The handle 
 is of wood or iron. The swiftness and dexterity devel- 
 oped by an expert shucker are little less than marvelous, 
 but the work is always hard and disagreeable. 
 
 The " meats " are washed, measured, and quickly 
 packed for shipping. At Baltimore and some other 
 
Implements and Their Uses 145 
 
 centers, they are often placed in tin cans and henncti- 
 cally sealed. These are packed in a wooden box in two 
 rows, leaving a space between for ice. Though the tin 
 can has gradually fallen into disuse during the last few 
 years, it is in some ways the best container yet devised 
 for fresh, shucked oysters. But the more usual method 
 in the North, as well as at Baltimore and Norfolk, now is 
 to use barrels, half-barrels, or pails of wood. Pieces of 
 ice are put in with the oysters, a practice that fortunately 
 is being abandoned — and before the pure food laws went 
 into effect, it is possible a pinch of boric or salicylic acid, 
 also — and a cover fitted tightly and securely over them. 
 Other containers, such as pint and quart bottles with 
 pasteboard stoppers, and double receptacles with a space 
 between for ice, are beginning to be used. 
 
 Even without additional refrigeration, these raw oys- 
 ters will remain fresh for ten days or two weeks in the 
 winter. They are transported by special oyster trains or 
 by express, and all the central states, even west of the 
 Mississippi, receive them in good condition. Baltimore 
 controls a large part of the inland territory, New Haven 
 and other Long Island Sound cities naturally supply the 
 denser population of New England. Many raw oysters 
 from Chesapeake Bay are also sent North. Several fancy 
 brands of northern oysters' in the shell, on the other 
 hand, find a large market in Baltimore, Washington, and 
 other southern cities. 
 
 The packing industry has long been established at Mo- 
 bile, and is growing steadily and rapidly at New Orleans. 
 There is a great territory in the South to be supplied from 
 these centers, but they are also shipping oysters as far 
 north as Chicago, and as far west as the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. Without doubt New Orleans will in a few years 
 
146 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 become one of the great oyster shipping centers of the 
 country, for the oyster territory about the delta of the 
 Mississippi is extensive and possesses great natural ad- 
 vantages, and oyster culture has begun there in earnest, 
 and under most intelligent control. 
 
 Before means of rapid transit existed, oysters were 
 steamed at a temperature far above the boiling point, in 
 order to kill the micro-organisms of putrefaction, and 
 then canned. Many packing houses, especially in the 
 South, still prepare oysters in this way. The virtue — if 
 the word may be allowed in this case — of this method 
 is simply that oysters so canned may stand on the shelves 
 of the country grocery store for several years without 
 becoming worse than when they were received. They do 
 not, however, commend themselves to any one who has 
 eaten raw or freshly cooked oysters. 
 
 Attempts have been made to market oysters pickled in 
 spiced vinegar, but with little success. Oysters carefully 
 fried in crumbs have also been marketed in sealed tins, 
 but for some reason, little demand was created for them. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE AMERICAN 
 OYSTER 
 
 HAT may be called the balance of nature — 
 the interdependence of organisms on each 
 other — as it appears in a multitude of forms, 
 is one of the most striking and interesting of 
 the phenomena that the naturalist observes. These vital 
 relations among living things are frequently complex, in- 
 volving many different species of both animals and plants. 
 They are not fixed, but even without man's influence, 
 are subject to many changes. 
 
 One of the conclusions derived from the study of the 
 interrelations of organisms is that every animal and 
 every plant has enemies that may injure or destroy it. 
 These enemies are not of a single species, but many. 
 Wild rabbits, for example, in order to exist must escape 
 from foxes, wild members of the cat family, minks, 
 weasles, hawks, snakes, and many other vertebrates ; and 
 in addition to these they must contend against a host of 
 insect and worm parasites. The list does not end here, 
 but includes many deadly bacterial and perhaps proto- 
 zoan parasites. While this may seem to be an extreme 
 case, one may be perfectly certain that even the eagle and 
 the lion, that we are accustomed to think of as fearing no 
 foe, are subject to attack by many deadly enemies. 
 Animals and plants in nature have, through the action 
 
 147 
 
148 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 of natural selection, developed many means of protec- 
 tion, some of them very extraordinary, so that a balance 
 is established that allows a species to survive. But when 
 man makes his appearance, and domesticates wild plants 
 or animals, these equilibriums are disturbed, and com- 
 plicated results follow. 
 
 While these conditions might be illustrated by scores 
 of interesting examples, that might be selected from the 
 observations of naturalists, it is sufficient to call atten- 
 tion to the fact that the agriculturist is constantly waging 
 a war on numerous enemies that attack every animal or 
 plant that he attempts to rear, and that would destroy 
 them without his intervention. Not only is this true, 
 but often when one foe is conquered, an entirely new 
 one appears. It is an ever changing and never ending 
 warfare. 
 
 Naturally, the oyster culturist does not escape the ne- 
 cessity of fighting oyster enemies, and there are many of 
 them. Fortunately, natural surroundings are not greatly 
 changed by the methods of the culturist, but even the 
 slight changes that are necessary, have facilitated the 
 attacks of some enemies, and led to their rapid increase. 
 Natural oysters in dense clusters are more or less pro- 
 tected from the attacks of starfish, drumfish, boring 
 mollusks, and other foes, but when spread out singly on 
 smooth bottoms, are easily destroyed. Fortunately the 
 distribution of no oyster enemy is as extensive as that 
 of the oyster itself. Some of these foes exist only in 
 salt water, while others seem to be limited in their dis- 
 tribution by temperature. 
 
 In the most northern of the Atlantic grounds, the 
 common starfish is by far the most destructive of the 
 oyster's foes. Fortunately it is a truly marine animal, 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 149 
 
 and is killed quickly when immersed in fresh water. It 
 is not abundant in sea-water that is only slightly fresh- 
 ened. On the other hand, the oyster is naturally a 
 brackish water form. The natural ranges of the two 
 forms, then, are not the same, but overlap. It thus hap- 
 pens that almost the whole of Chesapeake Bay and the 
 shore of the Gulf of Mexico, while salt enough for 
 oysters, are too fresh for starfish, and in these regions 
 this curse of the northern industry is practically un- 
 known. 
 
 It was not until about 1882 that it was recognized as 
 a serious menace to the northern industry. The reason 
 for this w^as not the sudden appearance of the form at 
 that time, but simply that the industry had previously 
 been confined to comparatively fresh waters near the 
 mouths of rivers, or streams, where the creature found 
 difficulty in perpetuating itself. It is usually on the 
 outer beds only that oystermen have great trouble with 
 the pest. 
 
 The starfish or " five-finger " certainly does not reveal 
 its real character by its appearance, for among the shore 
 animals, few are seemingly more harmless. Its body 
 is made up of a central circular disk, a little more than an 
 inch in diameter in the species inhabiting Long Island 
 Sound and neighboring waters. From this there radiate 
 symmetrically five arms or rays, each five or six inches 
 long in a large specimen. The wall of the entire body 
 is composed chiefly of short rod-like plates of lime joined 
 together at their ends by muscles, and in such a way as 
 to form a network. Borne on these plates of the skele- 
 ton, and projecting outward over the entire surface, are 
 a great many short, blunt, spines. 
 
 The mouth is situated on the under surface in the 
 
150 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 center of the disk. Radiating from this on the under 
 side of each arm, and extending to its tip, are grooves 
 from which project a great number of fleshy tubes, each 
 provided with a disk-hke sucker at its end. These are 
 the tube feet, and are used in locomotion. 
 
 One woukl hardly imagine, after examining a dried 
 specimen, with its hard, unyielding body, that it might 
 
 < ''it' 
 
 %" " » « ^'■^ 
 
 ^^i"^,^ 
 
 
 
 = -= . A A 
 
 
 V 
 
 5-^ 
 
 
 Fig. 38. — Common Starfish of the North Atlantic Coast. 
 
 be capable of much bending in any part. But the living 
 animal is able to bend these arms upward, downward and 
 sideways, to an extreme degree, by the contraction of 
 muscles connecting the plates of the skeleton. 
 
 The animal creeps on the bottom with great delibera- 
 tion. Six inches in a minute is fair speed for a large 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 151 
 
 individual. Its locomotion is accomplished by thrusting 
 out a number of the sucker feet in a definite direction 
 and attaching them by their ends. The feet may be ex- 
 tended an inch or more. After attachment these con- 
 tract, other feet that have been tenaciously holding to 
 the bottom at the same time detaching, and the body is 
 slowly pulled along. Thus, many feet, acting independ- 
 ently, reach out in the direction of locomotion, attach, 
 and then exert a pull by contracting, while all the time 
 other feet that have already contracted loose their hold 
 and then reach out again. Slow as these movements 
 are, they result in migrations of considerable extent, 
 that often surprise and trouble the oyster culturist. 
 
 One other anatomical feature is of interest in this con- 
 nection. Nearly the entire interior of the central disk 
 of the body is occupied by the stomach, while the arms, 
 or rays, are nearly filled by great glands that secrete a 
 large quantity of digestive fluid. The starfish feeds 
 principally on barnacles and bivalve mollusks. The 
 mouth, merely an opening unprovided with teeth, and 
 capable of expanding to a diameter of little more than 
 half an inch, even in large specimens, is not intended 
 to receive the bodies of animals preyed on. Sometimes 
 however, very small mollusks are taken into the stomach, 
 shell and all, but probably not often. Without teeth or 
 other organs for breaking the shell, and with a small 
 mouth — merely an opening through a muscular mem- 
 brane — how is it possible for a starfish to devour an 
 oyster as large as itself? 
 
 Various opinions have been expressed on the matter. 
 It has been supposed that the starfish reaches the soft 
 parts of the oyster by inserting some part of its hard 
 body between the valves so as to keep them wedged open. 
 
1^2 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 It has also been stated that they break off the edges of the 
 oyster's shell so as to make an opening to the interior. 
 A mere examination of the body of the starfish would 
 show this to be impossible. Tliey have been thought to 
 kill their prey by some poison, and even to dissolve the 
 shell by some acid. 
 
 The whole performance of disposing of the oyster 
 may be witnessed in an aquarium, and appears to be as 
 follows. Slowly creeping on to its victim, the starfish 
 wraps its rays about it, at the same time taking up such 
 a position that its mouth is nearly opposite the shell 
 edges. The oyster responds even to this cautious and 
 gentle caress by contracting its adductor muscle and clos- 
 ing its shell. The contraction of the muscle may be 
 made so powerful that if one should attempt to pry the 
 valves apart, the tough shell might break without caus- 
 ing the muscle to yield. 
 
 The starfish cannot match such a sudden demonstra- 
 tion of muscular strength. It simply camps on the trail 
 in oriental fashion. If it cannot win now, it may later, 
 and it invariably wins. Scores of its feet are attached to 
 each valve of the shell. Apparently they contract so as 
 to exert a gentle pull in opposite directions, and against 
 the oyster's powerful muscle, which in time becomes 
 fatigued. Eventually it yields altogether, incapable of 
 further effort, and the valves of the shell gape open. It 
 is possible that the sucker feet have each in turn en- 
 joyed periods of rest during this siege. At any rate, 
 their gentle insistence conquers in the end. 
 
 The shell valve will not open far, and the digestible 
 part of the mollusk's body is still some distance away — 
 but not out of reach. It is a physical impossibility for 
 the captor to get the great mass of food into its 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 153 
 
 stomach, so to overcome the (hfficnhy, nature has made 
 it possible for the stomach to go to the food. The 
 greater part of this sack-hke organ is made of a very dis- 
 tensible wall. This now begins to roll out of the mouth 
 and between the valves of the oyster's shell in the form 
 of a great thin sheet. It is spread over the soft tissues 
 of the victim's body, the great digestive glands connected 
 with the stomach cavity, pour out their secretion through 
 tlie tubular passage remaining in the center of the sheet, 
 and the food is rendered fluid and absorbed without be- 
 ing disturbed from its position within the shell. When 
 the meal is finished, the muscular part of the stomach is 
 slowly contracted and rolled back through the mouth 
 into the body. 
 
 The starfish would not be so great a menace to the 
 oyster industry if its appetite were not so nearly insati- 
 able. It may live for months practically without food, 
 but having the opportunity, it will creep from one 
 bivalve to another — whether oyster, clam or mussel — 
 without observing a between-meal period, and thus be- 
 comes extremely destructive. A small star has been ob- 
 served to devour more than fifty clams somewhat smaller 
 than itself in six days, and increased in size at a very 
 rapid rate. 
 
 It may be interesting to notice that this gluttonous 
 habit, certainly one of the most remarkable observed 
 among animals, begins in infancy, even at a time when 
 the arms are as yet mere rudimentary lobes on the sijdes 
 of the minute central disk. Figure 57 represents such a 
 precocious infant engaged in the destruction of a baby 
 clam. That this is beginning a life of ravin early, may 
 be indicated by the fact that the bodies of the two ani- 
 mals together measured less than two millimeters across. 
 
154 ^^^ Food Mollusks • 
 
 At this age the shell of the clam was quite transparent, , 
 and the protruded stomach of its infant destroyer was 
 observed spread out within it. Newly attached oysters, 
 also, as well as those of larger growth, are destroyed in 
 the same manner by starfish of various sizes. They are 
 never too small to escape. 
 
 Professor A. D. Mead has demonstrated the fact, in- 
 teresting both from a biological and economic stand- 
 point, that the growth of small starfish is proportionate 
 to the amount of food that they consume. Beginning an 
 experiment with two starfish of the same age, and with 
 bodies about the size of a pinhead, if one is starved, 
 it may still be living at the end of a month, but of course 
 will not have grown. The other, if well fed, will, in the 
 same length of time, have become large enough to cover 
 a silver dollar. It was formerly supposed that starfish 
 became sexually mature only after a period of six or 
 seven years. It is now known that they reproduce on 
 attaining a certain size, and size, as indicated above, de- 
 pends directly on the amount of food. The result is 
 that a female starfish may, if large enough, begin to ex- 
 trude eggs during its second summer, and many by that 
 time attain the required size. 
 
 Oyster culture would be quite impossible over a large 
 part of the northern field if starfish were left to them- 
 selves, yet to keep down their numbers is a very dififi- 
 cult task. When not excessively numerous in shallow 
 water, the culturist sometimes takes up the larger in- 
 dividuals one at a time on a spear. 
 
 The real damage is done when starfish move together 
 in great numbers, as they often do. Traveling but a 
 short distance each day, a great army of them may creep 
 over a bed, utterly destroying it. In deep water their 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 155 
 
 presence may not be discovered until the damage is done. 
 It is thus necessary for the culturist to exercise eternal 
 vigilance. The number of these enemies that must be 
 dealt with in certain localities may be imagined when it is 
 stated that one oyster planter in six years removed from 
 his deep water beds ten thousand bushels of them. 
 
 There is considerable variation in their number, due to 
 changes in environment. It sometimes happens that a 
 
 "Buniy'- ii|(iiiiii«»\' ''Ctii"!"""'''.!)!;. "■"■■■"I" " ''/«'""™w ""' 
 
 Fig. 39. — Tangle of frayed rope or 
 pieces of cotton waste used in col- 
 lecting starfish on oyster beds. 
 Drawn from a figure published by 
 the U. S. Fish Commission. 
 
 year or even more may pass without the appearance of 
 great numbers. At another time they become very 
 abundant. 
 
 The removal of these pests has always been a very 
 
156 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 difficult matter, and no entirely satisfactory method has 
 been devised for accomplishing it. Several devices have 
 been tried and abandoned. Two chief means of dealing 
 with them have been employed. In one case everything 
 lying on the bottom is removed by dredges. Ordinarily 
 this is too expensive, unless oysters thus dredged are in 
 need of culling. The second method is one recom- 
 mended by the United States Fish Commission, and is 
 universally employed; indeed, the oyster industry could 
 hardly exist in New England without it. 
 
 Naturalists had for many years used a large mop made 
 of frayed rope ends for entangling and raising spiny 
 animals from the sea bottom. It was a modification of 
 this that the Fish Commission naturalists recommended 
 to the Connecticut oystermen. The starfish tangle, as 
 shown in the accompanying illustration (Figure 39), 
 consists of an iron or wooden bar from which depend 
 several chains or wires. On the latter, mops of frayed 
 rope or cotton waste are hung. The tangle is dragged 
 over the bottom, the spines of the starfish catch on the 
 mops, and the load is hoisted to the deck of the vessel 
 and plunged into a tank of hot water. 
 
 The tangle does not sweep the bottom clean of star- 
 fish, but by its use their number is kept within bounds. 
 There is no danger that the pest may ever get beyond 
 control. There is great occasion for the southern planter 
 to be thankful that he knows nothing of such an oyster 
 foe. 
 
 There are several species of snails that are destructive 
 to bivalves. Among these the large winkles or conchs 
 of northern shores do very little damage; but some of 
 the smaller forms, particularly the oyster drill, cause 
 large losses here and there along the Atlantic coast. 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 157 
 
 The shell of the oyster drill, represented in Fissure 40, 
 has a length of an inch or somewhat more. When the 
 fleshy parts of the body are extended one may observe 
 the flat muscular " foot," and projecting forward above 
 it, a proboscis-like extension of the head, on the end of 
 which is the mouth. Just within the mouth 
 opening, in a position corresponding to that 
 of the tongue of higher animals, is developed 
 a band of minute, hard, sharp teeth, which 
 together constitute what is known as the 
 lingual ribbon. 
 
 When at work on the shell of an oyster 
 or clam, the foot may be seen to adhere 
 firmly to it, while the mouth is everted suf- ^^^- 4o— The 
 ficiently to expose the ribbon. This is (Urosalpinx 
 pressed against the shell, and a slow, rotary cinirea). 
 movement is begun that finally results in the Drawn from 
 drilling of a clean, smooth hole directly 
 through it. Some of the results of this work are shown 
 in Figure 64. It is now only necessary for the drill to 
 remove the soft parts of the victim's body by means of 
 the proboscis or manubrium, which is thrust through the 
 aperture. 
 
 The drill, or Urosalpinx, is most destructive to young 
 oysters. It seems to be unable to bore through the shell 
 of large individuals. While not nearly so destructive as 
 the starfish, it does much damage, because it is continu- 
 ally at work, and is so small that it falls through the 
 mesh of ordinary oyster dredges. In order to prevent 
 this, dredges are sometimes covered with fine-meshed 
 nets. 
 
 Like starfish, oyster drills were formerly not numer- 
 ous on the New England oyster beds, but in recent years 
 
158 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 have increased greatly. In New York Bay and in the 
 Chesapeake, they are abundant. Many also are found 
 in Pamlico Sound. In the Gulf of Mexico they are ab- 
 sent, but it is claimed by oystermen in Louisiana that a 
 larger drill, Purpura floridana, is sometimes very de- 
 structive. There seems to be much doubt concerning the 
 accuracy of this statement. 
 
 Another enemy of the oyster having a wide range, and 
 often being destructive, is a member of a group of fishes 
 
 Fig. 41. — The Drumtish (Pogonias chromis). Outline of a 
 figure in Dr. Jordan's " Fishes." 
 
 popularly known as croakers. This species, Pogonias 
 chromis (Figure 41), is called the drumfish, from a 
 deep, croaking noise that it makes while in the water, a 
 noise probably connected with the large air bladder. 
 
 The drum is a food fish, though its flesh is coarse, 
 and sometimes it attains a weight of nearly one hundred 
 and fifty pounds. It is found all along the Atlantic 
 coast, and is abundant in the Gulf of Mexico. It gives 
 comparatively little trouble in New England waters, but 
 farther south, especially in the Gulf, it is often very an- 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 159 
 
 noying. It is a bottom feeder, and by means of its 
 powerful jaws is able to crush oysters of considerable 
 size. The interesting statement is made by oystermen 
 that the drum is unable seriously to injure clustered 
 oysters on natural reefs because, in attacking a cluster, 
 its mouth is soon lacerated by the sharp edges of the 
 shells. It is only when oysters are culled and scattered 
 singly on prepared bottoms that they become easy vic- 
 tims of this enemy. 
 
 Drumfishes are perhaps not more numerous in Louisi- 
 ana waters than elsewhere in the Gulf, but because 
 oyster culture has only been seriously attempted here, 
 their depredations have been specially felt in this state. 
 Their attacks are not constant, and it has been observed 
 that there is greatest danger to the beds immediately 
 after planting, and that if no attack is made during the 
 first few days, there is little subsequent danger of it. It 
 has been suggested in explanation of this fact that after 
 oysters have sunk slightly into the mud and have been 
 sprinkled over with sediment, they become inconspicuous 
 enough to escape observation by the fish. 
 
 There seems to be but one means of protection against 
 these fishes, and that is to build a stockade or fence about 
 the beds that they cannot pass through. This is done in 
 some parts of the Louisiana field. 
 
 Other fishes sometimes make trouble for the oyster 
 farmer. In warmer waters, from the Chesapeake south- 
 ward, a valuable food fish, the sheepshead, often feeds 
 on young oysters, crushing them by means of its large, 
 blunt, incisor-like teeth. 
 
 Rays and skates abound all along the coast. They are 
 bottom feeders and their bodies are greatly flattened and 
 spread out laterally. Several of these destroy oysters. 
 
i6o 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 crushing them with strong jaws that are covered with 
 short, hard teeth. The Hst of oyster enemies in this 
 group of fishes includes the common skate ; the sting ray, 
 or " stingaree," as it is usually called on the shore, a 
 form that bears a long, dagger-like spine on the base of 
 the tail; and it is supposed, also, the "devil ray," an 
 
 enormous creature having 
 a width of eighteen or 
 twenty feet, and weigh- 
 ing, in some cases, as 
 much as twelve hundred 
 pounds. The latter, how- 
 ever, has been reported as 
 an oyster enemy only 
 from Port Eades, Louisi- 
 ana, where it is known as 
 the " stone cracker " — 
 though there is probably 
 not a stone large enough 
 to crack within a hundred 
 miles of Port Eades. 
 
 Oystermen believe that 
 crabs destroy young oys- 
 ters, and this is probably 
 true in some cases. The 
 pinch of the claws of 
 many crabs is powerful 
 enough to break the shell 
 of small oysters. It is observed that they gather in 
 crowds where oysters are being planted, apparently at- 
 tracted by broken individuals. It is possible that they 
 also attack the uninjured young, though accurate ob- 
 servations on this point seem to be wanting. 
 
 FiGu 42. — The sting-ray (Dasyatis 
 sabina). Outline of a figure in 
 Dr. Jordan's " Fishes." 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster i6i 
 
 Mr. Ingersoll calls our attention to the fact that " Al- 
 drovandus and others of the naturalists of the Middle 
 Ages entertained a singular notion relative to the crab 
 and the oyster. They state that the crab, in order to 
 obtain the animal of the oyster, without danger to their 
 own claws, watch their opportunity when the shell is 
 open, to advance without noise, and cast a pebble between 
 their shells, to prevent their closing, and then extract the 
 ani-mal in safety. ' What craft,' exclaims the credulous 
 author, ' in animals that are destitute of reason and 
 voice.' " 
 
 Every one who eats oysters has observed the small 
 oyster crab that lives in the mantle chamber. Only the 
 female is found within the oyster's shell, and the male 
 has rarely been seen. This small creature is not an 
 enemy, but simply a guest. It has been suggested that 
 she consumes organic particles brought in by the water 
 currents ; but it may be that the masses of mucous secre- 
 tion that collect in the mantle chamber constitute " the 
 chief of her diet." This, however, is proposed without 
 actual observation to support it. 
 
 Members of the mussel family — near allies of the 
 oyster — while they do not prey on their cousins, often 
 smother or starve them. They frequently become fear- 
 ful pests to the oyster culturist, especially in southern 
 waters. Their young, finding a suitable lodging-place 
 on oyster shells, congregate on them in numbers, at- 
 taching by the many tough fibers spun by the byssus 
 gland. They may become so numerous as completely to 
 cover the oysters and prevent the opening of their shells, 
 which, of course, means death. Even if this does not 
 occur, they strain out of the water the same organisms 
 that the oysters must have for food, and the latter fail 
 
1 62 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 to grow. Figure 43 well illustrates this condition of 
 affairs. At the right, appear the gaping shell edges of 
 an unfortunate that has succumbed to the extreme neigh- 
 borliness of mussels and barnacles. It may easily be 
 imagined after one has by experience measured the force 
 necessary to tear the muscles away from their attach- 
 ment, what a great task of culling is before the oyster 
 culturist whose beds have become infested with these 
 bivalves. 
 
 The boring sponge is another animal that finds lodg- 
 ment on the oyster shell, and injures its host indirectly. 
 Cliona sulphurea is a sponge mass sometimes six inches 
 in diameter at its base, attaching by strands of root-like 
 tissue that excavate channels within the substance of 
 the shell. While this is not done with the purpose of 
 using any part of the oyster's body for food, the honey- 
 combed shell may accidentally be perforated, making it 
 necessary for the oyster to consume all of its energies in 
 secreting new shell substance, or the shell may break, ex- 
 posing the inner body, which leads to death. Cliona oc- 
 curs frequently enough in northern waters, in the Chesa- 
 peake, in the Carolinas, and in the Gulf, to be recognized 
 as a foe to the oysters. 
 
 In a similar manner the shell of the oyster is per- 
 forated and weakened by the boring clam (Martesia 
 cuneiformis) in the Gulf of Mexico. This creature in 
 infancy bores into the shell and excavates a chamber 
 which is used as a dwelling place. A few of these ani- 
 mals infesting a shell make it as fragile as when bored by 
 the sponge Cliona. 
 
 In brackish and salt water alike, there are almost 
 everywhere certain sea-weeds that attach to objects in 
 the water, such as stones or shells, and produce great 
 
Fig. 43. Oyster clustei covered with mussels. 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^r'' L^^^r^'^SSuff^ffi^^^^^l 
 
 ■■ 
 
 
 Bj^P 1^9 
 
 H /''"^i^^j^ii^^^^^B 
 
 ^tm- m 
 
 H - '^^^p^^P^^n 
 
 ^^^nrJ 
 
 ^:i|L^^^B 
 
 ^Hi 
 
 ^^^^' 'ipUfesMHHlHM 
 
 ^^^^1 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^k >'^- ''^^LS^^^^^^^^^^B 
 
 mM 
 
 Fig. 44. The nature of the crowding in oyster chisters. iMg- 
 ures from Dr. H. F. Moore. Document, V. S. Bureau of 
 Fisheries. 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 163 
 
 masses of vegetation. Sometimes oyster shells become 
 covered by such weeds as the sea lettuce (Ulva), spread- 
 ing out great sheets of tissue that are held flat on the 
 bottom in tide currents. 
 
 These plants are not parasitic, but may interfere with 
 oyster growth by preventing the access of food-bearing 
 currents. When oysters so covered are dredged, it is 
 necessary to strip the weed off, and in the Gulf, certain 
 weeds with cylindrical fibers are brittle enough to break 
 into small pieces, and these, getting into the " meats " 
 during the shucking process, though harmless, make 
 them quite unsalable. From this cause beds are some- 
 times temporarily abandoned. 
 
 In the brackish waters in which oysters thrive best, the 
 shells rarely become covered with a growth of hydroids. 
 These animals with their root-like bases, their branching 
 bodies, and beautifully colored spreading zooids, greatly 
 resemble gardens of miniature flowering plants; but 
 they have no beauties for the oysterman. Feeding on 
 minute swimming animals, and merely resting on the 
 shells, they do not harm the oysters, but it is difficult to 
 clean the shells of them, and both on " shell stock " and 
 oysters for shucking they are a nuisance. 
 
 Like other animals, oysters seem to be subject to cer- 
 tain diseases, one of which, at any rate, is known. In 
 the Chesapeake, and probably all waters to the south, 
 there sometimes appears in the pulpy visceral mass, a 
 swarm of small worm parasites. These seem not to be 
 known to oystermen, who may, however, have noticed 
 the very poor condition of certain individuals that are 
 really diseased. It was left to a biologist to show that 
 disease existed. 
 
 The presence of the parasite Bucephalus prevents the 
 
164 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 formation of the oyster's sexual products, so that in the 
 breeding season, its body appears thin and watery, and 
 observations have shown- that under adverse conditions, 
 such as long-continued freshness of water, that is a severe 
 test of vitality, the mortality on infected beds is much 
 greater than elsewhere. This organism seems not to exist 
 in northern waters, where ineffectual search has been 
 made for it. 
 
 It is possible that future study may reveal other organ- 
 isms causing disease in oysters, but extensive epidemics 
 apparently do not occur among them. Any such parasitic 
 forms, causing diseases in the oyster, would probably al- 
 ways be quite harmless if taken into the human digestive 
 tract. The germs of typhoid, that may be carried by the 
 oyster, of course do not harm it. Distantly related or- 
 ganisms do not have the same diseases. 
 
 The list here given is a fairly complete catalog of the 
 oyster's enemies, and when it is considered that very few 
 of them exist in the same region, it would seem that the 
 oyster crop was nowhere menaced by destructive agencies 
 more than is the farmer's wheat or corn. On the whole, 
 it may be doubted if the menace is anywhere so great. 
 
 Yet any one who has a wide acquaintance with the 
 human inhabitants of the shore, has known some who 
 illustrate the fact that those who live on the bounty of 
 nature without other effort than that needed to gather 
 what she has prepared, are apt to be improvident and un- 
 successful. A great many oystermen complain that 
 their business is a poor one — and it is. But those who 
 have gone to the sea with the energy requisite to suc- 
 cess anywhere, and with the intelligence necessary to as- 
 sist and direct nature, have found her, like wisdom itself, 
 *' easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits." 
 
Enemies of the American Oyster 165 
 
 In spite of enemies and bad seasons, many an energetic 
 oysterman, beginning with small capital, has built up a 
 comfortable fortune. There is a constantly growing de- 
 mand for this form of food, and there are hundreds of 
 miles of fertile bottoms, now barren, where, with com- 
 paratively little labor, it may be produced, and other 
 fortunes will be made on them. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 BIVALVES IN RELATION TO DISEASE 
 
 ECENTLY great popular interest has been 
 awakened in regard to shell-fish, and par- 
 ticularly oysters, as carriers of the micro- 
 organisms that cause certain human diseases. 
 The daily press, and especially popular magazines, have 
 published numerous articles that might well have proved 
 to be disquieting, on the dangerous conditions existing 
 on oyster beds or in waters in which oysters are stored 
 or freshened. On the other hand, some claiming to be 
 competent authorities, have publicly stated with much 
 positiveness that oysters cannot transmit diseases, and it 
 may well puzzle the average reader to know where the 
 truth lies. Because oysters are so highly prized, and are 
 so generally consumed uncooked, the matter of the pos- 
 sible danger that may lie in them has excited a growing 
 desire to know the facts. 
 
 Newspaper and magazine science should be received 
 with caution and discrimination, but it now happens very 
 much more frequently than formerly that popular 
 scientific articles are prepared with due regard to matters 
 of fact, and are sometimes presented by eminent author- 
 ities. Though much that has been written on the possi- 
 bility of the contamination of oysters and clams may 
 have had the appearance of exaggeration, the truth has 
 usually been stated. One human disease at least, greatly 
 
 1 66 
 
Bivalves in Relation to Disease 167 
 
 feared on account of its insidious and dangerous nature, 
 is without doubt sometimes communicated to man by 
 oysters, and certainly may frequently be so transmitted 
 both by this form and by other shell-fish that are eaten 
 uncooked. 
 
 Typhoid fever, known and dreaded nearly everywhere, 
 is caused by a rod-like bacterium or bacillus that enters 
 the body through the digestive tract. Several sources of 
 infection are very well understood. The most common 
 is drinking water, and many epidemics of the disease 
 have been traced to it in ways that do not admit of doubt. 
 Milk, also, is often the medium by which it is introduced, 
 but here the real sources have been proved to be the per- 
 son handling the receptacles for it or, more often, the 
 water in which cans or bottles have been washed. The 
 recent epidemics of army camps also have shown that the 
 organisms may be introduced into the digestive tract on 
 solid food. In such cases flies that have gathered in- 
 fected material on their appendages alight on food ready 
 to be eaten, and leave some of it there. It is probable 
 that the bacillus of typhoid passes through the digestive 
 tract of the fly without being injured, and if allowed to 
 do so, the fly deposits its digestive tract discharges on 
 food. Within a considerable distance of a typhoid fever 
 patient — or convalescent for that matter — these 
 creatures, formerly regarded merely as pests, become 
 deadly enemies. It may also be stated as a fact that 
 epidemics are sometimes caused by eating uncooked 
 oysters. Several times they have been traced directly 
 to that source. The evidence collected on that point in 
 this country and abroad is conclusive, and a biological 
 study of the habits of this and other bivalves clearly in- 
 dicates the way in which the transmission is accomplished. 
 
i68 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 It is just as certain that clams and mussels taken from 
 polluted waters may as readily bear the organisms of 
 typhoid, but except the *' little neck," these are not so 
 often eaten uncooked, and for this reason the fever is 
 not so frequently contracted through their agency. 
 
 One of the important facts concerning the disease is 
 that vast numbers of typhoid bacilli leave the body of 
 the patient in the digestive tract discharges and in the 
 urine, and more important still, that a convalescent from 
 the disease is as dangerous to others as a patient, if not 
 more so, for the organisms continue to appear in the dis- 
 charges from his body for many months after recovery. 
 With this knowledge of the nature of the disease, and 
 the organism causing it, its extermination seemed pos- 
 sible, and the statement was made and often repeated 
 that for every new case of typhoid there should be a 
 hanging. But recently discovered facts indicate that 
 certain persons at least, after having suffered from the 
 disease, may continue for many years, and perhaps for 
 life, 'to pass typhoid bacilli from the body, and that this 
 may be true even when the disease occurred in so light 
 or obscure a form that its true nature was not recog- 
 nized. 
 
 While there is much criminal carelessness in the mat- 
 ter, especially where there is a convenient sewage system, 
 the discharges from the bodies of patients are some- 
 times disinfected before being disposed of, as of course 
 they always should be, but this is probably never true of 
 convalescents, and typhoid carriers are a constant menace 
 wherever they may go. The result is that the sewage 
 from almost any city constantly contains some of these 
 organisms which remain alive in it for a long time. 
 Even when sewage is treated in disposal plants, or^an- 
 
Bivalves in Relation to Disease 169 
 
 isms from the human body may sometimes be found in 
 the water that runs away from them to our rivers and 
 harbors and bays, in very many of wliich, along the 
 coast, are oyster and clam beds. It is altogether prob- 
 able that other intestinal diseases may also be dissem- 
 inated by shell-fish taken from polluted waters, but not 
 so much is known of this as of typhoid fever. 
 
 It is explained in the chapter on the feeding habits of 
 shell-fish that large quantities of water are constantly 
 being drawn within the shell and into the interior of the 
 basket-like gills. Even the minutest of solid particles 
 borne by this stream are stopped on the outer surfaces of 
 these organs and caused to adhere in masses by the pres- 
 ence of a sticky mucus. The organisms of diseases, 
 though very minute, are not small enough to escape. 
 Several gallons of water every day pass through the gills 
 of every full grown oyster or clam, and every solid 
 particle is removed from it and remains in the body. 
 
 This collected material is then passed on to the mouth, 
 and once in the digestive tract of the bivalve, the organ- 
 isms dangerous to man probably are eventually killed by 
 the digestive fluids. But because the collecting process 
 never ceases, at least when the creatures are continually 
 submerged as are oysters and little necks, they may be 
 present on the gill surfaces at all times. The shell sur- 
 faces also afford lodging places for them, and to handle 
 them is not safe. The organisms probably are not at all 
 injured by the gill secretions, and, carried into the human 
 digestive tract when a raw oyster or little neck is eaten, 
 will multiply and cause the disease. It is thus plain that 
 even if relatively few in the water, the chances are that a 
 dangerous number of- disease organisms will be strained 
 out of it by these shell-fish. 
 
lyo Our Food Mollusks 
 
 It may not be pleasant to contemplate these facts, but 
 that there is here a real menace to health is not any 
 longer to be questioned, and the more generally it is un- 
 derstood the better. Between twenty-five and thirty 
 millions of bushels of oysters alone are annually sent to 
 market from our shore beds, and it may seem strange 
 that, under the conditions, any considerable number of 
 the inhabitants of this country escape some terrible dis- 
 ease contracted from eating shell-fish. While typhoid 
 fever, often very difficult to diagnose, is more prevalent 
 than is generally realized, there is no necessity for alarm 
 but only for caution in this case. The reason that there 
 is not more danger from bivalves is that, while they are 
 wonderfully efficient mechanisms for straining danger- 
 ous organisms out of the water, such organisms prob- 
 ably do not accumulate in living masses by multiplication 
 in their bodies, but are perhaps soon destroyed by the 
 digestive fluids. Only those that happen to be on the 
 gills or other surfaces of the body at the time of market- 
 ing are dangerous. Again, long neck clams, quahaugs, 
 scallops, and even oysters, are usually cooked before being 
 eaten, and any dangerous organisms that they may bear 
 are thus killed. A healthy human body, also, is able 
 to withstand many an invasion of them without danger 
 if they are not too numerous. 
 
 But caution certainly is necessary, and it is well to 
 know something of the source of this food when pos- 
 sible. There is slight danger from little necks or other 
 clams not taken in the mouths of harbors or rivers bear- 
 ing sewage. The same is undoubtedly true of oysters 
 taken from the majority of beds along our coast. But 
 the trouble lies in the fact that before food mollusks are 
 marketed they are almost invariably placed for a few 
 
Bivalves in Relation to Disease 171 
 
 hours in fresh water to undergo what the oystermen 
 term the drinking process. Oysters sold in the shell as 
 well as those that have been shucked are usually sub- 
 jected to the fresh water treatment. To make delays 
 and the cost of transportation as slight as possible, the 
 localities selected for this are almost without exception 
 in harbors or river mouths near large markets. In very 
 many cases such waters bear the sewage of cities of hun- 
 dreds of thousands of inhabitants. 
 
 It should be recognized that this source of danger to 
 the public health could easily be removed. A strong 
 popular sentiment against the process of freshening 
 oysters might lead to its voluntary discontinuance by 
 dealers, or to legislative prohibition, and the enforce- 
 ment of laws against the practice would largely do away 
 with the danger. The end might perhaps be attained if 
 intelligent health officers were empowered to forbid the 
 sale of such as are taken from, or stored in, contam- 
 inated waters. The State Board of Health of Massa- 
 chusetts is the first to prevent the sale of shell-fish from 
 certain dangerous bottoms. 
 
 It is a curious fact that many persons who may be will- 
 ing to accept the truth of statements on the nature of in- 
 fectious diseases and their transmission, yet regard the 
 dissemination of such knowledge almost with resent- 
 ment, apparently because it is disturbing to peace of 
 mind, and may have a tendency to interfere with careless 
 habits. Who has not heard remarks of this nature: — 
 " Our fathers lived in comparative safety, but science has 
 surrounded us with deadly germs. We are afraid of 
 the crystal water from the old oaken bucket, and drink 
 what comes through the mains with protesting fears. 
 We are worried because we do not know the source of 
 
172 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 our lettuce and celery. Flies and mosquitoes that we can- 
 not escape have become more deadly than serpents. We 
 cannot keep the dust from our houses, and are assured 
 that germs lurk in it. The church, the theater, the cars 
 are germ-laden, and we are not able to draw a comfort- 
 able breath. Away with such nonsense ! We must live, 
 and the germ theorists are trying to make existence im- 
 possible." 
 
 But there is little advantage in trying to hide from the 
 fact that recognized dangers to health and life are more 
 numerous than they were in former times. The cheer- 
 ful thing about it is that such knowledge has revealed 
 so many avenues of escape from them that were before 
 unknown. Some dangers of course remain to be faced, 
 but fear of them is ordinarily unwarrantable, and famili- 
 arity with them should not breed fear any more than con- 
 tempt, but only caution which, when it is habitually prac- 
 tised, ceases even to make one uncomfortable. It might 
 be supposed that even a dissection of the body of an 
 oyster would result in a loss of appetite for it as an 
 article of food, but expert testimony may easily be had 
 to the effect that this is not true; and knowledge of the 
 fact that some oysters carry typhoid bacilli does not alter 
 the flavor of un freshened salt water individuals that one 
 is reasonably certain have come to his table directly from 
 deep waters far from shore. 
 
 While every one must take some risks in eating and 
 drinking, there is little excuse for foolhardiness, and 
 precaution usually costs little. So far as oysters are con- 
 cerned, the reasonable person will even be willing to do 
 what he can to assure himself of the source from which 
 they come, and will require a statement from the packer 
 who supplies his retail dealer concerning the position of 
 
Bivalves in Relation to Disease 173 
 
 his oyster beds and the directness with which oysters 
 are transferred from them to the shipping containers. 
 If this is not possible, he will not eat his oysters un- 
 cooked. He will also examine the containers employed 
 by his retail dealer, and ask to see those in which the 
 oysters were shipped, especially when they are shucked. 
 One fact concerning oysters that are to be eaten un- 
 cooked cannot be too strongly expressed. It is that, as 
 the preparation of oysters for market is now usually 
 carried on, it is never safe to eat those that have been 
 freshened or bloated. Those coming directly from salt 
 water beds far removed from shore are likely to be safe 
 if ordinary care has been taken in washing and icing 
 them. Some dealers are already beginning to take great 
 precautions against the possible infection of the oysters 
 that they handle, and a little discrimination on the part 
 of the consumer would soon add to their number. The 
 matter of safety rests largely with him. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE NORTHERN OYSTER FIELD- 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 OR the sake of convenience, the oyster coast 
 may arbitrarily be divided into several fields. 
 \\'hat may be called the northern field in- 
 cludes the shores of New England, New 
 York, and New Jersey. The second includes the Ches- 
 apeake, the third the Carolina and south Atlantic shores, 
 the fourth the Gulf of Mexico, and the fifth the Pacific 
 coast. A brief account of the history of the industry 
 and natural conditions peculiar to each of these fields will 
 be given. 
 
 Cape Cod is an interesting part of our Atlantic coast 
 to the biologist, because it tends to separate two faunas 
 and floras. The warm gulf stream, turning northward 
 through Florida Strait, follows the shore closely until it 
 reaches this cape, and is then deflected away from the 
 shore. From the north, the cold arctic current descends 
 along the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland, a por- 
 tion of it continuing southward closely hugging the Nova 
 Scotia and Maine coasts, and finally ending in Massa- 
 chusetts Bay on the north side of Cape Cod. Because 
 of the resulting differences in temperature, many marine 
 animals and plants are found on one side of the cape, 
 that are not able to exist on the other. There are, how- 
 
 174 
 
The Northern Oyster Field 175 
 
 ever, many forms that inhabit the cold and warm waters 
 alike, and among them are the oyster and the soft 
 clam. 
 
 At the present time the " wild " oyster is practically ex- 
 tinct north of the cape, a circumstance that might lead one 
 to believe that these icy northern waters are not congenial 
 to it, and there is much foundation for such a belief. 
 Its growth and reproduction are much more rapid in 
 warmer waters, but are not impossible in some of the 
 sheltered bays even of Maine. A cjuarter of a century 
 ago a few scattered oysters, the descendants of native an- 
 cestors, were known to exist a few miles up from the 
 mouth of the Piscataqua River in New Hampshire, and 
 it is possible that some of them still remain. It is also 
 true that the oyster has existed and may be found even 
 to-day farther north than the extent of our coast. In 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence lies Prince Edward Island, and 
 between it and the shore to the south is the shallow 
 Northumberland Strait. At the mouths of many of the 
 small rivers entering this, both on the mainland and on 
 the island, are oyster beds of considerable size. 
 
 This fact alone would suggest that at one time natural 
 oyster beds connected this isolated northern region with 
 those south of Massachusetts Bay, and many interesting 
 facts, especially those collected by Mr. Ernest Ingersoll, 
 substantiate that theory. It is perfectly certain that for 
 a long time before the first Europeans visited this con- 
 tinent, oysters flourished at a few points on the north 
 New England coast, and that they were still abundant 
 at the time of the arrival of the early colonists. 
 
 Our knowledge of the matter comes largely from 
 numerous mounds of oyster shells that dot the shore. 
 Such ancient collections, found in many parts of the 
 
176 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 world, and especially on sea shores, have always ex- 
 cited great interest, and have told many tales of 
 ancient peoples, as well as of the inhabitants of the 
 sea. 
 
 The Danish Kjokkenmoddings, or " heaps of kitchen 
 refuse," among the first to be studied, were formerly 
 supposed to have been accumulated by wave action, and 
 some have suggested that our own " kitchen middens " 
 were also merely beach deposits thrown up in great 
 storms or by the action of ice. But the critical eye 
 would at once see that in the majority of cases their 
 form and position alone preclude the possibility of such 
 an origin, and examination has revealed among the 
 shells and rubbish not only the bones of many beasts and 
 birds, but also stone implements, pottery, and even the 
 charred remains of ancient fires. 
 
 Such shell heaps are found all along the Pacific coast, 
 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Florida keys on 
 the Atlantic, and nearly everywhere on the Gulf of 
 Mexico. Many of them are of immense size. In Flor- 
 ida, there are vast repositories, the accumulations of 
 ages. On the Chesapeake, single heaps often cover 
 many acres, in some places to a depth of twenty feet. 
 In the northern oyster field, there is a great kitchen mid- 
 den at the mouth of the Damariscotta River in Maine, 
 the contents of which are estimated at eight million cubic 
 feet. It, like other shell heaps, contains many relics of 
 the native peoples who formed it, and without doubt 
 marks the gathering-place of Indian tribes, many of 
 which probably came from a distance to attend great 
 feasts. 
 
 So numerous are these shell collections along the 
 Maine coast that even the summer visitor, cruising in his 
 
The Northern Oyster Field 177 
 
 small boat among its rocky islands, that rise straight up 
 from the water, or in its innumerable bays, with their 
 steep, wooded shores, may easily discover them for him- 
 self, if he will explore the backs of the little beaches 
 that he comes upon here and there. The same is true 
 of the coast of Nova Scotia. The shells that he finds, 
 often covered by a growth of large trees above them on 
 the bank, are usually those of the soft clam ; but there 
 are also many heaps all along the coast made almost en- 
 tirely of oyster shells. The immense pile on the Dama- 
 riscotta, for example, is composed largely of them. This 
 proves that the oyster is indigenous to these cold north- 
 ern waters. The shells are not those of a northern or 
 of an extinct species, but of our modern American 
 oyster. 
 
 In addition to the evidence afforded by shell heaps, 
 the records of the early colonists contain many refer- 
 ences to extensive oyster beds on this northern shore 
 that they found on their arrival, and from which, for 
 many years, they obtained food. Ingersoll says that 
 there is abundant evidence that, at the time of the com- 
 ing of Europeans, oysters were flourishing in the Bay of 
 Fundy, at Mt. Desert Island, at the mouths of Georges, 
 Damariscotta, and Sheepscott rivers, in Maine; in Ports- 
 mouth Harbor and the Great Bay of Durham River, in 
 New Hampshire; in the Parker, Rowley, Ipswich, 
 Charles, and Mystic rivers, and at Weymouth, Barn- 
 stable, and Wellfleet, in Massachusetts. 
 
 That oysters in a natural state do not now exist north 
 of Cape Cod as formerly, is due to two chief causes. 
 Their numbers were greatly reduced by excessive tong- 
 ing, and silt, washed from cultivated fields, was de- 
 posited at the river mouths, thus making it impossible 
 
178 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 for the oyster young to exist as in the earher time, when 
 the waters were clear. 
 
 The early settlers also found oysters in great abun- 
 dance all along the shore southward from Cape Cod. 
 Natural beds were present in many parts of Buzzards 
 and Narragansett bays, and almost everywhere on the 
 Connecticut coast. Just across the sound on the western 
 half of the Long Island shore, they were equally numer- 
 ous. The bays on the sea side of Long Island also 
 contained many oysters. All about Manhattan Island 
 they were very abundant, occurring on both sides of 
 East River and the Hudson, extending up the latter as 
 far as Ossining. The waters about Staten Island bore 
 a rich harvest. In New Jersey, Barnegat Bay, the long, 
 river-like body of water that parallels the shore line, 
 afforded suitable conditions for oyster growth, as did 
 the much larger Delaware Bay, south of it. 
 
 The early colonists on the northern shore established 
 themselves near the coast. It was natural that they 
 should for some time depend largely on the sea for their 
 food. Agriculture on a scale proportionate to their 
 needs had to be developed in the face of great difficulties. 
 On the other hand, the waters contained fishes in in- 
 credible numbers, beaches and flats were crowded with 
 clams, and almost every shallow bay and river mouth 
 supported extensive oyster colonies. These could be ob- 
 tained at all times of the year. Even in New England, 
 with its terrible winters, clams were dug from the 
 beaches, and oysteis were sometimes taken through the 
 ice. 
 
 . But finally oysters became so scarce in Massachusetts 
 Bay that before the end of the seventeenth century laws 
 were passed taxing those exported, and prohibiting 
 
The Northern Oyster Field 179 
 
 oyster longing by outsiders. These measures, however, 
 were insufficient, and natural oyster beds soon disap- 
 peared entirely. They persisted longest^ at Wellfleet, 
 near the end of the cape, but their destruction came, 
 even here, from excessive fishing about the year 
 
 1775- 
 
 The natural oyster growth on the shores of Con- 
 necticut, Long Island, and Manhattan Island, was so 
 extensive that it was long before there was any anxiety 
 about its depletion. From the time the country was 
 first settled, however, there was a steady decline, and 
 early in the nineteenth century it began to attract at- 
 tention. 
 
 Meanwhile it had been observed that any hard, smooth 
 body thrown into the water near oyster beds in the early 
 summer became covered with young oysters. The pos- 
 sibilities of human control over natural processes 
 wrapped up in such a simple phenomenon, \vould escape 
 the attention of the great majority of men. To see the 
 possibilities there presented, required imagination — and 
 imagination under intellectual control, such as has ad- 
 vanced science at all times. And a few East River 
 oystermen proved themselves to be real scientists, when, 
 on this simple natural phenomenon, they built up a 
 method of artificial oyster culture that brought material 
 well-being not only to themselves, but to a great number 
 of their countrymen as well. It should not be forgotten, 
 as has been pointed out by Professor Brooks, that before 
 the people of France, England, Belgium, or Germany 
 discovered a method of controlling and vastly improving 
 the natural production by the sea of a great source of 
 human food, these men had found it, and had put it into 
 practice. 
 
i8o Our Food Mollusks 
 
 In the year 1855 ^ ^^^ East River oystermen began 
 to spread clean shells on some of the unproductive bot- 
 toms near City Island. This was done under the pro- 
 tection of a very wise law, passed in the same year, that 
 gave them the right to occupy and control certain definite 
 tracts on the river bottom. Multitudes of young oysters 
 settled on these shells, and were transplanted and cared 
 for until they had become large enough to be marketed. 
 In this way there arose a method of controlling the 
 natural production of the water that is similar to that 
 practised on the land. 
 
 We cannot depend on a natural, undomesticated 
 growth of land plants or animals for food. In nature 
 one generation usually gives rise only to an equal number 
 of descendants that reach maturity. But grains and 
 fruits placed on waste places, in soil that has been pre- 
 pared for them, are made to reproduce many fold, and 
 swine, sheep, and cattle that, under natural conditions, 
 could not long maintain numbers great enough to be of 
 use to man, with protection from him, appear on a 
 thousand hills. And American oyster culture, though 
 simple, affords the essential element of protection from 
 destructive natural agencies that has covered desert 
 places with plenty. Compared with the achievements of 
 agriculture those of the early sea farmers seem simple; 
 but it should not escape attention that it had always been 
 the common belief that the organisms of the sea were un- 
 tameable. It required bold thinking, unfettered by the 
 prejudice of generations, to conceive of the possibility of 
 adding such a realm to man's dominion. 
 
 Connecticut and other northern states with waters 
 suitable for oyster growth, followed New York in enact- 
 ing laws fostering the new industry. By their protection 
 
The Northern Oyster Field i8i 
 
 there was built up an artificial source of supply while 
 that of nature was being destroyed. It must not be sup- 
 posed, however, that this was accomplished without a 
 struggle. Everywhere there was strenuous opposition to 
 the sale or lease of bottoms, particularly from tho^e 
 whose living depended on the gathering of oysters from 
 natural beds, and the lawmakers very wisely decided 
 that the industry was possible only under private own- 
 ership, as in the case of agriculture. 
 
 But some of the colonial charters had reserved all 
 beaches below high tide line for the State. There were no 
 private beach rights or rights to shore bottoms under 
 water. Probably no one desired rights to such bottoms 
 until oyster culture was developed. By that time the 
 idea had been fixed by tradition that the sea was and 
 should be the common possession of all. So objection 
 was made not only to the sale or lease of bottoms bearing 
 oyster beds, but also barren bottoms on which oysters 
 had never been known to grow. Oyster culture has had 
 to contend against this principle at all points along the 
 entire coast. This state of mind is typically set forth 
 by Mr. Ingersoll, who describes the efforts of a New 
 Brunswick fisheries inspector to convert the natives to 
 the idea of oyster culture, which of course involved the 
 lease of bottoms. They had destroyed the natural beds 
 by excessive raking, but would not hear to a lease. The 
 only argument that he elicited was " My grand f adder 
 rake oysters, my fadder he rake oysters when he want 
 'em, and by Gar! I rake him too." 
 
 One of the great objections to sale or lease was that 
 monopolies would thereby be fostered. This objection 
 to the lease has been used in every state possessing oyster 
 bottoms. As a result, the earlier laws allowed the lease 
 
i82 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 only of a small plot to a single person. Connecticut, for 
 example, allowed but two acres. Ordinarily these were 
 quite insufficient for the support of a family, but it was 
 not difficult to evade this provision when a man was al- 
 lowed also to develop the adjacent acres leased by *' his 
 sisters, his cousins, and his aunts." In this way a single 
 person often came to control a large area. 
 
 It was soon found that such monopolistic holdings 
 not only worked no injury, but were of great benefit to 
 every one in the neighborhood including those who 
 worked only on the public beds, who found the rapidly 
 extending markets and high prices obtained by the large 
 holder much to their liking. More liberal laws in this 
 state finally allowed the unlimited lease or sale of barren 
 bottoms. This has proved to be the wisest possible pro- 
 vision. 
 
 One interesting provision of the earlier oyster laws 
 that has, in some states, been preserved in those now in 
 operation, is the close season. Where this is in force, 
 oysters may not be dredged or marketed during the sum- 
 mer months. Southern states particularly should note 
 that experience in tlie northern field has proved the futil- 
 ity of the close season as a protection to the natural beds, 
 and should recognize the injustice of allowing a culturist 
 to market a commodity, produced on his own property, 
 only during a limited season. It is an unjust and purpose- 
 less restriction. 
 
 The entire futility of a close season as a provision to 
 preserve natural beds, is well illustrated by the destruc- 
 tion in early days of natural beds near New Haven, 
 Conn. This has been graphically described by Mr. Inger- 
 soll as follows : — 
 
 " The fishing was done mainly for each man's winter 
 
The Northern Oyster Field 183 
 
 supply, and nobody paid much attention to any regula- 
 tion of it beyond the close-time in summer. Gradually, 
 however, these public river oysters became more rare and 
 coveted. The law was ' off ' on the first day of Novem- 
 ber, and all the natural beds of the state became open to 
 any person who wished to work them. In anticipation 
 of the date, great preparations were made in the towns 
 along the shore, and even for twenty miles back from 
 the sea side. Boats and rakes and baskets and bags were 
 put in order. The day before, large numbers of wagons 
 came toward the shore from the back country, bringing 
 hundreds of men with their utensils. Among these were 
 not unfrequently seen boats, borne in the rigging of a 
 hay cart, ready to be launched on the expected morning. 
 It was a time of great excitement, and nowhere greater 
 than along the Quinepiac. On the day preceding, farmers 
 flocked into Fair Haven from all the surrounding country 
 and brought with them boats and canoes, of antique pat- 
 tern and ruinous aspect. These rustics always met with 
 a riotous welcome from the town boys, who hated rural 
 competition. They were very likely to find their boats, if 
 not carefully watched, stolen and hidden before they had 
 a chance to launch them, or even temporarily disabled. 
 These things diversified the day and enlivened a com- 
 munity usually very peaceful if not dull. As midnight 
 approached, men dressed in oilskin and carrying oars, 
 paddles, rakes, and tongs collected all along the shore, 
 where a crowd of women and children assembled to see 
 the fun. Every sort of craft was prepared for action, 
 and they lined the whole margin of the river and harbor 
 on each side in thick array. As the ' witching hour ' 
 drew near, the men took their seats with much hilarity 
 and nerved their arms for a few moments' vigorous 
 
184 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 work. No eye could see the face of the great church 
 clock on the hill, but lanterns glimmered on a hundred 
 watch-dials and then were set down, as only a coveted 
 minute remained. There was a hush in the merriment 
 along the shore, an instant's calm, and then the great bell 
 struck a deep-toned peal. It was like an electric shock. 
 Backs bent to oars and paddles churned the water. From 
 opposite banks, waves of boats leaped out and advanced 
 toward one another in the darkness, as though bent on 
 mutual annihilation. ' The race was to the swift and 
 every stroke was the mightiest.' Before the twelve blows 
 upon the loud bell had ceased their reverberations, the 
 oyster beds had been reached, tongs were scraping the 
 long-rested bottom, and the season's campaign upon the 
 Ouinepiac had begun. In a few hours, the crowd upon 
 some beds would be such that the boats were pressing 
 close together. They were all compelled to move along 
 as one, for none could resist the pressure of the multi- 
 tude. The more thickly covered beds were quickly 
 cleaned of their bivalves. The boats were full, the wag- 
 ons were full, and many had secured what they called 
 their ' winter's stock ' before the day was done, and 
 thousands of bushels of oysters were packed away under 
 blankets of sea-weed, in scores of cellars. The first day 
 was the great day. By the next day the rustic crowd had 
 departed, but the oysters continued to be sought. A 
 week of this sort of attack, however, usually sufficed to 
 clean the bottom so thoroughly that subsequent raking 
 was of small account." 
 
 To-day natural sources of supply in the northern field 
 amount to little except for seed that they produce. The 
 same has long been true in Europe. There are still enor- 
 mous natural oyster reefs in the south Atlantic and Gulf 
 
The Northern Oyster Field 185 
 
 fields, but they cannot last. Where there is such great 
 abundance, it seems to be difficult to believe that it is 
 not inexhaustible. Though it must disappear, its place 
 will undoubtedly be taken before that event by a better 
 and much larger supply such as now exists in the North. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PRESENT CONDITIONS IN THE 
 NORTHERN FIELD 
 
 F one were to sit before a large map of the 
 United States and, compass in hand, compare 
 the extent of other parts of the Atlantic and 
 Gnlf shore line with that extending from Del- 
 aware Bay to Narragansett Bay, which comprises what 
 may be called the northern oyster field, he would dis- 
 cover, if he were not already acquainted with the fact, 
 that in extent the latter is relatively a very short stretch 
 of coast. To be sure, this is merely a matter of miles, 
 but it must be admitted, after measuring the irregular 
 shore lines of inland waters connected with the sea, that 
 there are many of them between the Delaware and the 
 Mexican boundary. 
 
 l86 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 187 
 
 But a very large part of this is actually or potentially 
 a part of our oyster territory. Here is a wonderful suc- 
 cession of bays, estuaries, sounds and lagoons, vast 
 nurseries in which multitudes of marine animals and 
 plants flourish; where conditions for shell-fish growth 
 in particular arc unrivaled, and of these the oyster is 
 most widely distributed and naturally most abundant. 
 
 Our attention is often called in a deprecating manner 
 to the enthusiastic admiration of many Americans for 
 the big things possessed by their own country. Even if 
 this state of mind might be regarded as a national char- 
 acteristic, it would be possible to suggest more grevious 
 and less patriotic sentiments held by some of those who 
 number themselves among the judicious. Perhaps 
 something may be said for pride in the great achieve- 
 ments and great resources of one's own land even when 
 its expression involves comparisons. 
 
 Possibly it would do no harm to make the statement 
 for the benefit of such enthusiastic Americans, that no- 
 where do oysters grow so rapidly, nowhere are they so 
 abundant, nowhere may they be so easily cultivated, and 
 nowhere is the oyster area of such vast extent, as on our 
 Atlantic and Gulf shores. In truth here is very much the 
 largest thing of its kind in the world. 
 
 They may also know, if they choose to pursue the mat- 
 ter, that there are to-day immense oyster covered areas 
 in the South that lie undisturbed, that natural beds in the 
 Chesapeake have been tonged and dredged for nearly 
 three centuries without becoming entirely exhausted ; 
 that in northern waters cultivated areas have taken the 
 place of natural beds, and arc producing more and finer 
 oysters than before; and that much larger tracts, on 
 which oysters formerly never grew, are yielding a har- 
 
i88 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 vest equally abundant and valuable. As a home for 
 mollusks useful as human food, no other shore is com- 
 parable to this. 
 
 Even in size, the eastern American oyster has a great 
 advantage over its European cousin. Some, having be- 
 come familiar with the diminutive oyster obtained 
 abroad, may question the superiority of mere size in our 
 native product. There is much, it may be said, in dainti- 
 ness and delicacy. Hence the popularity of Blue Points 
 and other baby oysters that formerly found no favor in 
 American markets. On account of their very small, 
 thin, rounded shells, these are in great demand. But it is 
 a safe statement that the average American who has 
 eKperienced the Blue Point flavor in New York, could 
 /riot sit down in Norfolk to half a dozen large, fat, adult 
 ly Lynnhavens, which afford not only the finest flavor, but 
 also something to eat, without declaring the superiority 
 of the latter. However the matter of superiority as an 
 article of food may be decided, the fact remains that the 
 American oyster, north or south, will become as large 
 as the Lynnhaven if allowed to grow under favorable 
 conditions, while a large native oyster in European waters 
 is an impossibility. 
 
 The flat and the Portuguese oysters of Europe have a 
 shell but two or three inches long and are very thin. 
 The eastern American oyster, on the other hand, some- 
 times attains a length of a foot or more. " There be 
 great ones," wrote William Wood of Massachusetts in 
 1634, "in form of a shoe-horne; some be a foot long." 
 A shell fifteen inches long was taken from the Damaris- 
 cotta shell heap in Maine. Oysters six or seven inches 
 long and more than four inches wide are sometimes 
 found in our markets. 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 189 
 
 Oysters from some localities are thin shelled, as in the 
 eastern end of the Great South Bay, the home of the 
 Blue Point. Usually the shell is thick and heavy. Its 
 thickness depends on the amount of lime in solution in 
 the water. In the Carolina sounds and southward, as 
 also in the Gulf of Mexico, natural oysters are charac- 
 terized by relatively small and much elongated shells. 
 But without question, all of these variations in appear- 
 ance are due simply to local differences in environment, 
 and there is a single species, Ostrea virginica, on the At- 
 lantic and Gulf coasts. In this form the sexes are sepa- 
 rate. It is sometimes stated that an individual may 
 change its sex, being male one year and female another, 
 but there is no foundation for such a statement. 
 
 One important element in the development of the 
 modern industry in the North was the aid received from 
 the Chesapeake. The planting of small oysters never 
 began anywhere until the natural beds had been practi- 
 cally destroyed. The demand for small seed oysters then 
 outgrew the supply. 
 
 As early as 1825, a few small seed oysters from Ches- 
 apeake Bay were transferred to waters near Staten Island. 
 At about the same time the town of Wellfleet on Cape 
 Cod had sent to Buzzards Bay and then to Connecticut 
 for seed oysters. Finally it began to receive them from 
 Virginia, and during the decade following 1850, from 
 one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand bushels 
 were transported each year from the Chesapeake to beds 
 near this town. The Civil War made it impossible to 
 obtain much seed, and Wellfleet did not subsequently 
 recover its position as an oyster center. 
 
 During these same years just preceding the war, Nar- 
 raganselt Bay, Long Island Sound, New York Bay, and 
 
190 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 Delaware Bay each had come to depend on the Chesa- 
 peake for its seed. Each year half a million bushels 
 were used in Narragansett Bay, and an equal number at 
 New Haven, while nearly a million bushels were trans- 
 ferred to the west or Delaware side of Delaware Bay. 
 Even after the war this great business continued. 
 
 But in the course of time, the Connecticut oystermen 
 perfected the methods of capturing young oysters in their 
 own waters. By the year 1880 the transportation of 
 southern seed to the northern field had fallen off greatly. 
 Ever since, there has been a steady decline, and to-day 
 very little Chesapeake seed is planted north of Delaware 
 Bay. On the other hand, the Connecticut culturists now 
 are able not only to supply the entire northern field, but 
 arc sending an increasingly large quantity of seed to the 
 Pacific coast as well as to Europe. 
 
 Instead of suffering from the loss of this business, the 
 Virginia shore of the Chesapeake, from which the greater 
 part of the supply had come, really gained by it. Soon 
 after the war, planting began in that state, and at present 
 the supply of seed from the natural beds of the lower 
 Chesapeake is barely sufficient for the needs of those 
 there engaged in the industry. 
 
 It is seldom possible for a legislative body deliberately 
 to plan the organization and future development of an 
 industry, and to formulate laws establishing the plan, 
 before the industry exists. Such a feat was accom- 
 plished with every prospect of success, by the legislature 
 of Louisiana, when it formulated its present oyster laws. 
 The result will be to avoid years of wasteful experiment 
 and controversy and to add rapidly and permanently to 
 the wealth of the state. 
 
 But this was only possible because other states had 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 191 
 
 slowly and painfully solved the problems involved in 
 modern oyster culture. It was necessary for New York 
 and Connecticut to legislate and repeal and legislate 
 again until their present wise and effective laws govern- 
 ing the oyster industry had been developed. This, of 
 necessity, was a matter of slow growth. Unforeseen ob- 
 stacles continually arose. Interests clashed, and many 
 difficulties had to be adjusted by the courts. New ques- 
 tions arose with the development of the industry, and a 
 wise general policy of legislation came only after a long 
 course of demonstration and education. Not all that is. 
 desirable has yet been gained, but a great and valuable 
 source of wealth has been established. 
 
 The interest of the outsider still centers about the state 
 of Connecticut. From the beginning it has been the 
 leader in accomplishment on the oyster field and in legis- 
 lation. Neighboring states, and then those more distant, 
 have followed its example. It has been necessary for 
 them to do so in order to keep in the field. It may be 
 observed that in Connecticut it has really been the indi- 
 vidual culturist and not the state that has led in the won- 
 derful development of the oyster industry. The culturist 
 has demonstrated his needs and the state has wisely sup- 
 plied them by legislation. On the other hand in Louisi- 
 ana and more recently in Maryland, the state itself has 
 become the leader; and this also is undoubtedly wise, for 
 neither state contemplates ownership of the industry. 
 The plan is simply to insure the success of private in- 
 terests that may engage in it, and this, under the laws 
 that have been formulated, seems to be assured. 
 
 It may be interesting to contrast the old with the newer 
 plan of state control over the oyster industry in Connec- 
 ticut. There is still much to be learned, by states that 
 
192 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 have not had the experience, from a history of the prog- 
 ress that has been made in oyster legislation. 
 
 Previous to the year 1880, a system of local control 
 over Connecticut waters was in operation. The state 
 relegated to the towns the disposal, under certain limita- 
 tions, of shore privileges on their boundaries. The select- 
 miCn, or an oyster committee in each town, were given the 
 power to " designate " suitable places in the waters of 
 the town for the planting or cultivation of oysters, clams, 
 or mussels. But the holding of each person was not to 
 exceed two acres. 
 
 The plan was an utter failure from many causes. In 
 the first place, no protection was afforded the culturist. 
 Without it oyster culture is impossible. Planted oysters 
 were stolen with perfect impunity because there were no 
 laws punishing the act, which was everywhere regarded 
 as a joke. The towns appointed no officers to protect 
 leased bottoms. 
 
 In the majority of cases the holdings were not even 
 mapped, and titles to the land were very insecure. 
 There were no hydrographic surveys. When boundary 
 stakes were lost in storms or removed by ice, contentions 
 among adjacent owners were inevitable, and no legal de- 
 cisions of such quarrels were to be had. Non-residents 
 were not permitted to lease bottoms. Quarrels over 
 town boundaries arose, and the rulings of one town com- 
 mittee were different from those of another. If, in spite 
 of all these difficulties, one were willing to risk capital in 
 an attempt at oyster culture, he was able to do nothing on 
 two acres of bottom. The result was open and wholesale 
 fraud in gaining control of other holdings than his own. 
 Concerted action by culturists, necessary to establish and 
 maintain a large market, or to protect the oyster terri- 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 193 
 
 tory from starfish and thieves, was impossible under the 
 conditions imposed. Inadequate and absurd as this plan 
 of local control now appears to have been, it was adopted 
 by the majority of the states possessing oyster shores; 
 and even to-day the same ancient and farcical laws pre- 
 vent the establishment of a soft clam industry in New 
 England. 
 
 Since 1880 there has been a gradual change of plan in 
 Connecticut, New York, and in other states, but the old 
 method has not yet been entirely abandoned. Waters in 
 the immediate vicinity of towns, on the shores of some 
 states, are left in their care, though the powers of select- 
 men and oyster committees are limited in such a way that 
 local regulations must conform closely to the general plan 
 governing all waters of the state. On application from 
 the town, the Superior Court may appoint a cothmittee 
 that shall locate natural beds, and the town may then 
 grant perpetual franchises in barren bottoms to be used 
 as oyster beds. A town is not allowed to grant oyster 
 bottoms to its own residents alone. This feature of the 
 system of control is cumbersome and unnecessary, and 
 should be abandoned. But the state now maintains con- 
 trol of the greater part of the oyster territory within its 
 boundaries. While it has reserved six thousand acres of 
 natural beds, the remainder of the bottom is held for 
 sale. 
 
 The real beginning of the present prosperity of the 
 industry was inaugurated by an elaborate survey of the 
 waters of the sound, based on the triangulations of the 
 United States Coast Survey. Large maps, clearly de- 
 fining all holdings, are published from time to time by 
 a state Oyster Commission, and are available to any one 
 desiring them. 
 
194 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 That such a survey is a necessity does not yet seem to 
 be reaHzed by some of the southern states. Without it 
 an incontestible title is impossible, and in Connecticut 
 it has put an end to a most fertile source of discontent 
 and strife that arises everywhere when the sale or lease 
 of bottoms is in question. There has been in every state 
 a strong demand that the natural beds be reserved as 
 public property. But what is a natural bed? The an- 
 swer is clear when natural oysters lie thickly massed, 
 but there are few such tracts. Such areas, once existing, 
 have been tonged and dredged until oysters are few and 
 scattered. Are they still natural beds? 
 
 The definition of a Maryland judge has been accepted 
 everywhere on the coast. According to this, a natural 
 bed is a bottom on which oysters propagating by nature 
 are numerous enough to afford a living wage to the oys- 
 terman. This is arbitrary and indefinite, but it cannot 
 be bettered. Its acceptance does not settle specific cases, 
 for it does not and cannot determine what constitutes a 
 living wage. The public is determined to retain its 
 " rights " to natural beds, and culturists desire to buy or 
 lease the bottoms. Who shall decide between them? 
 
 In this matter the legislature of Connecticut did a 
 very wise thing. It provided its Oyster Commission 
 with a survey of the bottoms, and gave it power to de- 
 cide, after a careful examination, wliat bottoms con- 
 tained natural oysters sufficient for a daily wage, and 
 what did not. This they did fairly, but of necessity, 
 quite arbitrarily, defining and charting the outlines of all 
 the natural beds in the state. They then proceeded to 
 sell and lease the remainder. When their boundaries 
 were contested, the State Supreme Court upheld them. 
 That was the end of the matter. 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 195 
 
 Other states have followed the example of Con- 
 necticut in this. Even Maryland has recently had the 
 courage to do so, and if the decisions of its Oyster Com- 
 missioners in establishing boundary lines are upheld by 
 the state courts, much future trouble will be avoided. 
 
 The amount of land that may be owned or leased by 
 an individual or corporation in the state is now not lim- 
 ited by law. The ancient fear of an oyster monopoly 
 seems to have disappeared. Titles to 03'ster grounds 
 may be transferred. If grounds are found by experi- 
 ment to be unsuitable for oyster culture, they may be re- 
 leased to the state. Speculating with oyster grounds is 
 made illegal, and such a practice is difficult, for grounds 
 not occupied in good faith for the planting or cultivation 
 of oysters, may revert to the state at the end of five 
 years. 
 
 A perpetual franchise for the cultivation of oysters on 
 barren ground may be had from the state at one dollar 
 an acre. It has not been the plan in Connecticut to re- 
 ceive a large revenue from the sale of land, but rather 
 to vest the great wealth of the industry with the citizens. 
 In this way taxable property on shore is greatly in- 
 creased, and a small tax also is levied on the oyster beds. 
 In order to determine the amount of this tax, owners 
 must make an annual statement of the value of their 
 property, and the Oyster Commissioners declare a tax of 
 one and a half per cent, on the valuation given. Some 
 revenue also is derived from licenses granted to boats 
 which, with thirty-pound dredges and tongs, are allowed 
 to take oysters from the natural beds. This direct rev- 
 enue, however, amounts to comparatively little. The ac- 
 cepted view of the situation seems to be that a five 
 million dollar business in the state is a better investment 
 
196 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 than a smaller one that would pay a larger direct tax for 
 its existence. Rhode Island and some other states have 
 adopted the latter plan. 
 
 The market value of Connecticut oyster beds varies as 
 real estate values do everywhere. The valuation prob- 
 ably ranges from one to forty dollars an acre, and in a 
 few cases is much greater. 
 
 One of the most important features of the Connecticut 
 law is the provision it makes for the protection of own- 
 ers of private beds. A number of state police are em- 
 ployed to protect private grounds, and are given the 
 power of sheriffs in making arrests and seizures. 
 
 The law also provides that sheriffs and constables, as 
 well as oyster police, shall, and that any other person 
 may, seize any boat or vessel illegally used in dredging, 
 wherever found after the offense has been committed, 
 within one year. If now such property is proved to 
 have been used contrary to law, it is sold, and half the 
 proceeds is paid to the person making the seizure. 
 
 If every other state owning oyster grounds possessed 
 such a law as that of Connecticut directed against oyster 
 thieves, and would enforce it, that form of larceny, so 
 exasperating in some localities, would be controlled. It 
 provides a maximum fine of five hundred dollars, or im- 
 prisonment for one year. American criminal proceed- 
 ings are notoriously lax everywhere, and it is not sur- 
 prising that arrested men are often discharged, and that 
 others have their cases appealed ; but on the whole, prop- 
 erty in Long Island Sound is as well protected as on the 
 land. Fines and imprisonment are also provided as pen- 
 alties for injuring oyster inclosures or buoys used in 
 bounding them. 
 
 The other states of the northern field possess oyster 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 197 
 
 laws that are, in many of their essential features, similar 
 to these ; and though much revision may become neces- 
 sary, it may be stated in a general way that the northern 
 field has solved the legal problems involved in the in- 
 dustry. 
 
 It is interesting to observe that one very desirable 
 provision is omitted from the oyster laws of all states in 
 the Union having mollusk industries. It is one for the 
 protection of the public against shell-fish contaminated by 
 the germs of human diseases, and certainly one that 
 should everywhere be demanded. While the laws of 
 several states prohibit the discharge of sewage into fresh- 
 water streams, none refer to the contamination of salt 
 waters on their boundaries by this means. Neither is it 
 illegal to offer for sale shell-fish taken from such waters. 
 The danger, especially from typhoid fever, is great in 
 such cases, and there is little excuse for this neglect. 
 
 As one leaves the Connecticut shore at New Haven or 
 Bridgeport, he may have the feeling that he is putting out 
 to sea, for the sound is a large body of water. But soon 
 he begins to notice that he is passing many odd-looking 
 buoys. Before long it becomes evident that these are 
 not stationed for the purpose of marking navigation 
 channels, for they are too numerous, and as he looks 
 about, he observes that the water is covered with them 
 in every direction as far as the eye can reach. 
 
 Almost all the way to New York the vessel plows 
 along among cultivated fields, the presence of which 
 w^ould be unknown except for these boundary marks. 
 When their significance is understood, one soon obtains 
 a definite impression of the great extent of the oyster 
 farms that have been constructed in these waste places. 
 It is difficult, however, to realize that here also, as on 
 
198 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 the land, there has heen a preparation of the groiiiid, a 
 sowing of seed, and a cultivation in preparation for a 
 harvest. The impression is strong that there can be 
 Httle depth of water over these farms, and that naviga- 
 tion here by large steamers would be perilous, but the 
 largest of vessels might pass safely over much of the 
 field. 
 
 Naturally, oyster farmers first chose their fields near 
 the shore, where the majority of the natural beds had 
 existed. When these were all occupied, they ventured 
 farther into the sound. To-day one sees from the steam- 
 er's deck that some of the oyster grounds have been ex- 
 tended to the middle of the sound, or to the boundary 
 line between Connecticut and New York. Some of these 
 are more than six miles from shore. 
 
 Perhaps the thing that most astonishes one is the in- 
 formation he obtains concerning the depth of water over 
 many of these cultivated acres. Only a few years ago, 
 no one would have supposed it possible that oysters ever 
 could be taken economically from a depth of more than 
 seven or eight fathoms, yet to-day, in some places, they 
 are planted in and readily removed from bottoms cov- 
 ered by a hundred feet of water. Such a depth, it is 
 true, is exceptionally great, but it is hardly less wonder- 
 ful that a very large part of the planted area in the 
 sound is seventy or eighty feet in depth. The great 
 majority of the beds are under water from twenty to 
 eighty feet. It may even be surprising to learn that the 
 shore-loving, brackish water oyster can exist at all at so 
 great a depth as a hundred feet. The fact, however, is 
 that it has been taken from a natural " rock " in Dela- 
 ware Bay at a depth of more than five hundred feet. 
 
 The achievements of the deep-water culturist, that 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 199 
 
 seem not to be generally appreciated, are made possible 
 by the recent development of mammoth steam dredging 
 vessels. The finest of the fleet of the eighties, housed 
 over, operating four steam dredges, and having a daily 
 capacity of five hundred bushels, could almost be carried 
 on the deck of some of the vessels now owned by the 
 same company. Figure ^y gives a view of one of these 
 powerful ice-breaking boats. It steams out regularly 
 to distant farms, perhaps in Narragansett Bay or eastern 
 Long Island, where its owner has leased bottoms, and 
 neither weather nor ice fields seriously interfere. In one 
 day it is able to dredge eight thousand five hundred bush- 
 els of oysters in forty feet of water, and during the next 
 it can, from the most distant point, deliver the cargo at 
 its owner's packing establishment at New Haven. 
 
 One may imagine the nature of the protest that would 
 come from the Chesapeake oysterman if a few vessels 
 of this sort were suddenly to appear on his own oyster 
 territory. He would expect his Maryland rocks to melt 
 like snow in April, and his expectation would be realized. 
 Yet he boasts that the immense reaches of Chesapeake 
 Bay comprise the greatest oyster field in the world ; 
 and undoubtedly he is right. How, then, is it possible 
 for vessels of this sort to operate in so small a body as 
 Long Island Sound, where natural conditions for oyster 
 growth are so much less favorable, without destroying 
 the industry? Here they are busily occupied from fall 
 until summer in taking immense cargoes from the bot- 
 tom, and yet the industry actually increases from year to 
 year. This forest of buoys explains the matter, for 
 among them during the remainder of the year these ves- 
 sels and many smaller ones are engaged in sowing a 
 distant harvest. The future will perhaps see a similar 
 
200 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 fleet in the Chesapeake that will bear to market cargoes 
 of which the oystermen of the present do not dream. 
 
 One notices, on passing up and down the sound, that 
 oyster beds are more numerous at its western end. East- 
 ward there are not so many planted areas, though in time, 
 trial may prove much of this barren region to be suitable 
 for oyster culture. One to whom figures have some sig- 
 nificance would be interested to know that besides the 
 shore, which is still under the jurisdiction of the towns, 
 there are seventy thousand acres of bottom under cultiva- 
 tion in Connecticut, and that in order to carry on the 
 work, there is employed a fleet of more than one hun- 
 dred steam vessels, aided by nearly four hundred sailing 
 craft. 
 
 In New York, including Long Island, the cultivated 
 area is nearly half that of Connecticut, and there are still 
 large barren tracts that may prove to be of value to 
 oyster culture. Here, as in Connecticut, most of the bot- 
 toms are owned by individuals or companies. 
 
 Parts of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, have 
 long proved to be valuable planting grounds, and there 
 all bottoms are rented by the state. Bottoms less than 
 twelve feet in depth are reserved for residents only at an 
 annual rental of ten dollars. Deeper bottoms are rented 
 for five dollars to non-residents, as well as to residents, of 
 the state. By this plan, thirteen thousand acres now 
 bring an annual revenue of ninety thousand dollars to 
 the state treasury. 
 
 While in each of these states the cultivated area will 
 be enlarged, no one can estimate its possible future ex- 
 tent within narrow limits; but at the present rate of ex- 
 pansion, these limits, whatever they may be, will soon be 
 reached. 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 201 
 
 An important question arises in the mind as one views 
 the field of this industry that has become so extensive. 
 Are these cultivated acres owned by many as on the land ? 
 or have the smaller holdings been merged into large ones? 
 Is the business of such a nature that the modern in- 
 dustrial method of combination may be profitable to it? 
 A citizen of Maryland or Louisiana, where the fear of 
 an oyster monopoly has been a consuming one, might 
 be interested in the answer. 
 
 There has been a merging of holdings, and on a large 
 scale, over the entire northern field. In Connecticut, for 
 example, 338 persons owned 68,000 acres of oyster land 
 outside the town districts in 1893. Eleven years later, 
 in 1904, the area had decreased somewhat, being 66,000 
 acres. It was owned by 180 individuals and companies. 
 The number of owners had thus decreased nearly one- 
 half. It is now somewhat smaller than in 1904, and 
 the number of acres is larger. Some of these companies 
 hold very large tracts, owning and leasing bottoms in 
 more than one state. One, for example, controls 13,000 
 acres in Connecticut, 5,000 in New York, and more than 
 4,000 in Rhode Island — a total of more than 22,000 
 acres. This being true, it may appear that the northern 
 oyster field is perhaps already in the hands of a few 
 great corporations, and that the poor man can have little 
 part in the industry except as an employee. 
 
 But this is not the whole truth. There is another fact 
 that completely reverses such a conclusion. Not only 
 are there a great number of small holdings within the 
 limits of towns, but even in the sound, more than one- 
 sixth of the holdings are of less than fifteen acres — some 
 of them but two or three acres — and they are owned and 
 planted by " the poor man," who conducts his business 
 
202 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 in perfect independence and security by the side of his 
 powerful neighbor. If he is thrifty and understands his 
 business, he makes it a success. He does not owe his ex- 
 istence as a small culturist to the benevolence of the large 
 corporation, but to wise laws, and to the nature of the 
 industry itself, which is so extensive on the Atlantic and 
 Gulf coasts that a crushing oyster monopoly is an im- 
 possibility, and probably always will be. 
 
 When, from personal observation, one has gained 
 some conception of the great extent of the cultivated 
 areas in the northern field, he is lost in wonder that seed 
 could be found sufficient for its sowing. But it must be 
 remembered that three, four, and sometimes five years 
 are necessary for the maturing of the crop, so that it is 
 not necessary to seed the entire area each year. The 
 method of capturing the spat has already been described. 
 A large corporation may secure its young oysters both on 
 its deep water farms and on its property near shore, but 
 most of it is taken on the comparatively shallow areas. 
 
 While Connecticut culturists have heretofore supplied 
 almost the entire field, Rhode Island planters are now 
 beginning to discover that, even with the high rental they 
 must pay, the planting of shells for a set of young is 
 profitable. Since 1903 seed collecting has become an 
 important factor of the industry in Narragansett Bay. 
 
 Thus the sound and the bays in the northern field have 
 become centers of great activity. During the summer 
 large fleets are engaged in the planting of breeding 
 oysters and shells or crushed rock for the collection of 
 spat, in cleaning bottoms or hardening them with sand 
 and gravel, in dredging, culling, and transplanting oysters 
 to growing or conditioning grounds, and in dragging 
 mops for the capture of starfish. In the winter all are 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 203 
 
 busy in dredging and carrying oysters to the shucking 
 houses and shipping centers. 
 
 There are several large markets and distributing cen- 
 ters in the northern field. Chief among these are New 
 Haven and New York. In the former city are the 
 establishments of fifty dealers, who together own thirty 
 thousand acres of planted ground in the state of Con- 
 necticut, and control an area equally great in Rhode 
 Island and New York. 
 
 Many oysters fresh from the water are shipped un- 
 opened to nearly all parts of the United States. The 
 greater number are opened at the packing houses. Some 
 of the larger companies are able to ship nearly a thou- 
 sand gallons of '' meats " in a day. These are washed, 
 cooled, and sent out in barrels or tubs in a perfectly 
 fresh condition. 
 
 Packers have learned that their business depends 
 largely on extreme cleanliness. Dirty receptacles used 
 in preparing or shipping oysters make certain their 
 early loss. Consequently barrels, tubs, or pails returned 
 to the dealers are most thoroughly cleaned and coated 
 inside with a water-proof preparation that of itself does 
 much to insure cleanliness. 
 
 New York City, also, is a large distributing point, 
 and the West Washington market, on the Hudson River, 
 has become its center. It is thus described by one of the 
 state Oyster Commissioners: — "On the river side of 
 the market there is an enclosed basin where boats may 
 be secure while unloading their cargoes of shell-fish. 
 The unique and commodious house-boats which are 
 moored to the docks are picturesque objects, quite 
 familiar to residents of the city. These barges are really 
 two-story houses, built upon scows or floats with ex- 
 
204 Ou^ Food Mollusks 
 
 tensive expanses of floors or decks upon which large 
 quantities of stock may be stored, assorted, opened, and 
 shipped. The ends of these houses fronting the street 
 may properly, perhaps, be called bows, and are con- 
 structed with more or less attention to architectural ef- 
 fect, so that the facades are not unattractive. Upon the 
 top, or cornice, of each boat, usually extending across 
 the entire front of the structure, is the sign of the firm 
 doing business within. These boats are fixed with more 
 or less permanency in their berths, and have every ap- 
 pearance of busy establishments of trade. They rise 
 and fall with the tides, which keep them on a level cor- 
 responding with that of the decks of the boats of the 
 oyster-carrying fleet, thus facilitating the loading and 
 unloading of stock. These houses may be moved from 
 place to place, when necessary, by tow boats." 
 
 Philadelphia, being situated on the Delaware River, 
 is the chief market for the product of Delaware Bay. 
 Many of the oysters from the New Jersey bays are sent 
 to New York. 
 
 In New Jersey there are three separate oyster regions 
 The most northern, Raritan Bay, is really a part of New 
 York Bay, and the industry there is much like that of 
 other parts of that body of water. On the ocean side of 
 the state, Barnegat Bay lies parallel with the shore like a 
 river separated from the open water only by a low ridge 
 of sand. Its waters are brackish, and support a large 
 number of oyster beds. The third oyster district is the 
 eastern shore of Delaware Bay. This body of water, 
 some thirty miles wide at its lower end, has always pro- 
 duced many oysters, and planted beds may be found cov- 
 ering large areas both on the New Jersey and Delaware 
 shores. 
 
Conditions in the Northern Field 205 
 
 Seed for these beds was formerly brought from the 
 Chesapeake, but in recent years, oystermen have fol- 
 lowed the example of Connecticut culturists, and now 
 produce much of their own stock for planting. Some 
 planters, however, still depend largely on the natural beds 
 for their supply. 
 
 Thus during the past few years a great industry has 
 been developed on the barren bottoms of these northern 
 bays. Each year it contributes many millions of dol- 
 lars to the wealth of the states that have fostered it. 
 But its benefits are not confined to one region. Its meth- 
 ods, and the vexed experiences of its development may 
 be avoided in other regions where an industry has yet to 
 be established. The more serious problems have been 
 solved by the northern culturist. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 THE CHESAPEAKE 
 
 [VERY one is familiar with the frequently re- 
 peated statement that Chesapeake Bay is the 
 most extensive and prolific oyster territory 
 in the world. The statement is undoubtedly 
 true. When one compares it with the northern field, 
 the marvel of its natural fertility is astonishing. The 
 colonists of New Amsterdam left many enthusiastic ac- 
 counts of vast stores of " brave oysters " that Providence 
 had provided for them in their new home. " The oyster 
 bankes," it was written by a New England colonist, " do 
 bar re out the bigger ships." And yet even in early 
 colonial times, these natural beds became so im- 
 poverished that laws were formulated to prevent 
 their entire annihilation. In the beginning, oysters 
 became an important article of food of the inhabitants of 
 Maryland and Virginia also. As population increased, 
 greater and still greater numbers were removed from 
 the waters of the Chesapeake. Inland towns began to 
 be supplied. Oysters were transported by wagon, as 
 roads extended into the interior. Finally, when rail- 
 roads began to lead northward, and westward across 
 the Alleghany Mountains, the ever increasing supply of 
 oysters found a market in the rapidly growing territory 
 far from the coast. Decade after decade passed, millions 
 of bushels finally being marketed every year, and now, 
 
 206 
 
The Chesapeake 
 
 207 
 
 after almost three centuries of tonging and scraping and 
 dredging, the wonderful natural beds of the Chesapeake, 
 though sadly depleted, still exist, and still supply the 
 greater number of the oysters marketed from the bay. 
 
 Lying within the boundaries of Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia, the Chesapeake has a length of nearly two hun- 
 dred miles. In Maryland it is, roughly, from five to 
 
2o8 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 ten miles wide, and, in Virginia, its shores are from fif- 
 teen to thirty miles apart. The shore line is everywhere 
 very irregular, with extensive bays, and entering from 
 the west are wide rivers like the Patuxent, Potomac, Rap- 
 phannock, and James, the mouths of which are brackish 
 water estuaries, most favorable for oyster growth. 
 
 In no body of water would necessary conditions for 
 oyster growth be present everywhere on the bottom. It 
 has already been shown that the requirements are many 
 and exact. Even the most skilful culturist cannot make 
 it possible for oysters to grow everywhere in the Chesa- 
 peake; but the relative amount of favorable bottom as 
 compared with that of other oyster fields, where oyster 
 culture has been practised, is very large. If intensive 
 and scientific oyster culture were employed here, as it is 
 in Long Island Sound, the result would astonish the 
 world. 
 
 Only a very fragmentary record of the early industry 
 in this bay has been kept. The importance of so great 
 a natural source of wealth has been recognized, and the 
 legislative bodies of Maryland and Virginia have formu- 
 lated and revised numerous oyster laws; but until com- 
 paratively recent times, it has apparently been deemed 
 unnecessary to record information on any phase of the 
 business. Indeed, no one seems to have been particularly 
 interested in the biological conditions in the bay, or in 
 more than his own part in the industry. 
 
 Following the method of the archeologist, which is al- 
 most the only one available for gaining information on 
 the industry before the middle of the nineteenth century, 
 we are able to obtain a vague idea of the proportions of 
 the oyster trade in the indefinite past from the fact that 
 accumulated shells were used at an early period not only 
 
The Chesapeake 209 
 
 in supplying- lime for building and for the construction of 
 beautiful shell roads, but, in some cases, to build the very 
 foundations of towns from the bottom of the bay. 
 
 It is true that Maryland, in 1882, appointed a com- 
 mission to incjuire into the condition of the industry in 
 her waters — providing it with no means for making a 
 survey, and paying no attention whatever to the valuable 
 report returned by it. Since that period the main facts 
 concerning the industry have been recorded. 
 
 During the first quarter of the last century there seems 
 to have been a brisk local trade in the opening and sale 
 of oysters in cities and towns near the bay. But in this 
 early time began the shipping of oysters to the northern 
 field for planting and for opening. It has already been 
 stated that this trade increased in magnitude until 
 checked by the Civil War. Out of it grew the present 
 packing business of the Chesapeake, and in the follow- 
 ing manner : — A few far-seeing and energetic oyster 
 culturists of Connecticut, recognizing the great natural 
 resources of the bay, and the possibilities of a market 
 with Baltimore as a center, established branch packing 
 h-ouses in that city in 1834. These pioneers of the mod- 
 ern business, with characteristic energy, began to estab- 
 lish wagon lines for the distribution of their product, 
 extending them as far west as Pittsburgh. With the 
 construction of the Baltimore and Ohio, and other rail- 
 roads, this distribution was enormously facilitated, 
 oysters were plentiful, and these firms conducted a great 
 business. 
 
 Writing of the establishment of the first packing 
 houses, Mr. Ingersoll, who had collected all available 
 data for his census report of 1880, continues: — "A few 
 years later, Mr. A. Field, also a native of Connecticut, 
 
210 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 began to sell oysters, which he first steamed and then 
 hermetically sealed in tin cans. This preparation was 
 received with favor, and the new trade grew very rap- 
 idly. Records furnished by C. S. Maltby inform ns 
 that in 1865 1,875,000 bushels of oysters were packed 
 raw in Baltimore, and 1,360,000 bushels were preserved. 
 In 1869 he numbers in Maryland 55 packers, w^io, at 500 
 to 2,500 cans per day, put up 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 
 cans in a season of seven months, using 5,000,000 bush- 
 els. Sixty ' raw ' houses that year employed 3,000 
 hands, while the packers gave employment to 7,000 per- 
 sons. Large quantities of canned oysters were annually 
 sent, at that time, by steamship to Havana." 
 
 Mr. Richard Edmonds, describing the industry of the 
 same period, wrote in regard to it : — " The raw-oyster 
 business has always been more profitable and less subject 
 to the vicissitudes of trade, although there are many 
 losses from spoilt oysters when the weather happens to 
 turn suddenly warm. Raw oysters, after being opened, 
 are packed in small, air-tight cans holding about a quart, 
 and these are arranged in rows in a long wooden box, 
 with a block of ice between each row, or they are emptied 
 into a keg, half-barrel, or barrel made for this purpose. 
 When the latter plan is pursued, the keg or barrel is filled 
 to about five-sixths of its capacity, and then a large piece 
 of ice is thrown in, after which the top is fastened on as 
 closely as possible, and it is at once shipped to the West, 
 usually by special oyster trains or by express. Packed 
 in this way, with moderately cold weather, the oysters 
 will keep very well for a week or ten days. During the 
 most active part of the ' raw ' season, there are daily 
 oyster trains of from thirty to forty cars from Baltimore 
 to the West, where nearly all the Baltimore oysters are 
 
The Chesapeake 2ii 
 
 consumed. From the shores of the Chesapeake Bay as 
 far as Detroit there is scarcely a city or town (connected 
 with any of the great trunk hues) which is not supphed 
 with Maryland raw oysters. Farther west, and to a 
 considerable extent in European countries, the demand 
 is supplied by steamed oysters. The oysters used in the 
 raw trade are of a finer quality, and consequently com- 
 mand better prices than steamed." 
 
 When this was written, there were forty-five packing 
 houses in the city of Baltimore. During the winter of 
 1879-80, these firms marketed more than seven million 
 bushels of oysters, the production of other firms in the 
 state raising the total to ten million bushels. 
 
 The packing business of Virginia began very much 
 later than that of Maryland. It was not until 1859 that 
 an establishment was founded in the city of Norfolk. 
 The time and place, however, were unfortunate for the 
 new venture, for shortly the war began that paralyzed 
 every industry, transformed a garden state into a wilder- 
 ness, and covered its waters with hostile fleets. 
 
 No one but a Virginian knows how the state suffered 
 in that conflict, though it is mournful enough to an out- 
 sider even to-day to see so much of its formerly fertile 
 interior grown over with jack pine and broom straw, 
 worn out because of the poverty of its owners, or gullied 
 beyond repair. But one very important source of rev- 
 enue remained after the conflict. The natural oyster 
 beds that had for many years suffered from excessive 
 tonging, had been resting for four years, and were now 
 densely packed. Prices were high, and a great many per- 
 sons now engaged in the tonging of oysters. 
 
 Immediately on the cessation of hostilities, packing 
 houses began operations in Norfolk, and the industry in- 
 
212 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 creased for several years. Very few oysters have ever 
 been canned in Virginia. The early trade, like that of 
 to-day, was largely in opened oysters that were sent 
 north in a fresh condition, where they were usually sold 
 as northern stock. In 1880 the state produced nearly 
 seven million bushels, and more than sixteen thousand 
 persons were engaged in the industry. 
 
 There seem to be no definite data bearing on the pro- 
 duction of the entire bay before the year 1880. The 
 notes of one Baltimore packer estimate the total produc- 
 tion of the bay at 6,944,500 bushels in 1865, of which 
 Maryland produced 4,879,500, and Virginia 2,065,000 
 bushels. It is stated by Professor Brooks that in 1875 
 the bay produced 17,000,000 bushels. The census esti- 
 mate for 1880 was slightly more than that. Professor 
 Brooks believed that the average for fifty-six years fol- 
 lowing the establishment of the packing industry in Bal- 
 timore, was at least 7,000,000 bushels a year, or, during 
 the period of little more than half a century, a total of 
 392,000,000 bushels. This is an enormous production, 
 and all the more wonderful because the greater part of 
 it was from natural beds. 
 
 But high tide in the Chesapeake industry was reached 
 soon after the formulation of the tenth census estimate 
 in 1880. On account of the continued fertility of the 
 waters decade after decade, the inhabitants of Maryland 
 and Virginia seemed to have become convinced that they 
 were inexhaustible. Some, however, were able to see 
 that a continuation of dredging, as it had always been 
 carried on, would eventually bring destruction to the 
 natural beds. Influenced by those who had this belief, 
 the Governor of Maryland in 1882 requested the late 
 Professor W. K. Brooks of Johns Hopkins University 
 
The Chesapeake 213 
 
 in Baltimore, a naturalist of world-wide reputation, to 
 accept the position of chairman of a commission to ex- 
 amine and report on the condition of the natural beds in 
 the Chesapeake, and to suggest measures needed for their 
 protection or improvement. Professor Brooks had al- 
 ready, in 1878, completed an important biological study 
 of the American oyster. By a long-continued observa- 
 tion of the animal in its natural state, he had become 
 thoroughly acquainted with its needs and with the nature 
 of its surroundings. No other person was so well fitted 
 for the task, which he accepted, and for which the uni- 
 versity gave him leave of absence. 
 
 In 1884 he published an exhaustive report, in which 
 he showed that, with the methods then employed in gath- 
 ering oysters, the Chesapeake industry must decline, and 
 eventually cease to exist. He used the historical and 
 biological arguments with such skill and force that it 
 seems impossible that an intelligent person could have 
 followed them without conviction. The report attracted 
 the most respectful attention of many citizens, but had 
 no effect on those directly engaged in the industry, and 
 they held the balance of political power in Maryland. 
 
 In 1 89 1 Professor Brooks published an interesting 
 and less technical account of the natural resources of 
 Chesapeake Bay in a book that deserved wide popular in- 
 terest. Even at that time nothing had been done in 
 Maryland to promote oyster culture, and the natural re- 
 sources were very rapidly declining. Fifteen years more 
 passed before the state saw that the vast wealth of its 
 waters had dwindled dangerously near to the vanishing- 
 point. Then, nearly a quarter of a century after this 
 condition had been shown to be inevitable, it was com- 
 pelled to listen to reason, and, in 1906, made an attempt 
 
214 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 — not a thorough-going one, by any means — at reform. 
 " A prophet is not without honor, but in his own coun- 
 try, and among his own kin, and in his own house." 
 
 The record of the dechne in the Chesapeake since 1885 
 is very incomplete, but that kept by the transportation 
 companies and the packing houses of Bahimore indicates 
 its nature. During the season of 1885-6 more than three 
 and a half million bushels of oysters were shucked in the 
 city of Baltimore. In 1889-90 the number had fallen 
 below two and a half millions. In 1893-4 it had de- 
 clined to a little more than one and a half millions. For 
 the next four years it remained nearly the same, and 
 hopes began to be entertained that the low mark had been 
 reached, and that the natural beds of the Chesapeake 
 would continue to yield a harvest of at least that amount. 
 But in 1 899- 1 900 the supply hardly exceeded a million 
 bushels, and the following season fell below the million 
 mark. Since then the same steady decrease has been 
 maintained, if more slowly, yet none the less certainly. 
 
 This falling off in the business of the packers was not 
 due to any increase in what is called the shell trade, 
 or to the establishment of new packing houses elsewhere, 
 but simply to the fact that the natural supply of the bay 
 vvas nearly exhausted. It was stated by the railroad 
 companies that during the decade between 1890 and 
 1900, the shipments of oysters in the shell had decreased 
 three-fourths in volume. 
 
 But the decline was even more rapid than indicated by 
 these figures, for in 1889 the Baltimore packers began 
 to send dredging vessels down the coast to Pamlico 
 Sound in North Carolina, where they taught the un- 
 sophisticated native oystermen something about the 
 dredging of oysters, and incidentally nearly ruined the 
 
The Chesapeake 215 
 
 natural resources of the sound in short order. Oysters 
 dredged there were all taken to the packing houses in 
 Baltimore, where they were shucked, sold, and 
 counted in the fragmentary records of the business as 
 Chesapeake oysters. Thus the prophecy of the commis- 
 sion of 1882 was fulfilled. Its report was not merely a 
 warning. It showed the decline in the great industry to 
 be unnecessary. It explained the simple course to be 
 pursued that would increase the production of oysters to 
 a vast extent ; and there is even more reason to-day than 
 there was in 1884 for the belief that every prediction of 
 vast success and fortune contained in it might by this 
 time have been realized by the state of Maryland had 
 it chosen to develop a thorough-going system of oyster 
 culture. 
 
 The history of the industry in Virginia's part of the 
 bay is not so depressing. Much of the bottom is shal- 
 low, and is worked by tongers. In 1879 dredging on 
 natural oyster rocks was prohibited, though allowed on 
 private grounds. But in spite of the fact that only tongs 
 were employed, the natural beds rapidly became depleted. 
 At this time planting was allowed by the state, but few 
 availed themselves of the privilege. Naturally, planting 
 could not well flourish when there was great doubt as to 
 the limits of natural rocks as distinguished from barren 
 bottoms. Planting had also been allowed in Maryland 
 for many years, but very few had dared to invest labor 
 and money in it. 
 
 In 1892 a survey of the natural oyster beds was made 
 in Virginia. These were staked out, and though their 
 boundary marks have long since disappeared, the good 
 effects of that designation have been felt ever since. If 
 a triangulation survey of the barren bottoms had been 
 
2i6 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 made at the same time, a much greater stride in advance 
 would have been taken. 
 
 Maryland was still the proud leader of all the oyster 
 producing states in 1891. Ten years later she had re- 
 linquished this position to Virginia, from which were 
 marketed nearly eight million bushels in 190 1. Of these 
 more than three million bushels came from private beds. 
 The Virginia oyster planter still has his serious troubles, 
 but the practice of planting has become so extensive 
 that the market does not depend entirely on the natural 
 rocks, and hence possesses much stability. 
 
 Of late years it has everywhere become the habit to 
 refer to the upper Chesapeake as the dead goose that 
 laid the golden eggs. When modern oyster laws are be- 
 ing demanded in other states, Maryland is exhibited as 
 the horrible example of the effects of faulty legislation 
 on the oyster industry. Her natural resources have 
 largely been wasted, and almost perfect lawlessness has 
 been tolerated on the bay. 
 
 No one has ever supposed that the people of Mary- 
 land were peculiarly indifferent to the destruction of the 
 natural treasures buried in her bay. They have known 
 what they were losing, and why, but, like the American 
 public everywhere, they were long-suffering in patience. 
 An American from any other part of the country knows 
 without being told that such a state of affairs is probably 
 to be explained by what was the fact in this case — that 
 the Maryland oyster had been deeply involved in politics. 
 
 When a sufficient number of persons become interested 
 in the lumbering of pine, spruce, or fir, these become fac- 
 tors in state or even national politics. The same is true 
 of such sources of natural wealth as metals, coal, petro- 
 leum, 'and many others. This happens because those 
 
The Chesapeake 217 
 
 who are most directly interested desire all that may be 
 obtained, and in getting what they can as rapidly as pos- 
 sible, usually waste much more than they get. They 
 resent public interference, and, when necessary, pur- 
 chase immunity in one way or another of political ma- 
 chines — an old story the world over. 
 
 The oyster industry has been of the greatest im- 
 portance to Maryland and Virginia. It supports thou- 
 sands of shuckers, tongers, and dredgers. The business 
 of the oyster dredger is to get oysters where they grow, 
 and he has always attended to it — as one writer has put 
 it, " regarding neither the laws of God or man." All 
 that he has ever desired from the public is to be let alone. 
 The tonger, for whom certain shallow waters have been 
 reserved, has asked nothing more. Each of these has 
 often maintained his " natural rights " against the other 
 by means of rifles, and both have taught the oyster 
 planter, whose unnatural business, it has seemed to them, 
 might glut their markets, and whose unholy purpose has 
 apparently been to take the bread out of the mouths of 
 the honest poor, that Maryland, at least, was no place for 
 him. 
 
 The " rights " of these men have been looked after in 
 state legislatures by those whom they have sent by their 
 votes, and restrictive laws have seldom been passed. 
 Some years ago the statement was made in a government 
 document that one candidate for the Virginia legislature 
 promised the oystermen that, if elected, he would defend 
 any of them in the courts free of charge should they 
 transgress any of the state oyster laws; and every one 
 has always believed the situation to have been worse in 
 Maryland than in Virginia. 
 
 Until 1906 the oyster laws of Maryland aimed at little 
 
2i8 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 but the prevention of quarrels between tongers and 
 dredgers, and the collection of revenue by means of 
 licenses. To enforce the laws, it has been necessary to 
 support an " oyster navy." The plan of collecting a 
 revenue has always been a favorite one. Just previous 
 to the passage of the new oyster laws, the state was able 
 to collect about forty thousand dollars — at an expense of 
 more than sixty thousand. The revenue plan has usually 
 operated in this way in Maryland. A law to compel 
 culling on the beds where oysters were dredged has been 
 on the statute books for years, but it has been observed 
 only when convenient. In short, such oyster laws as 
 Maryland has possessed, have rarely been enforced. It 
 must be said, however, that on so extensive an area as 
 the Chesapeake, where public sentiment was overwhelm- 
 ingly against existing laws, their enforcement was prac- 
 tically impossible. It is an interesting problem whether 
 the provisions of the new statutes can be enforced more 
 successfully than were the old. 
 
 Many hard things, to be found in newspaper files, 
 magazines, and government reports, have been written by 
 citizens of Maryland and Virginia concerning the oyster 
 pirates of the Chesapeake, especially of their almost in- 
 credible lawlessness and cruelty, and hard as these state- 
 ments are, those who have been at all familiar with the 
 conditions in the bay in former times, will probably 
 agree with the statement of Mr. Ingersoll, who in- 
 vestigated the oyster industry previous to 1880, that he 
 believed them to be just. 
 
 Other states, in past decades, have tolerated politics as 
 bad as those of Maryland. There are still localities 
 where even dynamite and the sawed-off shotgun may be 
 used against life with comparative impunity; but the 
 
The Chesapeake 219 
 
 social conditions that obtained on the Chesapeake for 
 many years were so unique that one is quite at a loss to 
 understand how they could have escaped the attention of 
 the modern magazine story writer. During the quarter 
 of a century or more since the grim and grizzled pioneer 
 and the polite but dreadful cowboy, with his " six- 
 shooter," have become extinct, they have been celebrated 
 as typical western characters in a deluge of magazine 
 literature by eastern writers, and the flood continues un- 
 abated to this day. The equally picturesque bad man in 
 their midst has entirely escaped attention, perhaps be- 
 cause he has so recently been with them. It remains for 
 some Pacific coast writer, who has never crossed the 
 Coast Range, to exploit the wild oyster pirate of the 
 Chesapeake. There will be color for his tale in the facts 
 when he obtains them, and fiction will not be necessary. 
 
 It has been stated that shallow waters along the shore 
 lines have long been set apart by law for tonging, while 
 it is intended that dredging shall be carried on elsewhere 
 in deeper water. While tonging is slow work that can 
 only be carried on in good weather, thousands of men 
 have been engaged in it. 
 
 One of the functions of the state police is to prevent 
 dredging on the tonging grounds, but the bay is so ex- 
 tensive that a very large force would be required to ac- 
 complish it. With the pirates banded together for 
 m.utual protection, and especially under the cloak of 
 night, tonging grounds may be dredged with safety and 
 profit when they yield more than those in deeper water. 
 
 Night dredging on forbidden grounds has not always 
 been necessary. We are told, for example, that during 
 the winter of 1879-80 a large fleet of dredgers entered 
 the Rappahannock River in Virginia, and began opera- 
 
220 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 tions on the toiiging grounds. Incensed at this act, the 
 tongers made an attempt to drive them off, but the 
 dredgers were well armed and able rapidly to concentrate 
 forces when necessary. The scattered small boats of the 
 tongers were driven to cover, and for weeks obliged to 
 keep at a respectful distance. The Virginia legislature 
 being in session, voted to supply the shore men with a 
 cannon and small arms, but before these arrived, dredg- 
 ing operations had been completed, and the pirate fleet 
 had sailed away. 
 
 Tongers have always been practically helpless against 
 these raiders, but the greatest sufferers have been the few 
 bold men who have attempted to plant oysters on leased 
 bottoms in Maryland, or in Virginia, near the Maryland 
 line. Professor Brooks records the experience of a Vir- 
 ginia culturist who had incautiously leased about seventy 
 acres a short distance from Maryland waters. At the 
 expense of more than four thousand dollars, he had 
 shelled the bottom, obtained a large set of young oysters, 
 and had employed watchmen during their growth. Two 
 years after the bottom was shelled, the crop was 
 estimated at three hundred and fifty thousand bushels, 
 and valued at more than one hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand dollars. The dredgers were perfectly willing to 
 witness this wonderful demonstration of the fertility of 
 the bay under oyster culture. It proved to be a fine har- 
 vest for them. There were no inter-state complications, 
 like the threatened warfare between Louisiana and Mis- 
 sissippi some years ago over a trespass on oyster ground, 
 and there was no redress. The culturist lost a fortune, 
 and that was the end of the matter. 
 
 It is interesting to notice who these buccaneers and 
 their crews were, and what were their relations to civ- 
 
The Chesapeake 221 
 
 ilized society. In the denunciatory accounts of them by 
 their fellow citizens, that one may hnd, not all vessel 
 owners were attacked. They seemed to have had knowl- 
 edge only of the number of trips made by their cap- 
 tains. Some of the captains also are said to have been 
 honest and law-abiding, " but it is an unfortunate fact," 
 we read, " that such form a very small minority." 
 
 It may be gathered from the reports, that captains of 
 dredging vessels were forced by the demands of vessel 
 owners to disregard the oyster laws. They were re- 
 quired to deliver oysters within a limited time. That 
 meant that they must take them from the most con- 
 venient localities, and that they must dredge day or night 
 in all kinds of weather. It meant that crews were to 
 be dri\^en without mercy, and that no one should be al- 
 lowed to have any rights in the bay. Such a system re- 
 sulted in the selection of as merciless a band of pirates to 
 captain most of the vessels of the oyster fleet, as ever 
 ruled a deck on the high seas. 
 
 The cruel treatment of crews on these vessels has al- 
 ways been a frequent subject of comment, and yet there 
 were ways of getting them together. In the majority of 
 cases, when a ship-owner or a captain desired a crew of 
 seven or eight men, he simply placed an order for them 
 with a shipping agent. This person, on making a round 
 of the saloons and dives near the " basin " in Baltimore, 
 was usually able to round up a sufficient number of men, 
 often irresponsible from drink, and these he delivered 
 on deck at about two dollars a head. The only qualifica- 
 tion in the acceptance of a hand was evident muscular 
 ability — when muscles should be under control — to turn 
 the crank of a windlass. Crews of this sort — vagrants, 
 thieves, and murderers — declared in an account by a na- 
 
222 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 tive of the Chesapeake shore to be '' one of the most de- 
 praved bodies of workmen to be found in the country," 
 made good men for the work in hand. 
 
 But the worst feature of the fearful business was the 
 virtual kidnapping of newly arrived and ignorant for- 
 eigners for this killing work. Shipping agents were al- 
 lowed to meet the immigrants in New York and Phila- 
 delphia, and, with promises of pleasant and remunerative 
 empJoyment, lured them to Baltimore in large numbers, 
 and delivered them to dredging captains. There they 
 entered into an abject slavery, from which it was not pos- 
 sible to escape, at least until the end of the voyage. The 
 work was cruelly hard, being chiefly at the windlasses 
 used in drawing the heavy dredges, and in culling the 
 loads that were dumped on deck. Winter on the Chesa- 
 peake is cold and stormy, and the men were compelled to 
 work on an icy deck that was entirely exposed to wind 
 and spray. In 1880 the average pay for this was said 
 to be about eleven dollars a month. 
 
 Along the shore one hears many gruesome tales of 
 mysterious disappearances, and even of open murders 
 of members of these crews. Stories are told of unspeak- 
 able cruelties on board the vessels, and of the maroonings 
 of entire crews on isolated shores, perhaps to save the 
 amount due in wages. That such barbarities were prac- 
 tised on the bay probably few good citizens of Maryland 
 doubt, and yet complaints have been rare and redresses 
 still less numerous. Without doubt there were some 
 humane captains among the Baltimore dredgers, and 
 many such in the lower part of the state ; but the opinion 
 of those best acquainted with the conditions seems to be 
 that, as a class, they have established a record of crime 
 and cruelty that has rarely been equaled in this country. 
 
The Chesapeake 223 
 
 Conditions governing the oyster industry in Virginia 
 and Maryland are in a state of transition from depend- 
 ence on the wild crop to oyster culture. A great and 
 radical change is contemplated in the latter state, while 
 the former is slowly continuing progress inaugurated 
 years ago. 
 
 There are se\'eral reasons for the slow progress of 
 oyster culture in Virginia. The industry has reached that 
 stage where its natural beds are as much a curse as a 
 blessing. According to the Baylor survey of 1892, these 
 beds covered an area of two hundred and twenty-six 
 thousand acres. These have dwindled to small propor- 
 tions; their size cannot be accurately estimated. Over 
 large areas oysters are scattered, and many of the orig- 
 inal rocks are now quite barren. Yet nearly every one 
 clings desperately to the idea that the future industry de- 
 pends on their preservation as natural beds. 
 
 The result is that all the energies of the state are ex- 
 pended on policing this territory — in an attempt to en- 
 force the close-season, and to prevent the sale of small 
 oysters by tongers to planters — instead of affording some 
 protection to the oyster culturist, who is making a seri- 
 ous efifort to succeed. As it is, the oyster " navy " is too 
 small to enforce the laws on a quarter of the public ter- 
 ritory alone. 
 
 Another reason for slow development is the absence 
 of a triangulation survey of barren bottoms available for 
 oyster culture, and the consequent insecurity of title. The 
 oyster laws are so confused and so conflicting, contain 
 so many exceptions and special and local provisions, that 
 no one has a definite idea of his rights. 
 
 The state is committed to the plan of raising the great- 
 est possible direct revenue from the Industry, and gives 
 
224 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 practically no return of any sort. This will prove to be 
 a short-sighted policy. 
 
 The fear of an oyster monopoly is very general and 
 very acute. Not enough bottom is leased to one in- 
 dividual to invite extensive oyster culture, and non- 
 resident capital is not allowed to develop any of the ex- 
 tensive and barren areas in the bay. All of the oyster 
 producing states have at some time placed this prohibi- 
 tion on the oyster industry — but never on one conducted 
 on dry land. It would be interesting to know what is 
 the economic principle involved in the discrimination. 
 
 While there is a considerable area covered by planted 
 oysters in Virginia, the chief source of supply is still the 
 natural rocks or beds. Planting is not at present- in- 
 creasing, and partly for the reason that the business of 
 rearing seed for sale has not yet been established. Plant- 
 ing in the deeper parts of the bay has not yet been given 
 a fair trial. True oyster culture — the capture of the 
 young on collectors and its rearing for market — has been 
 tried, and with success, but is not yet extensively prac- 
 tised. 
 
 Criticisms of the Virginia industry should lead no 
 one to be pessimistic concerning it. In actual production 
 the state is one of the great leaders. Large and flourish- 
 ing packing houses are numerous, and some of the 
 brands marketed by them are of the greatest excellence. 
 
 Methods of state control, that change only with the 
 gradual modification of public opinion, are slowly work- 
 ing through that series of experiments to the conclusions 
 that other states have already reached. Communities, 
 like individuals, seldom are benefited by the experiences 
 of other communities. But the time probably will soon 
 come in Virginia when dependence will be placed on a 
 
The Chesapeake 225 
 
 cultivated rather than on a natural crop, and to the 
 great benefit and satisfaction of every one concerned. 
 
 Public attention is now attracted to Maryland. For 
 so long a period the first among the oyster producing 
 states, it was the last to recognize the importance of 
 oyster culture. The reason for its long delay is that its 
 natural supply has been astonishingly great, and public 
 opinion did not force a change in method until these 
 natural oyster nurseries were very greatly depleted, and 
 on the way to early extinction. 
 
 In April, 1906, the Governor of Maryland signed an 
 act " to establish and promote the industry of oyster 
 culture in Maryland; to define, survey and mark natural 
 oyster beds, bars and rocks, to prescribe penalties for the 
 infringement of its provisions, and to establish a per- 
 manent shell-fish commission." 
 
 Previously, an act known as the " five-acre law " al- 
 lowed citizens of the state to select a small plot on bar- 
 ren bottoms for planting oysters, " twelve months 
 peaceable possession " to constitute a sufficient title 
 thereto. Although many such small tracts were taken 
 at one time or another, the bedding or culture of oysters 
 practically did not exist in the waters of the state. 
 
 Among the features of the act of 1906 may be noticed 
 the following : — 
 
 No non-resident, or any corporation or joint stock 
 company will be permitted to lease or acquire by assign- 
 ment any lands for oyster planting or cultivation. 
 
 All natural beds or rocks are excluded from the 
 operation of the act. 
 
 A Shell-fish Commission is created. 
 
 A triangulation survey of natural beds {but not of 
 bottoms for lease) was provided for. 
 
S26 Our Food Moliusks 
 
 All bottoms not included in natural beds were set aside 
 for lease. 
 
 Boundaries of natural beds, as determined by the Com- 
 mission, may be decided by Judges of Circuit Courts. 
 
 Within the territorial limits of any of the counties, no 
 person shall lease or acquire more than ten acres. One 
 hundred acres may be acquired in the bay outside county 
 lines. 
 
 The terms of lease are twenty years, rental being one 
 
 dollar an acre for the first and second years, two dollars 
 
 ■ for the third, three dollars for the fourth, four dollars 
 
 for the fifth, and five dollars a year for the remainder of 
 
 the term. 
 
 No right is given to redeem or purchase land so leased. 
 
 Severe penalties are provided for injury to state buoys, 
 and for the theft of oysters from leased bottoms. 
 
 The state fisheries force shall prevent violations of the 
 act. 
 
 The Commission appointed by the Governor was of 
 great efficiency. One of its members, a professional 
 biologist who had had extensive experience in oyster 
 work and a complete knowledge of the entire subject of 
 oyster culture, took charge of the field work. 
 
 By an act of Congress, it was directed that members of 
 the Bureau of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the 
 Bureau of Fishes, should aid the Maryland Shell-fish 
 Commission in making the survey of the natural oyster 
 beds in Maryland. This aid was promptly given, the ex- 
 penses being met by a special appropriation from the na- 
 tional treasury. It is a fact not generally noticed, per- 
 haps, that federal aid in oyster investigation and sur- 
 veys, has frequently been extended to states, which, in 
 some instances, have profited largely by it. 
 
The Chesapeake 227 
 
 It is safe to say that no natural beds have ever been 
 so carefully examined and charted as have those of 
 Maryland. Their limits have been drawn liberally in 
 favor of tongers and dredgers, and are marked by per- 
 manent buoys. The Shell-fish Commission has pub- 
 lished expert advice in regard to specific areas open for 
 lease, on which conditions for planting or for seed collec- 
 tion seem to be favorable. They have designated other 
 areas as of doubtful value. They have given reasons for 
 some previous failures under the " five-acre law " — due 
 to ignorance of biological conditions necessary for the 
 attachment of spat. By experiment, they have shown 
 to doubters among the oystermen that abundant seed 
 may be captured on collectors in the Chesapeake as well 
 as in Long Island Sound. They have done everything 
 that any similar body of men could do, under the condi- 
 tions, to inaugurate a new and prosperous era for Mary- 
 land. 
 
 But some of the legislative conditions probably are 
 anything but favorable, and it is safe to predict that 
 oyster culture will have a very slow growth in the state 
 until changes are made. Experience has shown that 
 oyster culture which shall produce the best stock, and be 
 able to market it with certainty when it is demanded, can 
 only be carried on by large interests. With several 
 thousand acres, on which natural conditions vary, an in- 
 dividual or a company may obtain a set, transplant it to 
 growing beds, move it again, if necessary, to fattening 
 grounds, always have oysters ready for market, operate 
 vessels tliat can obtain them quickly and at any time, and 
 thus keep the market steady and certain. Those on 
 whom perfect reliance can be placed in the delivery of 
 the best goods, will always have the best markets. 
 
228 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 Under the present system, Maryland can have only 
 small planters, who may succeed one year and fail an- 
 other. Holdings are not large enough to warrant the 
 employment of suitable boats. Most of the planted 
 oysters will be tonged or " scraped " after the old 
 fashion, and only in good weather is such work possible. 
 If leases should become numerous, much litigation will 
 arise because boundaries are insufficiently surveyed and 
 charted. Prices will rise and fall as many or few bring 
 in their harvest, and these small and poor planters will 
 have the greatest difficulty in protecting themselves 
 against dredging vessels. 
 
 The foremost desire is still for direct revenue to the 
 state. The direct revenue system of Rhode Island is 
 very attractive about the Chesapeake, but Narragansett 
 Bay is small enough to be policed efficiently, and cap- 
 ital is invested only because the state offers unlimited ter- 
 ritory and has allowed much of it to be taken by non- 
 residents. Many of the essential conditions are differ- 
 ent in Rhode Island, and it is doubtful if, even there, the 
 state profits by its industry as does Connecticut, in which 
 bottoms are sold, but where taxable property has de- 
 veloped indirectly under the great increase of the oyster 
 business. 
 
 But in the course of time — after the natural oyster beds 
 have been destroyed — the tonger and the dredger of the 
 natural crop will have disappeared. All opposition to 
 oyster culture having vanished, the Chesapeake, rich with 
 food for an unlimited oyster growth, free from the mpst 
 destructive of oyster enemies, with its safe and unvary- 
 ing natural conditions, will prove to be of greater value 
 to the people on its shores than mountains full of silver 
 and gold. 
 
THE NORTH CAROLINA FIELD 
 
 XAMINING a map of North Carolina, one 
 finds a long, narrow strip of land that, ex- 
 tending southward from the Virginia shore, 
 bounds more than half the coast line of the 
 state. This sandy barrier, more than two hundred miles 
 long, and formed by the action of waves, is wide and per- 
 manent enough efifectually to shut ofT from the sea a 
 series of large, shallow sounds. On the north is the nar- 
 row Currituck Sound. This communicates at its south- 
 ern end with Albemarle Sound, that reaches inward from 
 
 229 
 
230 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 the ocean for a distance of sixty miles. Still farther to 
 the south, and connected with Albemarle, lie the more 
 extensive waters of Pamlico Sound. Continuing down 
 the coast, one finds the much narrower Core and Bogue 
 sounds. 
 
 The map shows that the ocean barrier effectually shuts 
 off the two northern sounds from the sea. Opening into 
 Pamlico Sound, however, are two large, and several 
 smaller inlets, and through them so much salt water en- 
 ters, that characteristic marine shore animals and plants 
 are found growing in abundance on its bottom. Be- 
 tween Core and Bogue sounds, also, is a large inlet, and 
 the waters of these are salt. 
 
 One other physical feature of the region, shown on the 
 map, is of great importance in a study of its biological 
 conditions. It is that several large and many small 
 rivers enter the sounds on their western shores. As one 
 might surmise from an examination of the map alone, 
 Currituck and Albemarle sounds are nearly fresh, and 
 oysters and clams are not able to live in them. 
 
 But oysters do not breed readily — indeed, are not able 
 naturally to maintain themselves — in water having the 
 salinity of the open sea. Successful growth demands 
 w^ithin somewhat narrow limits, a mixture of sea and 
 fresh waters, and it is because these natural requirements 
 are very nearly met in Pamlico Sound and near the 
 Bogue Sound inlet, that they become profitable fields of 
 study to one interested in the future development of the 
 oyster industry. 
 
 The coast of South Carolina is quite different from 
 that which has just been noticed, in that most of it is un- 
 broken. At the city of Charleston and just above the 
 Georgia line, however, there are bays with many rami- 
 
The North Carolina Field 231 
 
 fications, and in these there are natural oyster heds. 
 Though the oysters are generally of poor quality, several 
 canneries have been established in the state to supply a 
 local market. The possible production of these bays un- 
 der culture methods merits attention, but reference to it 
 •will be omitted from this account, only the larger and 
 more promising field in North Carolina being considered. 
 
 This latter in some respects is strikingly different from 
 the fields farther north on the Atlantic coast. It also 
 differs from the oyster areas of the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 in most ways, perhaps, to its disadvantage. It is with- 
 out doubt the poorest of the large Atlantic oyster 
 grounds, and yet it is valuable, and under culture meth- 
 ods fostered by wise legislation, may in the future be- 
 come much more so. 
 
 The map will show much irregularity in the western 
 shore-line of North Carolina's oyster area. Many bays, 
 or, as they are called locally, rivers or creeks, lead into 
 broader waters from surrounding marshes. In these 
 rivers are usually many oysters, and their peculiar posi- 
 tion or distribution would excite the interest of a north- 
 ern oysterman ; for they are found only along the river 
 banks, and are very generally absent from the bottoms. 
 Not only is this true, but the majority of them lie within 
 the limits of the high and low tide lines, and as a conse- 
 quence are exposed to the air for long periods each day. 
 The average vertical distance between tide levels over 
 this field is about three feet. 
 
 When the bank of a river or creek rises abruptly from 
 the low tide mark, a narrow line of oysters, all exposed 
 at low tide, will be found along its surface. But often 
 the banks are so low that the rising water flows over 
 them and covers an extensive area on each side, thus 
 
232 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 forming tidal flats that may be partially or completely 
 covered with oysters (Figure 49). 
 
 Islands are formed in many of the channels, often so 
 numerous that there remain only narrow streams be- 
 tween them. Though these rise only a few inches above 
 the high water line, they are frequently covered with 
 grass in the center. Around their margins are oyster 
 fringes, here, as elsewhere, extending from the low to 
 the high tide level. 
 
 It has recently been shown by some very interesting 
 observations conducted by Dr. Caswell Grave, that these 
 islands are formed by the oysters themselves. In the 
 beginning of the process there may have been an open 
 channel, the river banks alone being fringed with 
 oysters. A river bank, of course, does not lie in a per- 
 fectly straight line. Here and there parts of it project 
 into the current. Now oysters growing on such points 
 are very much favored, because the currents are a little 
 more rapid there. This means that aeration is better, 
 and especially that a greater amount of food is brought. 
 Consequently these favored oysters grow more rapidly 
 than others. Their number, also, increases more rap- 
 idly here, for the reason that the more active current 
 keeps their shells comparatively clean, thus affording ob- 
 jects for the attachment of the young. A greater number 
 of swimming embryos, also, will be brought to the pro- 
 jecting point by the swifter current than to other parts 
 of the river bank. From time to time, winds, waves or 
 ice, break clusters of oysters from the point. They roll 
 down toward the channel, many of the oysters continu- 
 ing to live and grow. Year after year these clusters ac- 
 cumulate on the bottom beyond the point. Sediment 
 gradually settles among the lower shells, while new gen- 
 
■K' 
 
 
 -^1 
 
 "^ ■ ■■•■ A' ifc ' . 
 
 y ^^"^^HB 
 
 M 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 Klj^Ksi!?*'*--' 
 
 
 
 mt 
 
 ^^^'« 
 
 ^? 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 ■hn^ 
 
 ^gg 
 
 Bis^sSf^l^tBlfSlti 
 
 T^JJJiJ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 
 
 Fig. 48. Laborator\- employees tonging and culling clustered 
 oysters in Louisiana. Note the character of tongs and 
 cullin.g board. 
 
 Fig. 49. Natural growth of "coon oyster" clusters between 
 tide lines in Soutii Carolina. Professor Bashford Dean, 
 U. S. F. C. Bulletin. 
 
The North Carolina Field 233 
 
 erations of oysters attach to the upper ones, so that 
 finally the living oysters are raised first to the low and 
 then nearly to the high tide line. In this manner, the 
 point, advancing on the foundation that it itself prepares, 
 thrusts itself in the form of a narrow reef out into the 
 current, and its advance will continue until the direction 
 of the current is changed, or its force is checked. 
 
 In the meantime, the current has hecome so slow at the 
 point on the shore from which the reef began to grow, 
 that most of the oysters in that locality have died. 
 There is here, then, no longer a living crust of oysters 
 on the reef to protect it from erosion, and gradually the 
 rising and falling tides wear through it, and cut it down 
 until the remainder of the reef has lost all connection 
 with the shore from which it arose, and has become an 
 island. This widens somewhat, waves now and then 
 throw detached oysters on to its center, floating matter 
 catches there, grass begins to grow, and it gradually rises 
 above the ordinary high tide line. Around its margins 
 oysters still continue to grow between the tide lines. 
 
 Such a process requires many years for its completion, 
 and even after an island is formed, it probably is still sub- 
 jected to slow but unceasing changes that are in some 
 cases constructive, in others destructive. In many of the 
 bays or rivers, all stages of growth, from the small and 
 inconspicuous point to the fully developed island, may 
 be observed. 
 
 To one familiar with other fields where oysters never 
 are found fixed between the tide lines, but exist only on 
 bottoms that are continually immersed, these peculiarly 
 elevated reefs, and bottoms so generally barren, are very 
 curious. Two questions at once arise in his mind. 
 First, why do not oysters naturally establish themselves 
 
234 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 on beaches and flats in the Chesapeake or Long Island 
 waters, as they do here? All Atlantic oysters are of one 
 species, and in all regions their habits are probably 
 identical; yet in one place they grow and reproduce on 
 periodically exposed flats, and in the other, only on the 
 bottom below tide lines. The answer is that they do at- 
 tach between the tide lines in the northern fields, but that 
 very early in the terrible northern winter, every such un- 
 fortunate perishes from cold. 
 
 But a second question is not so easily answered. Why, 
 in these marginal waters of the Carolina sounds, do 
 oysters not more often appear on the bottoms below the 
 tide lines? Farther north it is only in such a position 
 that they establish themselves. Several suggestions 
 have been made concerning conditions that might ex- 
 plain the phenomenon. The most plausible is that the 
 water is so heavily burdened with silt, frequently depos- 
 ited, that very young oysters are smothered, even when 
 not actually covered by it, possibly, it has been suggested, 
 because their gills become encumbered with mud par- 
 ticles. This probably is not true. The gill of the adult 
 can free itself of any quantity of mud, as may be shown 
 by experiment. Adult oysters sometimes survive when 
 deposits have been so heavy as to cover them to a depth 
 of several inches, the gill currents keeping an opening 
 through the mud like the burrow of a clam. The gills 
 of the young probably are not less capable of keeping 
 their surfaces clean. 
 
 The fall of silt in some waters may, of course, be so 
 heavy as to cover, and thus to smother, recently attached 
 oysters; but even when less heavy, it may, when long 
 continued, lead to their death, not by smothering, or 
 preventing the oxygenation of the blood, but by starv- 
 
The North Carolina Field 235 
 
 ing the young bodies that have not yet stored reserve 
 food in tlieir tissues (see Chapter IV). The mere peri- 
 odical sprinkling of young oysters with silt is probably 
 not so destructive as it is generally supposed to be. 
 
 It may be noted that other waters than these, that 
 successfully support oyster life, are also muddy. Silt is 
 constantly deposited over a great part of the European 
 oyster territory. The waters of the Chesapeake are 
 muddy. The finest of sediment is at frequent intervals 
 settling to the bottom about the Mississippi delta, where 
 flourishing oyster beds below low water are everywhere 
 present. In the light of these facts it may seem strange 
 that only here oysters should be generally absent from 
 the bottom. 
 
 It will be shown presently that in these rivers oysters 
 do establish themselves below the low water level, along 
 the sides of reefs. They are confined to those localities, 
 and the bottoms elsewhere are barren. Such segrega- 
 tions are formed on shells that drop from the reefs above 
 and pave the bottom, no matter how soft it may be. Not 
 only is this true, but the young attach to these shells and 
 grow. This proves that, while the water is often ex- 
 cessively muddy, not enough silt is deposited to prevent 
 oyster growth when the bottom is once paved. 
 
 The bottoms below tide lines are very generally barren, 
 then, only because, away from the immediate vicinity of 
 oyster reefs, there is no natural deposit of any foreign 
 objects to harden il. Experiments show that if a suffi- 
 cient number of oyster shells or other hard bodies are 
 spread on the softest of these bottoms during the breed- 
 ing season, so as to afford surfaces for attachment, beds 
 of oysters form on them, and spread at the margins, one 
 generation growing on the shells of another. On these 
 
236 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 river bottoms there have never been, under natural con- 
 ditions, any such bodies that might afford attachment, 
 and thus serve as a nucleus for oyster growth. Along 
 the north coast are stones, and gravel, and the shells of 
 mollusks; and about the Mississippi delta, vast numbers 
 of shells of two or three species of small bivalves that 
 inhabit the mud, came naturally, in certain localities, to 
 lie on the surfaces of the softest bottoms. On these, 
 natural beds became established. 
 
 There are very extensive oyster beds on the banks of 
 these small bays or rivers. Because they are exposed at 
 low water, these oysters could easily be gathered. As a 
 matter of fact, they are seldom disturbed, for they are 
 not marketable. They have been used as a fertilizer, 
 and burned for the lime in their shells. A few of the 
 oyster establishments occasionally succeed in disposing 
 of them in cans, but from the commercial point of view 
 they are almost valueless on account of their small size, 
 elongated form, and poor condition. 
 
 To one who has seen oysters only from artificial beds, 
 where they lie spread out in an even layer, these present 
 a strange appearance. What first attracts attention is 
 that they are in clusters of various sizes. If one were 
 to attempt to lift a cluster from the bank, he would find 
 that its base extended down into the mud so deep as to 
 afford a secure anchorage. A vigorous pull may dis- 
 lodge the whole mass, though the lower part of it may be 
 buried under many inches of soft mud. It will then be 
 discovered that the cluster of living oysters that was ex- 
 posed above the bottom, is firmly attached to a number 
 of empty oyster shells below them, the whole being fused 
 into a compact mass. The shells of living and dead 
 oysters thus bound together may number scores. 
 
The North Carolina Field 237 
 
 The explanation for such a relation between so many 
 individuals is simple. A single large oyster shell may 
 lie on the surface of the mud near living oysters. If it 
 is free from slime when oyster embryos are swimming 
 in the water, it affords a surface for the attachment of 
 one or more of them. Usually several establish them- 
 selves on it. Not all of these live, and many perish 
 early. A few continue to live and extend their bodies 
 upward into the current. Only those that grow upward 
 can survive, for the currents steadily deposit silt obtained 
 from the land. Slowly the original shell is buried, and 
 finally disappears, and the mud creeps up to the younger 
 individuals that it bears. If their bodies are growing 
 outward from its sides, they, too, are covered. Again 
 in the breeding season, a second generation attaches it- 
 self to the exposed portions of the shells of the first. If 
 sediment has collected rapidly, they become fixed only 
 to the exposed edges of the shells; if slowly, to any part 
 of them, in this case forming a larger and broader 
 cluster. 
 
 Year after year the process continues. The earlier 
 generations are buried and die, but still their empty shells 
 lift up their descendants into the life-giving streams 
 above. The time finally comes when the earlier shells 
 are completely dissolved, if the mud contains acids 
 formed by the decay of organic matter, but it is often 
 possible to distinguish in the cluster uprooted from the 
 mud, six or seven generations of oysters. 
 
 The oysters of these river banks are of little value 
 commercially, because of their form and condition. Most 
 of them are narrow and greatly elongated, and this is due 
 entirely to crowding. Like clams in small and irregular 
 spaces betv/een stones, their growing bodies conform to 
 
238 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 the outlines of the available space. The shell is some- 
 times greatly distorted. Crowded oysters growing 
 parallel with each other on the top of a cluster can 
 only elongate, if they grow at all. Oysters, when not 
 crowded or confined, assume a rounded form, though 
 when allowed to become very old and large, they 
 normally begin to elongate. The soft parts of densely 
 clustered oysters are usually thin and watery, probably 
 because food is not sufficient for all members of a 
 cluster. This is especially true of oysters exposed at 
 low tide, for they are able to obtain food only when 
 immersed. 
 
 Such elongated forms are called " raccoon " or " coon 
 oysters," either from their fancied resemblance to a 
 raccoon's paw or from the fact that these animals frequent 
 the beaches where they are found, presumably in search 
 of them. 
 
 Clusters of coon oysters are not peculiar to the Caro- 
 lina sounds. Where beds are not frequently tonged, 
 they are found in Louisiana, and would form readily in 
 northern oyster waters if left undisturbed. A cluster on 
 a hard, clean bottom would assume a roughly hemispher- 
 ical, instead of an elongated form, because young oysters 
 attaching to the sides, as well as to the top of the grow- 
 ing cluster, would be able to live and grow. These, also, 
 not being so often forced to grow parallel with each other 
 as in the case of those being covered with mud, would 
 not so often be elongated. 
 
 A question of economic importance presents itself 
 here. As the elongated form assumed by clustered 
 oysters is due only to close crowding, would such oysters 
 become large and well rounded if separated from the 
 clusters and spread on a suitable bottom? Might not 
 
The North Carolina Field 
 
 239 
 
 these useless coon oysters be converted into marketable 
 forms ? 
 
 As a result of observations recently made in North 
 Carolina waters by members of the staff of investigators 
 of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, it may be answered 
 that the larger coon oysters are not able to make much 
 improvement in form. But it has been shown that in- 
 
 '^^"^^^ 
 
 Fig. 50. — Upper row, young oysters beginning to elongate from 
 pressure in thick clusters. Lower row shows rapid improve- 
 ment in form after liberation from cluster. Outlines from 
 photographs by O. C. Glaser, U. S. F. C. Report. 
 
 dividuals less than two inches in length, even though 
 they may have begun to elongate, do respond, on being 
 freed from clusters, by assuming the desired normal out- 
 line and size. This is a fact of some importance, for it 
 proves that seed oysters, in case of a poor set upon col- 
 lectors, may safely be taken from these abundant 
 clusters. 
 
 The results of such an experiment are represented in 
 Figure 50. The individuals of the upper row were 
 taken from clusters, and had begun to elongate. The 
 actual length of the larger ones was about one and three- 
 fourths inches. The lov/er group represents the same 
 
240 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 oysters after a growth of but two months on a favorable 
 bottom. They have not greatly increased in size, the 
 larger ones being about two and a half inches in length; 
 but the significant fact shown in their outlines, is that 
 immediately after being freed from their crowded con- 
 dition, they began to widen and assume the normal form. 
 
 It may appear from some of the statements made 
 that the marginal waters of the sounds would be of 
 little value if oyster culture were to be practised in 
 North Carolina, but though clustered oysters exposed at 
 low tide are not marketable, they would become in- 
 valuable in case artificial beds were constructed in the 
 sounds, because of the vast numbers of oyster embryos 
 that they produce. These embryos, suspending them- 
 selves in the water for many hours, may be carried to 
 some distance by currents before they finally settle to 
 the bottom and make the attempt to attach themselves. 
 How far, in extreme cases, they may thus be transported 
 before becoming attached, no one is able to say. Cases 
 are known in which they have been carried several miles. 
 But spat collectors spread on bottoms near the reefs, 
 judicially selected with reference to tide currents that 
 might bear the embryos from them, would, in most sea- 
 sons, be able to gather a supply of young that, under 
 normal conditions, settle on the soft mud and perish. 
 
 But in still another way these natural reefs are already 
 valuable, for it is from them that the existing tonging 
 grounds have arisen. Two agencies, one natural, the 
 other artificial, have been at work on the natural reefs 
 to form beds of another sort, on which a considerable 
 number of marketable oysters are found. 
 
 If one were carefully to observe the reef oysters 
 through the various seasons of the year, he would dis- 
 
The North Carolina Field 241 
 
 cover that now and then certain of thcni break from the 
 reef and roll down the steep sides into the channel. This 
 occurs when storm waves at high tide dash against the 
 clusters, breaking or uprooting them. In winter, the 
 grinding action of ice adds to the number of oysters lying 
 on the deeper bottom below the tide lines. The ac- 
 cumulation is made slowly, but continues from year to 
 year, and finally a firm shell bottom, sometimes many 
 yards in width, is formed parallel to the sides of the 
 reef. On this are found not only clusters that have 
 rolled down, but single oysters scattered here and there, 
 which, having grown without crowding, have become 
 large and rounded. In the breeding season, swimming 
 young attach to these deeper shells as well as to those be- 
 tween tide lines, and in this way the deeper bed grows 
 rapidly. As one would expect, these, if left to grow 
 undisturbed, become as completely clustered and worth- 
 less as the reef oysters above them. But wind, waves, 
 and frost, thus operating to form a new bed, have scat- 
 tered over it so many single oysters that they begin to be 
 sought by tongers, and in this way is introduced the 
 more important agency that makes the tonging ground 
 more extensive and valuable. 
 
 Consciously or unconsciously the tongers begin to 
 practise a very successful method of oyster culture. They 
 lift from the bottom numbers of empty shells, small 
 clusters, and a few single oysters of large size. Because 
 the clusters are comparatively small, they contain some 
 individuals of good shape and size. These are separated 
 from the others on a culling board carried by the boat, 
 and the empty shells and small oysters from the broken 
 clusters are returned to the bottom. Two important re- 
 sults follow this practice. The area of the shelled bot- 
 
242 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 torn is increased, and clusters are broken apart, the num- 
 ber of single small oysters on the bottom being rapidly 
 multiplied. Oysters probably are not culled on the 
 ground with the purpose of extending or improving the 
 beds, but because the waste material from culling is too 
 great in volume to be carried to the shore. But here is 
 only another demonstration of the fact that the shelling 
 of the bottom and the breaking and scattering of clusters 
 soon produces a valuable oyster bed. 
 
 The total area of the existing river tonging grounds 
 is so limited that they have never been of great com- 
 mercial importance, and in recent years have become 
 much less prolific than formerly, because of excessive 
 tonging. Before the opening of canning establishments 
 like those at Beaufort, it was sometimes possible for a 
 tonger to gather in one day thirty or even forty bushels 
 of oysters from these river beds; but the canneries so 
 stimulated the fishing that at the present time the max- 
 imum catch is not more than fifteen bushels. The price 
 received for these oysters, also, is small. When sold at 
 the canneries, a bushel seldom brings the tonger more 
 than twelve cents. In certain seasons, however, he is 
 able to sell his oysters for immediate consumption, and 
 then may receive as much as twenty-five cents a bushel 
 for them. At best, the tonger's business is a poor one. 
 
 Experiment also has shown that on many of the tong- 
 ing grounds natural conditions are so variable that all 
 the care that may be given to growing oysters would be 
 unavailing. Variations in the density of the water, 
 especially, are such that sometimes, even for several suc- 
 cessive seasons, oysters become so poor as to be quite un- 
 salable. 
 
 While river or shore grounds, with their reefs and tong- 
 
The North Carolina Field 243 
 
 ing bottoms, possibly may never produce many market- 
 able oysters, conditions are different in the broader 
 water. In Pamlico Sound, a body of water approx- 
 imately sixty miles long by twenty-five miles wide, the 
 possibilities of future oyster culture seem to be great. 
 Opening through the spit that separates it from the 
 ocean, are five or six inlets of sufficient size to give the 
 sound waters a tidal rise and fall of three or four feet. 
 There are, however, no tidal currents except near the 
 inlets, but variable wind currents, often having a velocity 
 of half a mile an hour, are frequently developed, and 
 serve the purpose of carrying food to extensive oyster 
 beds in various parts of the sound. The greater part of 
 the bottom is of hard sand, covered by a thin layer of 
 mud and organic material. The water is shallow, sel- 
 dom attaining a depth of more than twenty feet. Here 
 and there are extensive tracts at a distance from shore 
 over which there are less than ten feet of water. Waves 
 drag the bottom during severe storms, and sand thus 
 shifted where oysters are growing destroys them in 
 great numbers. 
 
 The history of the oyster industry in Pamlico Sound 
 is a record of the usual series of events. Natural beds 
 were discovered, dredging became excessive, the beds 
 were soon impoverished, many of them being completely 
 destroyed, and the ruin of a large natural source of 
 wealth was begun. All this occurred much more rap- 
 idly than in Chesapeake Bay — a fortunate circumstance 
 in one way, because it is the usually necessary prelim- 
 inary to oyster culture. 
 
 In the winter of 1887-8 a survey of the oyster grounds 
 of the sound was made by Lieutenant Winslow, U. S. N.. 
 and many extensive oyster beds, before unknown, were 
 
244 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 charted at this time. There had come a great dechne in 
 the yield of the Chesapeake. In the year 1889 the de- 
 mand greatly increased, and the attention of Baltimore 
 packers was drawn to this newly discovered source of 
 supply made known through Winslow's survey. Many 
 of them sent their vessels south to " develop " the new 
 territory. Large quantities of oysters were dredged and 
 sent to Baltimore, where they were marketed by can- 
 ners and dealers in raw oysters as the product of Ches- 
 apeake Bay. 
 
 Pamlico Sound oysters were inferior to those taken 
 from the Chesapeake, chiefly because they were from 
 beds that had never been dredged or extensively tonged. 
 Having grown undisturbed, they were clustered, but 
 because the bottom was hard, they were not so extremely 
 elongated as on the river reefs, and many were large 
 and of good shape. 
 
 The appearance of the Chesapeake dredgers made a 
 great and sudden change in the modest industry of 
 North Carolina. Previous to the year 1889 oysters had 
 been gathered only from very shallow water by means uf 
 primitive, short-handled, wooden-toothed rakes. From 
 all the waters of the state the number taken had seldom 
 exceeded a hundred thousand bushels. Competition in 
 the markets with other states had been impossible, and 
 only local needs had been met. 
 
 But now there had come a great general demand with 
 high prices. There had suddenly appeared a number of 
 experienced oystermen with implements entirely new to 
 the region. The native tongers for the first time learned 
 of the long-handled, basket-like, iron-headed tongs used 
 in the Chesapeake, and they soon profited by the knowl- 
 edge. Formerly they had been content to fish within a 
 
The North Carolina Field 245 
 
 mile or two of the shore in very shallow water, but the 
 native fishermen soon followed their more venturesome 
 visitors farther into the sound, where many new and 
 extensive beds were discovered. In a short time the 
 tonging industry became an extensive and important one. 
 While much of it was carried on by the non-residents, 
 local interest in the business was also greatly stimulated. 
 
 The really important matter, however, was the in- 
 troduction of the dredge to these waters, where previ- 
 ously it had been unknown. Having found an oyster 
 bed on such a hard, smooth bottom, the captain of a 
 Maryland pungy knew how to load it rapidly. The seri- 
 ous question at first was in regard to the number and 
 extent of oyster beds; but as the work of the dredgers 
 progressed, new beds were continually discovered for 
 several years, until many times the number indicated in 
 Winslow's report was known. Without doubt the early 
 hopes of the Baltimore dredgers were more than realized 
 for some time. But if any entertained the idea that 
 Pamlico Sound would continue to produce oysters as 
 the Chesapeake had done, while subjected to the rapacious 
 method of dredging employed, they were disappointed. 
 There is but one possible result from su-ch methods. 
 It was long delayed in the Chesapeake, because of its 
 unequaled fertility, but it was not long delayed here. 
 
 A few statistical statements will tell the story of the 
 rise and decline of the oyster fisheries of North Carolina 
 after the advent of the Maryland oystermen. 
 
 For some years before the survey of Winslow, there 
 had been kept a more or less accurate record of the num- 
 ber of bushels of oysters taken by residents from the 
 waters of the state. From this it appears that it rarely 
 exceeded a hundred thousand bushels, and was often 
 
246 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 much less. In 1890 the resident oystermen alone sold ^ 
 914,130 bushels — probably quite ten times the average 
 number formerly gathered. But during this one season, 
 the non-resident dredgers, who had excited all this in- 
 dustry among the local oystermen, gathered and carried 
 away a much larger number, of which no record was 
 made. The outsiders had now come not only from the 
 Chesapeake, but also from Delaware and New Jersey, 
 and their dredging vessels numbered at least two hun- 
 dred and fifty. It has been estimated that in this year 
 they obtained at least 1,800,000 bushels from Pamlico 
 Sound. 
 
 When these facts were understood by the people of the 
 state, they naturally felt very strongly that they were 
 being despoiled by outsiders of great wealth belonging 
 to them alone, and before another oyster season had 
 come, drastic laws were passed that prohibited all dredg- 
 ing by non-residents, and shortened the season for the 
 taking of oysters by resident oystermen. The result of 
 the enforcement of these laws exceeded all expectations, 
 as is shown by the fact that the number of bushels mar- 
 keted during the season ending in 1894 was only sixty 
 thousand — less than the average of the earlier years, 
 when only wooden tongs were employed. But still the 
 laws were retained, and in the season ending in 1897, but 
 forty thousand bushels were reported as having been 
 taken. 
 
 Of course, such a degree of stagnation made it evi- 
 dent that a mistake had been made, and in that year the 
 open season was lengthened. The wisdom of the change 
 was proved during the following season, when 858,818 
 bushels were marketed. Very much encouraged by this 
 showing, with the demand for oysters increasing, the 
 
The North Carolina Field 247 
 
 oystermen made great preparations for the season of 
 1898-9. A large number of dredging vessels and tong- 
 ing boats began work with its opening and continued to 
 its close. The total number of oysters marketed was 
 greater than ever before, 1,559,000 bushels being cred- 
 ited to the dredgers, and 900,000 to the tongers. 
 
 Naturally, hopes for the season of 1899- 1900 were 
 high, but it brought disappointment, for dredgers and 
 tongers together succeeded in gathering about 1,900,000 
 bushels, a number far below that expected. In many 
 cases dredgers were not able to pay expenses by their 
 catch. The season's work clearly developed the fact 
 that the source of supply was limited. The optimism 
 of the previous years, that could see nothing but an in- 
 exhaustible supply, gave way to the fear, in many minds, 
 that the beds were being destroyed by excessive dredging. 
 
 Another explanation for the decrease was offered, 
 however. In the months of August and October of the 
 year 1899, terrific southeast gales had torn the bottom, 
 and had cast upon the west and northwest shores of the 
 sound large numbers of oysters from shallower beds. 
 It also covered many shore beds with mud and sand. It 
 was asserted that waves in the open sound had been 
 large enough to drag bottom, and that shifting sand had 
 thus covered and destroyed oysters enough to account 
 for the great decrease in their number on the beds. 
 
 In January and February of the year 1899, the United 
 States and North Carolina Fish Commissions united in 
 an effort to determine the causes of the partial failures 
 of the fishing reported earlier in the season. The in- 
 vestigation showed that tlie storms had indeed made 
 many changes. In some localities, where destruction 
 had been greatest, as many as twenty per cent, of the 
 
248 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 oysters had been covered with sand in quantities suffi- 
 cient to kill them. 
 
 But it was shown with equal certainty that the beds 
 had been reduced, and in some cases almost completely 
 destroyed, by excessive dredging, and that this had been 
 much more harmful than the storms. It v^as stated in 
 one of the reports on this investigation that for two or 
 three years everything that came up in the dredges of the 
 oystermen had been taken on board and carried to the can- 
 neries, where the culling had been done. Culled shells, 
 often bearing young oysters, had been heaped on the 
 shore in great piles, and yet the law provided that culling 
 should be done where oysters were dredged, empty shells 
 and small oysters to be returned to the bottom. The re- 
 sponsibility for this lawlessness rested largely on the state 
 authorities, for no attempt had been made to enforce the 
 law. A fairly good harvest is still marketed each year, 
 but the cull law is not strictly enforced, and the natural 
 beds are still failing. 
 
 True oyster culture is not practised in the state. Arti- 
 ficial beds had been constructed in a river near Beaufort 
 as early as 1840, and subsequently many attempts were 
 made to rear oysters on bottoms selected for the purpose. 
 This was not done with the idea of producing oysters for 
 market, but only for private consumption. The small 
 plots were spoken of as " oyster gardens," and the term 
 has been retained locally and applied to all artificial 
 beds. Since 1872 private beds have been authorized by 
 law. 
 
 The earlier attempts at oyster culture were naturally 
 confined to the rivers and small bays along the shores. 
 They were conducted on a very small scale, and appar- 
 ently were never systematically 01 consistently carried 
 
The North Carolina Field 249 
 
 out. Usually clusters were removed from a reef and 
 tlirown unculled on a convenient bottom. Naturally, these 
 transplanted oysters did not improve, and more often 
 perished. Usually, however, young oysters became at- 
 tached to their shells in great numbers. In this way it 
 was shown that in some localities a good set could be de- 
 pended on, and that with suitable collectors a seed- 
 gathering industry might easily be established. But 
 sooner or later the river beds have invariably failed as 
 growing and conditioning grounds, and probably never 
 can be improved. Until the present, also, there has been 
 no protection against trespassers, a condition that alone 
 makes oyster culture an impossibility. 
 
 Natural conditions in Pamlico Sound are much bet- 
 ter than in the rivers. At about the time of the publica- 
 tion of Winslow's report, on the natural beds of the 
 sound in 1888, and again, a decade later, much enthusi- 
 asm over oyster culture was developed, and many beds 
 were constructed in the sound ; but here, also, the failure 
 of all attempts was complete. The reason given for this 
 by the Fish Commission experts who studied the matter, 
 is that those making the experiments were unfamiliar 
 with the biological recjuirements. Of the planters it 
 was said, " They were not aware how very much depends 
 upon the selection of ground, the accessibility of an 
 abundant food supply, the specific gravity of the water, 
 and its freedom from extreme fluctuations, the time and 
 methods of planting cultch and oysters, etc." State 
 laws also, very defective and seldom observed, rendered 
 success impossible. 
 
 There are, nevertheless, reasons for believing that the 
 biological conditions in many parts of Pamlico Sound 
 are favorable for the maintenance of an artificial oyster 
 
250 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 industry of large proportions. The cotton states of the 
 South must soon increase greatly in population. With a 
 greater market for oysters near at hand, extensive oyster 
 culture may be expected to develop in the sound, if rea- 
 sonable laws are enacted and enforced. 
 
iaallsW** 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE GULF OF MEXICO 
 
 N the many hundreds of miles of the Gulf 
 shore line there are extensive tracts that have 
 ^ always borne natural oyster beds, but as com- 
 pared with the Atlantic coast, this is prac- 
 tically an undeveloped field. It has been estimated that 
 ninety per cent, of the oysters marketed each year in 
 the United States comes from the coast north of the 
 mouth of Chesapeake Bay. One of the reasons for the 
 unproductiveness of the Gulf is that the population of 
 the states bounding it is sparse and scattered. There are 
 few large cities, and consequently little local demand for 
 oysters. As population and wealth increase, it is to be 
 expected that the natural resources of the waters will be 
 developed, but most of the Gulf states probably have a 
 
 251 
 
252 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 long way to go from the present state of affairs to suc- 
 cessful oyster culture. 
 
 Florida is the most backward of all states having an 
 oyster territory. In prehistoric times great quantities 
 of oysters were taken from its bays and lagoons, as is 
 shown by extensive shell heaps along both of its coasts. 
 On the Atlantic side natural oyster reefs still are found 
 near Fernandina, and in certain parts of the Indian 
 River, which is a long, narrow bay of salt water cut off 
 from the ocean by a low ridge. The coast-line on the 
 Gulf side is broken by several extensive bays and wide 
 river mouths, in which oysters grow luxuriantly. 
 
 Oysters from parts of the southernmost coast are said 
 to be very " coppery " in taste. This peculiar flavor is 
 to be found in oysters from many localities north and 
 south in this country, as well as in Europe. It is not 
 caused by the presence of copper in solution in the water, 
 as it has been supposed, but its nature is not known. 
 
 Many of the oysters of the lower part of the peninsula 
 are of the " coon " type, and lie above the low water 
 mark, as in the Carolinas. Much has been written of 
 oysters attached to the roots of the mangroves in Florida, 
 that are exposed at low tide, as if they were as anomalous 
 as the fruit of Eugene Field's " Sugar-plum Tree." 
 These " oysters that grow on trees " are, of course, ex- 
 actly the same in habit and in position, with reference to 
 the tide, as many of the oysters that grow on mud. In 
 the middle and upper parts of the Gulf shore are many 
 beds bearing oysters of good shape. This is because 
 they are tonged frequently enough to insure the breaking 
 apart of clusters. 
 
 Here, also, most of the beds are below tide lines. As 
 in the Carolinas, they have the form of long, narrow 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 253 
 
 reefs, and lie in very shallow water. Beneath them is a 
 deposit of soft, deep mud that characterizes the Gulf 
 everywhere. The most important growth is in Apalachi- 
 cola Bay, but it is almost everywhere covered by mussels. 
 
 The state of Florida created a Fish Commission in 
 1889. It formerly paid the president of this commis- 
 sion a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars a year. He 
 has now been made " Honorary President," without re- 
 muneration. The secretary of the commission has never 
 received a salary. Out of pure loyalty to the common- 
 wealth, entirely without appropriations, with almost no 
 authority, advancing the interests of the fisheries to the 
 best of their ability from their private means, receiving 
 no indirect benefit, subject to criticism, and doing a large 
 amount of valuable work, this commission has served 
 for many years. 
 
 There are oyster laws in Florida, but none are ob- 
 served, except that the cull law, requiring shells and 
 small oysters to be replaced on the beds from which they 
 are taken, has been enforced in Apalachicola Bay — at the 
 expense of local dealers, and not by the state. A very 
 few oysters are steamed and canned. 
 
 Undoubtedly there are extensive tracts on the Gulf 
 coast of Florida that might supply a large market with 
 cultivated oysters. An estimate based on a U. S. Fish 
 Commission oyster survey places the number of acres 
 suitable for oyster culture in Apalachicola Bay alone at 
 6,800. A great fear that assails Florida as well as other 
 states, is that these oyster bottoms may sometime fall 
 into the hands of some monstrous corporation. For sev- 
 eral reasons, this will not be realized. Among them are 
 the facts that capital will not be invested while political 
 conditions remain as they are on the Florida shores, and 
 
254 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 that the shallow bottoms permit the gathering of oysters 
 only by the slow, laborious, and uncertain method of 
 longing. 
 
 A glance at a map reveals the limited shore lines of 
 Alabama and Mississippi. From east to west the former 
 has about fifty-five and the latter about seventy miles of 
 coast, though Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound make 
 the shore line actually very much longer. But oyster 
 waters within these states are not extensive enough to 
 promise important developments in the oyster industry 
 of the future. 
 
 To the present time, however, Mobile in Alabama, and 
 Biloxi in Mississij^pi, have been important canning cen- 
 ters. Most of the oysters canned in the latter city were 
 formerly taken from waters claimed by the state of 
 Louisiana, which claim was upheld by the U. S. Supreme 
 Court in 1906. 
 
 Louisiana is the most progressive of oyster producing 
 states excepting those of the northern field. Its produc- 
 tion is not large when compared with that of Maryland 
 or Virginia, but it has made great and substantial prog- 
 ress in oyster culture, and the industry, responding at 
 once to sensible and liberal laws, is growing rapidly and 
 securely. 
 
 In one respect Louisiana is unique among states pos- 
 sessing oyster fields. While the greater part of its pro- 
 duct has been derived from natural beds, it has not waited 
 until these were destroyed before searching for some 
 other source of suppl}^ but has energetically and in- 
 telligently encouraged oyster culture. At the same time 
 its natural beds, though now more or less depleted, are 
 being systematically cared for, and bid fair to remain as 
 prolific public tonging grounds for some time to come. 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 255 
 
 Better oysters than those from the natural beds are being 
 produced in increasing numbers on cultivated tracts. 
 
 Every one is familiar with the manner in which the 
 great Mississippi is bearing down and depositing in the 
 Gulf, as it has done for ages, vast quantities of surface 
 soil eroded from the interior. It perhaps is not so well 
 known that the land all about its delta is slowly subsid- 
 ing. Back from the shore, the preserved stumps of trees 
 once standing near the water, have been found hundreds 
 of feet beneath the surface of the ground. It is stated 
 that oyster shells have been encountered at a depth of 
 two thousand feet, in some of the recent oil well borings 
 near the Texas line, though the statement needs verifica- 
 tion. In spite of this subsidence, that still continues, 
 the river is building its channel each year farther into 
 the Gulf on its own deposit. 
 
 The whole of the present delta and the shore east and 
 west of it is irregular and much broken. Some have 
 estimated the actual extent of the shore line in the state 
 at two thousand miles, but on account of its unstable 
 nature in some places, no accurate estimate of it can be 
 made. The extent of the enclosed bays and lagoons is, 
 however, very great, and in them oysters thrive. Com- 
 paratively few oysters are found, or can be reared, on 
 the west half of the coast of the state. 
 
 Some very optimistic estimates have been made of the 
 area available for oyster culture. One writer, for ex- 
 ample, citing the fact that oysters are planted in seventy- 
 five feet of water in Long Island Sound, reasons from it 
 in the following interesting manner: — If it is possible to 
 rear oysters at that depth in Connecticut, it will be pos- 
 sible also in Louisiana. If, then, we draw a line on the 
 map following the seventy-five foot level, in the Gulf, 
 
2^6 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 the bottom between it and the shore will constitute the 
 oyster field. This area embraces six million acres. 
 
 Though it is believed by some that oysters exist in the 
 waters of the open Gulf, this has not been demonstrated, 
 and is very doubtful. Whether conditions will allow of 
 their growth if planted there, must be determined by ex- 
 periment. What evidence we possess, as will be ex- 
 plained later, makes the possibilities of oyster culture in 
 open waters other than those of Chandeleur and Isle au 
 Breton sounds seem to be very few. 
 
 The broken coast of St. Bernard Parish, or County, as 
 it would be called in another state, is quite typical. Sail- 
 ing southeast from the opening of Lake Pontchartrain 
 across Lake Borgne, one sights what seems to be a low, 
 straight shore line in the far distance. Soon the stranger 
 to this region discerns, at wide intervals, isolated groves 
 of dense forest growth, but nothing in the background 
 to break the monotony of the straight line of shore. 
 Then, with bewildering suddenness, the vessel draws 
 near; the distant coast, with its hidden details, resolves 
 itself into a line of grass near at hand. While one gazes 
 at them, the trees shrink into low shrubs, and one ex- 
 periences the weird sensation of having arrived at the 
 kingdom of Lilliput. 
 
 But the vessel skirts this dense jungle of stiff, high 
 grass from morning until night, and a second or a third 
 day may still find it passing the unchanging, but by no 
 means uninteresting, borders of this strange kingdom. 
 Now and then an excursion may be made into Its interior 
 through one of the numerous inviting channels that lead 
 to a network of narrow bayous, broad passages, or salt 
 lakes, many of them of great size. One might sail for 
 weeks through these meadows and among islands always 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 257 
 
 new, and yet always the same, but it requires only a short 
 time to make a strong impression of the immense ex- 
 panse of this land. There are more than five hundred 
 square miles of it in this and in the neighboring parish of 
 Plaquemines, and some of the inland bays or lakes are 
 many miles in extent. 
 
 The soil is everywhere a stiff mud rising less than 
 twenty inches above ordinary high tide, though here and 
 there the waves of storms have piled up long banks of 
 shells to a height of three or four feet. Nothing else 
 except low mangrove bushes relieves the monotonous ex- 
 panse that stretches to the horizon. But this is not 
 everywhere true, for once or twice on the way down to 
 the east bank of the Mississippi, an oysterman's hut or 
 a small canning factory, unnaturally and monstrously 
 imposing in its surroundings, appears high up on the 
 ends of piles. In spite of all precautions, these buildings 
 are in a precarious position, for in hurricanes like those 
 of 1893 or of 1900, the whole region may be covered by 
 angry water to a depth of ten or twelve feet. 
 
 Those passes that serve as channels for the tidal flows 
 are sometimes deep, but in the bays and quiet lagoons, 
 from three to six feet of water only, cover a bottom of 
 mud. The normal rise of the tide is but a few inches, 
 and very little bottom is exposed at low water. 
 
 In spite of the general atmosphere of barrenness and 
 utter desolation, the waters of this country are found 
 almost everywhere to bear natural oyster beds, many of 
 which have practically never been disturbed. Some of 
 the bottom is hard and otherwise offers an inviting op- 
 portunity for oyster planting. Much tonging is done on 
 some of the natural deposits, and culling on the tonging 
 grounds is more generally practised in Louisiana than in 
 
258 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 any other state. The supply is thus in a measure con- 
 tinued. Oysters are not found exposed, as in the Caro- 
 linas and Florida, because the normal fall of the tide is 
 so slight. Growth being rapid, clusters form in a very 
 short time, but when these are culled after tonging, the 
 beds produce large and well- formed oysters. The ex- 
 tensive waters of Lake Borgne to the north, into which 
 Lake Pontchartrain empties, are too fresh for oyster 
 growth. 
 
 If one will consult his map, he will find, about twenty 
 miles to the east of St. Bernard Parish,- and a slightly 
 greater distawce south of the Mississippi shore, a long, 
 crescent-shaped group of islands known as the Chan- 
 deleurs. These, with the Errol group to the south of 
 them, constitute a sand-spit nearly thirty-five miles 
 long that encloses Chandeleur and Isle au Breton 
 sounds. 
 
 Strange sensations also await the explorer of these 
 uninhabited and utterly lonely islands. Climbing to the 
 top of one of the greater elevations — some twenty feet 
 above the water — he sees about him a succession of 
 mountains and valleys of silicious sand, many of them 
 bearing mammoth vines and scattered grasses. For some 
 reason that is difficult to define, one seems to stand among 
 formations having all the appearances of great hills, val- 
 leys and plains, but all in miniature; and the vivid imag- 
 ination of childhood, lost and mourned by those who 
 have had too much to do with realities, comes back un- 
 bidden in a flood. Here, at least, in all the world, it is 
 possible for a day to step back through the years, and, 
 care-free, to explore the wonders of fairy-land. 
 
 On the east, surT from the open Gulf breaks on a wide, 
 firm beach, the monotony of which is broken by stranded 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 259 
 
 tree-trunks floated out from shore, or hy the wreckage of 
 vessels — for it is a dangerous region for the sailor. 
 
 On the protected western side, the bottom is extremely 
 shallow for a mile or more, and bears quantities of " eel- 
 grass," while on the shore is a growth of thatch. One 
 experiences a feeling of insecurity on discovering the 
 shells of sand-dollars and other aquatic animals halfway 
 up the sides of the sand hills, where they have recently 
 been left by the waves of a storm, and there is at once re- 
 called that terrible night, never to be forgotten in Louisi- 
 ana, when the gay summer colonists of Dernier Isle were 
 surprised by a tropical hurricane, and swept inland for a 
 distance of many miles on furious waves from the Gulf. 
 
 So seldom are the Chandeleur Islands visited that stilts 
 and other birds, pattering over their western mud-flats, 
 are almost without fear, and may be closely approached. 
 
 The hundreds of square miles of bottom in Chandeleur 
 Sound lie in less than eighteen feet of water. Whether 
 any considerable part of it will ever be available for 
 oyster culture cannot now be told, but according to fish- 
 ermen, it formerly supported beds of considerable size. 
 It is possible that liere, where some of the natural condi- 
 tions seem to be different from those in the Gulf, oyster 
 culture might be established. The territory is so great, 
 and is so conveniently situated with reference to mar- 
 kets, that experiments should be made to determine its 
 possibilities. 
 
 West of the mouth of the Mississippi, the character of 
 the coast is much like that of the eastern side, for the en- 
 tire lower part of the state many miles back from the 
 water, is a swamp that rises very little above sea level. 
 Here are extensive bays — Barataria, Timbalier, and Ter- 
 rebonne — once the home waters of the pirate La Fitte, 
 
26o Our Food Mollusks 
 
 a century ago the terror of the Gulf. These bays are 
 now the busy scene of a rapidly growing oyster industry. 
 
 The most important oyster grounds of the state are 
 found west of the river in Terrebonne Parish, but nearly 
 everywhere in this region they are becoming depleted, and 
 are giving way to the more productive cultivated beds. 
 
 The first move toward true oyster culture has always 
 been the transplanting of culled oysters from natural 
 beds to prepared bottoms where they may grow. This 
 was practised many years ago in Louisiana by the lugger- 
 men, and has been continued by others, often on leased 
 ground. But true oyster culture — the capture of spat 
 tliat would otherwise perish — is very easily accomplished 
 in these waters, and since about 1885 a large number 
 who have rented grounds from the state, have learned to 
 spread oyster shells for this purpose. With the decrease 
 of the natural beds, this practice is growing, and prom- 
 ises much for the near future. 
 
 To the present time, little effort has been made to cul- 
 tivate oysters on very soft bottoms, of which there are 
 great numbers situated where other conditions are favor- 
 able for oyster grax^^i. Such bottoms have been re- 
 claimed in Long Island Sound by the use of sand and 
 gravel. But the bottoms here are often so soft and oozy 
 that it is the common belief among o}'stermen that even 
 shells would sink out of sight in them. 
 
 Experiments conducted on these bottoms in 1904 by 
 the writer, proved that this is not true, and that a firm 
 pavement may be constructed on the softest silt. Li the 
 open waters of the Gulf, where the mud was so soft and 
 deep that a sounding pole was thrust into it to a depth of 
 many feet with no effort, and from a boat under way, an 
 extensive foundation of shells was prepared for an oyster 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 261 
 
 bed. A coating from four to six inches deep was found 
 to make a firm and permanent foundation. Experi- 
 mental beds on ooze exposed by the tides, constructed of 
 small shells, in layers two or three inches deep, remained 
 in a firm layer on top of the mud, and without change, 
 for at least a year. 
 
 One of the most curious sights to be witnessed along 
 the Louisiana coast is the immense accumulation of shells 
 found rising above the water at many points. These are 
 of several species of marine or brackish water bivalves, 
 and on account of their small size, afford ideal material 
 for seed collecting. Very few oysters can attach to a 
 single shell, and, consequently, clusters cannot f-orm on 
 them. In most cases but a single oyster will develop on 
 each shell (Figures 52 and 53). 
 
 To appreciate fully the great advantage that the 
 Louisiana culturist might possess in these shells if he 
 would use them, it must be stated that oyster growth in 
 these warm waters is so rapid that a large cluster may 
 form on an oyster shell in one year. To assume a size 
 and shape that will fit them for market, these must be 
 culled before further growth takes place. The labor of 
 culling during the first year at least might be avoided 
 by the use of these small shells. Their accumulations 
 are of great extent, and often are so situated that planks 
 may be extended from them directly to the deck of a 
 schooner lying alongside. 
 
 Yet this ideal cultch is used very little in Louisiana, 
 oyster shells being preferred, perhaps because shell heaps 
 at the canneries are convenient and must be disposed of. 
 It is a pity that they should be used only to pave streets 
 in New Orleans and Lake Charles. 
 
 It is not possible with data that we now possess to 
 
262 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 make a definite statement of the average rate of growth 
 of oysters in any of the great oyster fields. One bay or 
 river mouth may afiford advantages such as food, that a 
 neighboring locality lacks, and growth here may be much 
 more rapid than elsewhere. But the general practice of 
 oystermen in Long Island Sound is to allow oysters to 
 grow four, or very rarely three years, after the spat has 
 been collected. 
 
 Without doubt, in Louisiana waters, the average time 
 required to produce a marketable oyster having a length 
 of five or six inches, is at least a year shorter than in the 
 northern field. Usually this size will be attained in 
 three years from the time of attachment, and sometimes 
 in two years. In Quarantine Bay, whole beds have been 
 known to develop in eight months, oysters averaging 
 nearly three inches in length. In Bayou Coquette, col- 
 lectors have borne oysters more than two inches long in 
 seven months. A piece of rock in the possession of the 
 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries bears forty or fifty shells, all 
 more than four inches long, that had grown in the waters 
 of Bayou Schofield in twenty-three months. In many 
 parts of Terrebonne Parish, oysters are said to attain 
 marketable size in three years. It is said that in Bayou 
 Cook, from which come most of the best oysters, the 
 period of growth is but two years. So reliable and well 
 informed an observer as Mr. H. F. Moore, of the Bureau 
 of Fisheries, states that he has seen in Plaquemines 
 Parish " oysters six inches long which, from known 
 data, could not have been over twenty-three months old." 
 No comment is necessary on the immense advantage pos- 
 sessed by the Louisiana culturist in this short growing 
 season. 
 
 While starfish never molest oysters in this field, the 
 

 
 ^^^!3P^^I 
 
 
 ""^^N^^H^H 
 
 ^pnS^^I 
 
 w^ 
 
 
 ^r ^1 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 \^»J 
 
 Fk;. 52. Shells of Area with young oysters attached. These 
 shells are very numerous on parts of the Louisiana shore. 
 
 Fig. 53. Single oysters attached to shells of a small clam. 
 These shells make ideal collectors. They and the shells 
 of an allied bivalve form great collections all along the 
 Louisiana coast. 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 263 
 
 (Irumfish is often destructive in some localities. The 
 only certain protection against it is a stockade of pickets 
 built about the beds, and such fences are often con- 
 structed. It is n(jt, liovvever, a general practice on the 
 oyster fields, and in most places there is little danger from 
 this oyster destroyer. 
 
 If it should ever be jKjssible t(^ cultivate oysters in 
 Chandeleur Sound, steam vessels with large dredges 
 might be em|)loycd, as in Long Island Sound. There is 
 immense advantage in being able to gather large cargoes 
 rapidly, and in all kinds of weather. One of tlie disad- 
 vantages of the shallow waters in which oysters are now 
 cultivated is that dredges can seldom be used, and the 
 fishing must be done only with tongs. 
 
 Now and then — though at intervals of several years — 
 the Gulf coast is visited by appalling hurricanes, that 
 shift the shallow bottoms and destroy great numbers of 
 oyster beds. 
 
 The most serious menace tr^ the industry in Louisiana 
 is the flooding oi the fields with fresh water from crev- 
 asses in the Mississippi Kiver. By consulting a map, it 
 will be seen by tlie courses of the waterways, that any 
 great break in the Mississippi levees below the mouth of 
 tlie Red River, may threaten the oyster territory either 
 on the east or west. The great Nita crevasse of 1890, 
 still often referred to by the oystermen, poured its flood 
 southward through Blind River, Lake Maurepas, Lake 
 Pontchartrain, and Lake Borgne, and freshened the 
 waters of St. Bernard Parish for so long a period that 
 oysters were nearly exterminated over an immense area. 
 The waters remained fresh for weeks, and the flood de- 
 posited a large quantity of sediment. Other great 
 crevasses have occurred, and some of them it has never 
 
264 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 been possible to close. The map shows how flood waters 
 from the Mississippi and the Red rivers may also be 
 poured into the bays west of the delta. It should be said 
 that, in the majority of instances of widespread destruc- 
 tion by fresh water, the usual profuse set of young has 
 occurred during the breeding season following, from 
 adults that have escaped destruction in deep depressions 
 in which the water remains salt. If the much discussed 
 plan of improvement of the waterways of the entire Mis- 
 sissippi basin by the federal government should be 
 realized, this greatest danger to oyster culture in Louisi- 
 ana would disappear — a fact that seems to have at- 
 tracted little or no attention. 
 
 The chief advantages possessed by the Louisiana cul- 
 turist may thus be summarized : — Growth is much more 
 rapid in the Gulf than elsewhere. This is due to the 
 unusually large supply of diatoms found in the warm 
 waters. They are plentiful enough to support an enor- 
 mous oyster population. The growing season, also, is 
 of long duration. 
 
 There is nowhere anxiety lest the set of spat should 
 fail. The collection of young is much more certain than 
 in a colder climate. The chief reason for this probably is 
 that sudden and extreme declines of temperature, and 
 cold rains, that destroy so many swimming oysters in 
 the north, do not occur here in the summer. Usually the 
 salinity of the water is very favorable for reproduction 
 over the entire field. Small shells, that may be used as 
 collectors, are almost everywhere piled up on the shores. 
 Gulf oysters have very few natural enemies, and none 
 cause extensive or frequent losses. Winters are mild 
 and short, so that the gathering of oysters is never dif- 
 ficult on account of cold. 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 265 
 
 There is ah-eady a much greater demand than can be 
 met by the local supply. Louisiana oysters are favor- 
 ably known as far north as Chicago, and a great market 
 is waiting in the Mississippi valley, north and south. 
 Even with present transportation facilities, New Orleans 
 might readily obtain a large part of the Pacific trade in 
 eastern oysters, if the Gulf were made to produce them. 
 
 Little definite information exists concerning the oyster 
 territory or the oyster industry before the year 1898. In 
 that year the state legislature requested the U. S. Bureau 
 of Fisheries to examine the oyster field. This was done, 
 and in 1902 a state Oyster Commission was created. 
 This has since been given powers that have made it the 
 most effective body of its kind in the country. 
 
 Its members receive adequate salaries, and give their 
 entire attention to the work of building up the oyster in- 
 dustry. It has been made a department of the state gov- 
 ernment. It has authority to sue, and may be sued. It 
 may buy, sell, or lease property, enact contracts, and do 
 anything necessary to enforce the oyster laws. It adopts 
 by-laws for its own government and that of its em- 
 ployees. It enlarges and cares for natural beds, and 
 protects lessees of private oyster grounds. It determines 
 the limits of natural beds, and may use its own discre- 
 tion in allowing the use of dredges on them. Its acts 
 are subject to review by the courts. It has police power, 
 and has organized an extremely efficient force. It has 
 been granted large appropriations. Practically all of its 
 recommendations have been acted on promptly by the 
 legislature. In short, that body has had the great wis- 
 dom to place tlie entire management of the industry in the 
 hands of a few competent men, and to hold them re- 
 sponsible for its success. 
 
266 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 As might be expected, their success has been very 
 great. In two years after the appointment of the Com- 
 mission, the number of leased acres increased from 2,820 
 to 23,303, and since then has steadily grown. Produc- 
 tion, also, is now increasing rapidly, and new packing 
 houses are being established. The oyster laws are being 
 enforced, lessees are being protected, and the commission 
 reports that there is " a notable absence of any disposi- 
 tion to violate the oyster law or the regulations of this 
 Commission." This is all so unusual and so refreshing 
 that it mig-ht well be commended to the attention of stu- 
 dents of popular government. There is much to be 
 learned from the practical wisdom of Louisiana. 
 
 It should be interesting to those who make the laws of 
 some other states to witness in Louisiana the subsidence 
 of the fear of an oyster monopoly. This at one time 
 Was acute, but since even corporations — Louisiana cor- 
 porations, it is true — have been allowed to lease a thou- 
 sand acres, and leases have been made heritable and 
 transferable, no indication of a monopoly has appeared. 
 The " poor man " with ten acres, benefits by the improved 
 markets as he does in Connecticut. The fear of an 
 " oyster trust " is so nearly dead that the time will prob- 
 ably come when outside capital will be invited, and the 
 limit on leases extended or removed altogether. 
 
 Leases are made at a dollar an acre each year for fif- 
 teen years. For the ten years following, the rental is 
 two dollars an acre annually. After that, the value of 
 the property shall be assessed, and such rental shall be 
 paid " as conditions shall warrant." There is a tax of 
 three cents a bushel on oysters produced on leased 
 ground. 
 
 There is no close season on the leased grounds, and no 
 
The Gulf of Mexico 267 
 
 restriction is placed on implements that may be used by 
 lessees. 
 
 One admirable section of the law is that instructing the 
 Oyster Commission to publish and distribute copies of the 
 act, and to publish its rules and regulations, as they are 
 adopted, in its official journal, chosen from among the 
 daily papers of New Orleans. 
 
 Among other interesting provisions is that reserving 
 bottoms for scientific experiment near the biologic sta- 
 tion at Cameron. The state seems to have placed much 
 confidence in the work of biologists, whom it has invited 
 to study the natural conditions existing on its oyster 
 fields. 
 
 In Texas, the most western of the Gulf states, prac- 
 tically the entire coast is bounded by a narrow water 
 zone that, in turn, is separated from the Gulf by a low 
 bank. In many parts of this confined area, conditions 
 are favorable for oyster growth. One hundred and 
 forty square miles of Matagorda Bay, probably compris- 
 ing the best of the natural oyster area of the state, has 
 been surveyed by the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, and its 
 scattered and limited beds have been charted. It was 
 shown by the expert in charge of the survey that the 
 natural beds would supply only a limited number of 
 oysters. There is every reason, however, to believe that 
 oyster culture might be successfully practised over a 
 much greater area than that occupied by the natural 
 growth, and, on the whole, the oyster laws are favorable 
 for its development. 
 
 One advanced feature of the state oyster law is that 
 permitting any citizen of the United States, or any Texas 
 corporation, to lease bottoms. This approaches the legal 
 provisions of Connecticut. The lease, however, is lim- 
 
268 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 ited to six hundred and forty acres. As yet there have 
 been few appHcations for oyster grounds, though there 
 is httle opposition to the system. 
 
 It may be expected, in view of the growing demand for 
 oysters, that the shore of Texas will soon possess culti- 
 vated beds, and though the supply may not seek distant 
 markets, it may be great enough for a time to satisfy the 
 requirements of that rapidly growing state, which, how- 
 ever, is truly an empire in itself. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE PACIFIC FIELD 
 
 NSIDE waters are so numerous all along the 
 Atlantic coast that a few short canals would 
 provide an enclosed navigable waterway from 
 Massachusetts Bay nearly to the South Caro- 
 lina line. Some of the Gulf shore is similarly protected 
 by outlying spits and islands. But the Pacific coast, 
 from the entrance to Puget Sound southward to Mexico, 
 is entirely different, being straight, unbroken, and un- 
 protected. There are few enclosed bays or even har- 
 bors on this great stretch of coast, the only extensive 
 ones being Puget Sound, in Washington, and San Fran- 
 cisco Bay, in California. 
 
 The same species of plants and animals are not found 
 in Atlantic and Pacific, but more or less distantly related 
 forms. The class Asteroidea, of zoological classifica- 
 tion, for example, is represented by several species of 
 starfish in one ocean, and by somewhat different kinds 
 in the other. The eastern oyster, Ostrea virginica, is re- 
 placed on the Pacific coast by another species of the same 
 genus known as Ostrea lurida. On the Mexican coast 
 are still other species. 
 
 Ostrea lurida is much smaller than the eastern oyster, 
 and differs from it also in having a light, thin shell, and 
 in being hermaphroditic, a condition in which each in- 
 dividual produces both male and female cells. In the im- 
 
 269 
 
270 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 portant commercial matter of taste, all oysters are much 
 alike. 
 
 Several Atlantic animals have been introduced into the 
 Pacific, and have established themselves. Among them 
 are the shad, striped bass, and the soft or long neck 
 clam. For many years, also, small eastern oysters have 
 been planted in the bays of Washington and Cali- 
 fornia, where they grow to marketable size in three 
 or four years. They, however, have not become 
 established. 
 
 Entering the Golden Gate in California, the water 
 spreads north and south to form San Francisco Bay. 
 Into it flow many streams, some of them large like the 
 Sacramento from the north. The water is consequently 
 brackish and favorable for the growth of the native 
 oyster, which is found here in great numbers. Perhaps 
 because this oyster is very prolific and because there is 
 much crowding on the natural beds, it attains scarcely 
 half the size to which it develops in Willapa Bay, and 
 consequently is not often marketed. 
 
 In Puget Sound and Willapa Bay in Washington, the 
 transplanting or bedding of the native oyster has become 
 an extensive industry. Some years ago, the state of 
 Washington set aside immense tracts in these bays, desig- 
 nating them as " Oyster Reserves." On parts of these 
 were natural oyster beds. It was intended that from 
 them oysters should be taken only for the purpose of 
 planting on barren bottoms, and not for immediate 
 sale. 
 
 But the state has not been able to police these grounds 
 and enforce the provisions of the laws, and has received 
 very little revenue from licenses issued to tongers. The 
 public beds in Puget Sound are infested with starfish, 
 
The Pacific Field 271 
 
 which the stale authorities have not attempted to destroy, 
 and, as in all similar cases, the bottoms are rapidly be- 
 coming depleted. 
 
 As yet, true oyster culture — the capture of young on 
 collectors, and their subsequent planting — has hardly 
 been attempted in these waters. Instead, seed has been 
 obtained entirely from natural beds, three or four years 
 being required for its growth. Much of the planting 
 is done on bottoms that are exposed at low water. The 
 capture of the swimming native oyster may easily be ac- 
 complished, however, in favorable localities near breed- 
 ing individuals, and with the decline of the natural beds 
 the method will undoubtedly be resorted to. 
 
 About twenty thousand acres of barren bottoms have 
 been sold to individuals or to corporations, but few have 
 been planted. From them, seventy thousand sacks of 
 native oysters, each containing about two bushels, are 
 marketed annually. The destruction of San Francisco, 
 which had consumed a large part of the Washington har- 
 vest, temporarily affected the market, but as in every 
 other oyster field in the country, there is now an increas- 
 ing demand for this universally appreciated food. 
 
 Live eastern oysters were first sent to the Pacific coast 
 at San Francisco about 1870, on the completion of the 
 first transcontinental railroad. These were sometimes 
 bedded in San Francisco Bay, to be removed for sale, 
 and were found to thrive. Afterward it became an 
 established practice to ship small seed from New York 
 for planting in this bay, and the industry has continued 
 and assumed large proportions. 
 
 Eastern oysters are usually planted on mud flats that 
 are exposed at low tide. So placed, they may easily be 
 fenced in and protected from the attacks of a sting-ray 
 
272 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 that abounds in the bay during the summer. Seed 
 oysters reach a marketable size in three or four years. 
 
 It was not until 1894 that eastern oyster seed was 
 planted in Willapa Bay. This shoal body of water is 
 twenty-five miles long, and has an average width of about 
 five miles. It has always been a famous bedding place 
 for native oysters. Eastern seed from Maryland, New 
 Jersey and Long Island, planted here by the U. S. Fish 
 Commission, grew as well as in San Francisco Bay. A 
 hundred car-loads of seed oysters, varying in size from a 
 quarter of an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, 
 are sometimes planted in a year. During the last few 
 years eastern oysters have been planted in Puget Sound, 
 but not yet in large numbers. 
 
 In spite of the fact that freight charges on eastern 
 seed amount to five hundred, or at times to more than 
 ^ seven hundred dollars a car, the trade is growing on the 
 ^ Pacific coast. Retail prices are necessarily high. 
 
 It is a fact of economic as well as of biologic interest 
 that these transported oysters do not often reproduce in 
 Jtacific waters. To the present time, not a case of at- 
 tachment by a swimming eastern oyster has been ob- 
 served in the state of Washington. In 1889, however, 
 it was discovered by an investigator of the U. S. Fish 
 Commission that they were breeding in a few places at 
 the south end of San Francisco Bay, and hopes were en- 
 tertained that they might become well established there. 
 These hopes have not been fulfilled. 
 
 The adverse condition in this case is probably the low 
 temperature of the water. The fact may not be well 
 known on the eastern coast that the waters of northern 
 California, of Oregon, and of Washington are, during 
 the summer, as icy as those of Maine. There is little 
 
The Pacific Field 273 
 
 variation in temperature during the year. In the 
 Atlantic, a set of spat is rarely obtained if the water tem- 
 perature often falls much below 70° F. during the breed- 
 ing season. Failure of the set is common in the north- 
 ern field, probably because of rapid declines in tempera- 
 ture from cold summer rains. 
 
 On the Pacific coast, even in the bays, the maximum 
 summer temperature of the water rarely exceeds 70°, and 
 at most places the average is nearer 60°. It is not to be 
 expected, then, that eastern oysters may reproduce in 
 these waters. But in some of the creek mouths of San 
 Francisco Bay, the shallow water is kept warm by the 
 sun, and it is in them that reproduction has been ob- 
 served. 
 
 Perhaps it is possible that the species might be ac- 
 climatized to a lower temperature, but this could be ef- 
 fected only in several generations. There is no reason 
 to expect that any constitutional change that might ac- 
 custom any individual oyster to its new surroundings, 
 would restore its lost fertility. But it may be that the 
 species could again be made fertile by following the 
 selection method of breeders of domesticated animals 
 and plants. After careful observation of summer tem- 
 perature, bottoms might be selected over which the mini- 
 mum was somewhat below 70°. If large numbers of 
 eastern oysters were planted here, some individuals might 
 possibly be found to possess the constitutional power of 
 breeding at a slightly lower temperature than that re- 
 quired by the majority. Whether this is true or not in 
 this case has never been observed, but similar individual 
 differences have been found and taken advantage of in 
 the cases of many other organisms. 
 
 If now some individuals of the first generation should 
 
274 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 liave produced offspring, and these were captured on col- 
 lectors, this second generation might be planted in an 
 isolated locality. If few in number, the water should be 
 of the same temperature as before. If numerous, they 
 might be placed in slightly colder water. It might be 
 assumed, from analogous cases observed in other organ- 
 sims, that some of the individuals of this second gen- 
 eration would exhibit a still greater power to breed in a 
 low temperature than that possessed by their parents. 
 In water of the same temperature as that in the first ex- 
 periment, also, the average fertility would have become 
 greater. 
 
 In the same manner, the third generation, if numerous 
 in individuals, could be planted in still colder water. Per- 
 haps only a few of these could breed, but if any were able 
 to do so, the offspring again would exhibit the power to 
 withstand the increasing cold, and this might be carried 
 on until all surviving individuals would be able to propa- 
 gate anywhere in the cold Pacific coast waters. 
 
 Whether such an experiment would succeed, cannot be 
 predicted. Much would depend on the judgment of the 
 experimenter and on the facilities at his command. But 
 on account of the superiority of the eastern oyster as a 
 food mollusk, it may be an experiment worth a trial. 
 
 The production of native and Atlantic oysters in Wil- 
 lapa Bay and Puget Sound is increasing rapidly. The 
 red-blooded generation of men that has made this won- 
 derful region its home, is losing no opportunity to 
 develop its natural resources. It is said that the annual 
 profits on some oyster farms have reached a thousand 
 dollars an acre. Such achievements have naturally at- 
 tracted the attention of investors. Numerous stock com- 
 panies have been formed, and have purchased barren 
 
The Pacific Field 275 
 
 bottoms. In many cases, after the manner of modern 
 business, stock in these companies has been greatly 
 over-capitalized. Some companies have sold stock and 
 have failed even to begin to operate. Most failures have 
 resulted from the fact that no attention has been given 
 to the habits of the oysters, or to biological conditions 
 existing over the bottoms purchased. 
 
 But where intelligence has united with an honest desire 
 to succeed, large dividends have been paid to stockhold- 
 ers by many companies, and the time probably is not far 
 distant when the available bottoms will be made to pro- 
 duce a large harvest. 
 
 Several years ago the important suggestion was made 
 that the large oyster cultivated in Japan might be intro- 
 duced on our Pacific coast. It is a larger and better 
 oyster than the native form. Neither state nor federal 
 authorities have performed the experiment, but in- 
 dividuals have made several attempts in the state of 
 Washington. What successes they have attained, how- 
 ever, have not been made public. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE SOFT CLAM— DISTRIBUTION AND 
 CONDITIONS CONTROLLING IT 
 
 INCE the earliest times the soft, or long neck 
 clam has held a place in public esteem on the 
 north Atlantic coast above all food mollusks 
 but the oyster, and in recent years it has be- 
 come even more highly prized than formerly. One 
 curious reason for this growing appreciation is the fact 
 that it is becoming scarce. It has always been observed 
 that a leading characteristic of human nature is to desire 
 most strongly anything that is denied. On the other 
 hand, the abundant things are not often esteemed. The 
 flounder, very abundant on the north Atlantic coast, is 
 one of the finest of salt water fishes, yet the native of the 
 Maine shore will seldom use it on his table if a morning 
 of hard labor will bring him a tough and tasteless cod 
 or haddock. He may catch the flounder without effort 
 at his dock on any rising tide, but must go outside and 
 fish patiently for his cod. 
 
 All along the New England shore, the soft clam was 
 once extremely abundant, as we learn from the quaint 
 records of the early colonists. Well into the nineteenth 
 century, beaches and flats continued to be crowded 
 with them. With the growth of the fisheries, they were 
 dug in increasing numbers for bait, and some jfere used 
 for food. They have continued to be valuable chiefly as 
 fish bait, but during the last decade, especially, the deli- 
 
 276 
 
The Soft Clam 277 
 
 cious clam chowder has become popular, and now, a 
 hundred miles inland from the New England shore, no 
 outing of a Mystic Order or Barber's Picnic is complete 
 without its clam bake, in which both soft and hard clams 
 are used. When one has the time for it, nothing on the 
 bill of fare of a restaurant is more tempting than the 
 dish of steamed soft clams with the cup of melted 
 butter. 
 
 From the time when Captain John Smith wrote, " You 
 shall scarce find any Baye, Shallow Shore or Cove of 
 Sand, wyere you may not take many Clampes," to a quar- 
 ter of a century ago, many New England farmers living 
 near the shore made it a practice to fatten their hogs on 
 clams. 
 
 Though the soft clam is sometimes found below the 
 low water line, it usually lies buried several inches be- 
 neath the surface of bottoms that are exposed at low tide. 
 It is found on narrow beaches, where only a few yards 
 of bottom are uncovered, but the larger beds are situated 
 on great flats. There are many places on the New Eng- 
 land coast wdiere the low tide exposes hundreds of acres 
 of continuous flats, and most of these at one time bore 
 enormous beds of clams. It seems incredible that dig- 
 ging alone could liave destroyed them, and yet without 
 question, this is almost the sole cause of the nearly com- 
 plete destruction that has occurred on almost all of these 
 immense beds. There is no such thing as an inexhausti- 
 ble supply of organisms useful to man. 
 
 In Massachusetts, extensive flats are perhaps more 
 numerous than in other New England states. From the 
 mouth of the Merrimac River an almost continuous flat 
 extends southward to Gloucester, a distance of fifteen 
 miles. In Boston Harbor and the other bays connected 
 
278 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 with it on the south, miles of flats are exposed at low 
 tide, and one may stand at Plymouth and look north- 
 ward toward Duxbury on to a flat that stretches away for 
 nearly seven miles, and is approximately four and a half 
 miles wide. 
 
 Only a few decades ago, a very large part of these 
 immense areas bore clams. Many are still taken near 
 Newburyport on the Merrimac, and near Boston, but 
 the famous Duxbury and Plymouth flat is practically un- 
 productive. Less extensive areas, that formerly pro- 
 duced clams, are now barren almost without exception. 
 
 For several years the same has been true of Con- 
 necticut and Rhode Island, and the market has depended 
 on the state of Maine for its supply. Here the shore is 
 high and rocky, and beaches and flats where clams may 
 grow are comparatively few and small. As the Maine 
 clam beds had been little dug until recently, they produced 
 a large supply for a few seasons, but now are far on the 
 way to destruction. Neither ice and the extreme cold 
 of the long winter, nor the close season during the three 
 summer months, that has been in force for a number of 
 years, has prevented the rapid decline of the industry in 
 Maine. 
 
 Outside of New England, on the Atlantic coast, the 
 soft clam has never been very abundant, though many 
 were found about Long Island and in the New Jersey 
 bays. It is essentially a cold water form, and the south- 
 ern limit of its range is the coast of South Carolina. It 
 is found in parts of Chesapeake Bay, but is there used as 
 food only by the poorer residents of the shore. From 
 Maine it extends northward to the Arctic Ocean, where 
 the seal, walrus, and polar bear sometimes feed on it. It 
 is also found on the northern coasts of Europe and Asia. 
 
The Soft Clam 279 
 
 It is in New England that the soft clam is most prized, 
 and during- the cold months it is marketed ahve in the in- 
 terior towns as well as on the coast. It does not live long 
 out of water in warm weather, but in a temperature near 
 the freezing point, will keep alive for weeks. Near the 
 shore it is eaten during the summer, steamed and baked 
 and in chowders. Immense numbers are cooked and 
 canned, suiTering much less change of flavor in the 
 process than oysters do, and the solid " meats " and 
 chowders thus prepared are shipped to all the northern 
 states. Recently, also, " clam juice," the mucus drained 
 from the bodies of shucked clams, has been canned or 
 bottled, and is widely used as a broth, especially by in- 
 valids, for with most persons it is readily digested, and 
 its flavor is pleasant. 
 
 Exactly as in the case of the oyster, this, one of the 
 most valuable of marine foods, has so nearly approached 
 destruction that it is time to plan for its future produc- 
 tion by artificial means. By aiding nature, the shores 
 have been made to produce more and better oysters than 
 they ever bore when uncared for by man. As yet, clam 
 culture has not been practised on a commercial scale, 
 but for a number of years the preliminary study of the 
 creature's life history and habits has been carried on un- 
 der the auspices of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, and 
 by the state commissions of Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island, and the result, as was expected, is that a method 
 of culture has been devised and tested, and has proved 
 to be entirely successful. Not only is this true, but it has 
 proved to be very much easier and cheaper to rear the 
 soft clam than the oyster, as will be shown. When the 
 conservative New England states become sufficiently 
 aroused to repeal their antiquated and absurd colonial 
 
28o Our Food Mollusks 
 
 laws governing beach rights, and are ready to formulate 
 new ones giving irrevocable titles to clam bottoms, the 
 clam industry will quickly become established on a safe 
 basis, and its growth will be rapid. This battle for 
 property rights on the shore, and for protection, has 
 been fought and won by the oystermen, and to the satis- 
 faction of all; and it must be fought in the same way by 
 the prospective clam culturists. The result will be the 
 same, and immense wealth will be produced from lands 
 now entirely barren and useless. 
 
 Common names given to plants and animals are local, 
 while the technical or " scientific names " that often 
 cause so much popular amusement by their length or un- 
 familiar sound, are universal names. A form is often 
 given one common name in one locality, and others else- 
 where. The large mouthed black bass, for example, is 
 also called the Oswego bass in the North, while the same 
 fish is known as the trout in some of the southern states. 
 At least thirty other common names are given to this 
 fish in different localities. Along the shore, the name 
 dogfish refers to a species of shark, while inland it desig- 
 nates a very distantly related form. The lay reader may 
 readily appreciate the necessity of a technical and uni- 
 versally employed system for the naming of a species, if 
 he will consider the case of the clam. The name clam 
 north of Cape Cod usually refers simply to Mya arenaria, 
 though it may, in some localities, designate Mactra 
 solidissima, the sea clam. From Rhode Island to the 
 Carolinas the term might refer not only to Mya and 
 Venus (the little neck, hard clam, or quahaug), but to 
 half a dozen allied forms. From Florida to Texas, 
 Venus, Pecten (the scallop), Pholas, Gnathodon, and 
 several others are " clams." Not only does one term 
 
The Soft Clam 281 
 
 refer to many forms, but a single form may have several 
 names. Mya, in different localities, is known as the 
 clam, the soft clam, the long neck, long clam, scjuirt clam, 
 and in England as the sand gasper, and old maid. In 
 France, Norway, Korea, and Japan, it of course has 
 many other names. To use only ^'ernacular names in 
 zoological writings evidently would lead to the utmost 
 confusion, so biologists the world over employ a com- 
 mon nomenclature, and when an English book or paper 
 refers to ]\Iya arenaria, the Japanese student who reads 
 it has no doubt as to the species that is meant. 
 
 Each species is given two names, the first or generic, 
 being a family name, and the second a species name. In 
 New England waters we have two scallops, closely re- 
 lated, but differing in some characters. The generic or 
 family name of these is Pecten (begun with a capital), 
 and the two species are distinguished as Pecten tenuicos- 
 tatus (the species name begun with a small letter) and 
 Pecten irradians. 
 
 With this lengthy explanation, we may consider se- 
 curely some of the habits of Mya arenaria — or Mya for 
 short, for there are no other species on our shores with 
 which it is apt to be confused; or if, from force of habit, 
 we return to " clam," the name at present is to mean 
 Mya. 
 
 Mya spends the greater part of its life buried in the 
 mud or sand. Large individuals sometimes burrow to a 
 depth of more than a foot. Food and oxygen must 
 continually be gotten from the water, so the creature 
 reaches up to it by means of its siphon tubes, the ends of 
 which may be seen when the bottom is nearly exposed. 
 W'hen the water is cjuite gone, these siphon ends are 
 slightly retracted from the surface, and leave a depression 
 
282 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 or hole. By the size and number of these pits, the dig- 
 ger may judge whether his labor is likely to be worth 
 while. 
 
 Such a bottom is well illustrated by Figure 54, where 
 individuals happen to be very numerous. Thougli most 
 of the pits are relatively large, one cannot always be cer- 
 tain that all clams forming them are also large, for often 
 a pit is used by several individuals in common. These 
 lie at different depths according to size, the larger occu- 
 pying the lower le\'els. This distribution allows an im- 
 mense number of clams to crowd together where there is 
 food enough to support them all. The clams shown in 
 Figure 55, for example, were all dug from beneath a 
 single square foot of a prolific bed. 
 
 The bottom in which clams burrow is not always 
 muddy. Most often it is made up largely of sand mixed 
 with mud or clay, and at times they are found in al- 
 most clear sand. In the latter case the shells, instead of 
 being discolored as in muddy bottoms, are pure white. 
 In some localities, usually on sandy beaches, lime is not 
 abundant, and shells are thin. Such clams are known as 
 " paper shells." 
 
 When a clam bed is dug frequently, many are killed 
 by the fork or hoe, and subsequently become covered. 
 Their decaying bodies stain the surrounding sand a 
 pitchy black, and give it an offensive odor, so that clam 
 digging is not always a pleasant occupation. If clams 
 are very closely crowded, especially where tide currents 
 are sluggish, the decay of several bodies leads to the 
 death of others, indirectly by the formation of com- 
 pounds that eat through the lime of the shells, and ap- 
 parently also directly by poisoning or infection. 
 
 Mya sometimes lodges and burrows in places quite in- 
 
Fig. 54. Holes of long-neck clams very thickly set in a beach. 
 From a Report of the Mass. Fish and Game Commission 
 by D. L. Belding. 
 
 
 Fig. 55. Long-neck clams dug from beneath one square foot 
 of a flat. Such a yield is very unusual. The ruler has a 
 length of six inches. From a Report of the Mass. Fish and 
 Game Commission, l^v T. R. Stevenson. 
 
The Soft Clam 283 
 
 accessible to the clammer. Beaches so covered with large 
 stones that the ground can be dug only with great labor, 
 often hide clams in large numbers. They also settle and 
 burrow among the thatch plants near the high water 
 mark, and are safe in the dense feltwork of roots. 
 
 It is interesting to watch an expert clammer at his 
 back-breaking work, and to observe its effect on the clams 
 that remain where the bottom has been disturbed. The 
 implement used in digging is a short fork with four or 
 five tines bent at right angles to the handle. This is 
 forced down with one hand placed near the head, and 
 the dirt is thrown back between the digger's feet. In this 
 way, clams too small to be placed in the basket are cov- 
 ered with loose dirt or left exposed. 
 
 When the tide comes in, the dirt piles are leveled some- 
 what. As soon as the buried clams feel the water, they 
 right themselves so as to bring the posterior ends of the 
 shells upward, and push the fleshy siphon tube toward 
 the water, which few of them fail to reach, unless 
 severely injured. It appears from this that no harm is 
 done the survivors when a clam bed is dug, except the 
 unfortunate individuals that have accidentally been 
 crushed by the fork. Indeed, they are benefited by the 
 removal of competitors for food, and by the partial wash- 
 ing and purification of the bottom in which they lie. 
 
 But what becomes of the unfortunates that are re- 
 jected by the clammer and left on the surface? Some of 
 them may be nearly three inches long. Smaller ones 
 will usually be numerous, and if it is summer, a careful 
 examination may reveal individuals a quarter, an eighth, 
 a twentieth of an inch long, and even so small as hardly 
 to be distinguished from sand grains. These lie without 
 movement until touched by the water, and if the oppor- 
 
284 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 tunity presents itself the larger ones may be seized by 
 herring gulls, carried into the air, and dropped on rocks, 
 in order to break the shells. 
 
 As soon as the water comes, all the uninjured ones be- 
 come active and attempt to burrow into the bottom. 
 This is accomplished by the fleshy foot, which is thrust 
 out from between the shell valves near their anterior 
 ends. Because the foot is relatively very large and ex- 
 tensible in smaller individuals, those between one-eighth 
 and half an inch long cover themselves in a very few 
 minutes. With a foot relatively smaller, clams from 
 one to two inches long require from half to three-quar- 
 ters of an hour to effect a lodgment, but they reach the 
 usual depth of several inches only after long-continued 
 effort. Very large clams are able to project the foot so 
 short a distance that they are often not able even to 
 touch the ground with it, and after a brief effort to do so, 
 close the shell and lie helpless until destroyed by crabs 
 and fishes, or by birds and mammals, that pick up a liv- 
 ing on the shore at low tide. 
 
 When the human factor is left out of the account, the 
 life of the adult clam appears to be as monotonous and 
 uneventful — " happy," most commenters have it — as pos- 
 sible. After reaching maturity, the creature, if undis- 
 turbed, never leaves its burrow, being quite unable to 
 do so. Its early life, however, like that of the oyster, 
 is so full of adventure that not one in millions attains the 
 safety of the bottom. 
 
 Like all other organisms, Mya requires for its ex- 
 istence many conditions of a precise and definite sort. By 
 long experience and observation the oyster culturist has 
 learned that the oyster will grow and reproduce itself 
 only in water of a certain density and temperature, and 
 
The Soft Clam 285 
 
 on bottoms bearing clean objects for the attachment of 
 the young. Some of these same conditions are also re- 
 cjuired by Mya, but many are different. The more im- 
 portant ones that have been observed, may be men- 
 tioned briefly. 
 
 Even on a flat that has not been greatly modified by 
 man, it will be seen that clams do not grow everywhere. 
 A little observation may reveal the reason, or reasons, for 
 the existence of these barren patches. Perhaps ripple 
 marks have been left here by the retreating tide. That 
 means that the surface sand is loose, and shifts easily 
 under the action of waves or currents. Now if clams 
 were planted on such a bottom, it would be found that 
 when sand grains, carried by the water, touched the 
 sensory tentacles at the end of the incurrent siphon open- 
 ing, the whole organ would be withdrawn for a greater 
 or less distance into the burrow. Into the pit thus left, 
 the sand gradually settles, and is densely packed. Ap- 
 parently clams are not able to push this sand out. It is 
 not so easy a task as that of pushing the siphons through 
 loose sand or mud piled up by the clam digger on the 
 surface of the ground, and the creatures are smothered. 
 
 Therefore, if one is to become a clam culturist, one 
 of the first things he must do is to select a bottom for 
 his clam bed that has a tenacious soil. Even when he 
 has found a bottom that does not shift under ordinary 
 conditions, he should remember that great gales, that 
 may be expected from definite directions, may tear it up 
 if it is in a position to be exposed to them. The No- 
 vember gale of 1898, from which time is sometimes reck- 
 oned on the New England coast, made many remarkable 
 changes in clam flats all along the shore. Many beds 
 were overwhelmed v/ith sand or smothered with eel-grass 
 
286 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 and mud, and most of these were permanently destroyed. 
 Storms of such magnitude occur only once in a life- 
 time, but more common ones, if less terrible, are often 
 destructive. 
 
 Soil is rendered tenacious in several ways. First, 
 when sand is found to be mixed with fine sediments, its 
 grains are often held together by this cementing sub- 
 stance. Clay, the finest of sediments, is very resistant 
 to the erosive action of water, and is often found on 
 flats and beaches. Another important agency in render- 
 ing the surface tenacious, and thus preventing the shift- 
 ing of particles, is the growth of algae, which forms a 
 close, thin mat over some surfaces. The presence of 
 this dark, green crust gives a flakey or cake-like ap- 
 pearance to the bottom. The plants do not extend deep 
 into the sand, but bind the surface grains closely enough 
 to prevent their movement even in strong currents. The 
 growth of alga; seems to be best where tides move with 
 some force, and such a combination of firm bottom and 
 fairly strong currents, bearing abundant food, affords 
 the best conditions for clam growth. When such a bed 
 is dug, the coating of algae again forms over the surface 
 within a very short time. 
 
 Again, under natural conditions, one observes that 
 sometimes a growth of thatch plants will convert a vvaste 
 of sand into a clam bed. Thatch is found on many flats 
 between tide lines. The plants grow close together, their 
 blades rising to a height of two or three feet, and their 
 roots forming a feltwork beneath the surface. In this 
 mass of vegetation, clams are often abundant, even when 
 the soil is almost pure sand and the currents rapid. They 
 are able to establish themselves because the plants pre- 
 vent a shifting of sand. On account of the wire-like 
 
The Soft Clam 287 
 
 roots, it is difficult to dig these tracts, but in such beds 
 there is preserved a great number of breeding individuals 
 that may restock neighboring beds rendered barren by- 
 excessive digging. 
 
 Mya, like the oyster and all other lamellibranchs or bi- 
 valves, feeds almost entirely on diatoms that are carried 
 in countless numbers by the brackish tide currents. 
 Other conditions being favorable, the number of clams 
 tliat may exist on any area, depends on the amount of 
 food that they are able to obtain. It is evident, also, that 
 the quantity of nourishment will depend on the amount 
 of water that passes over the bed, as Mobius, the Dutch 
 biologist, pointed out many years ago. Hence a tide 
 current passing over a bottom that is firm enough to be 
 undisturbed by it, is more conducive to rapid growth than 
 quiet water. This theoretical assumption has been 
 abundantly proved by experiments with Mya, as with the 
 oyster. Rapidity of current, within certain limits, de- 
 termines, in large measure, the number of clams that 
 mav exist on a given area, and also the rate of their 
 growth. So, in selecting a bed for artificial culture, a 
 bottom should be chosen over which there is a free move- 
 ment of water. 
 
 An interesting and suggestive condition existing on 
 most clam flats, is found in the close crowding of in- 
 dividuals over certain areas. If such a tract is kept un- 
 der observation, it will sometimes be found that, for 
 years, the numbers remain nearly constant, while growth 
 seems to have ceased, and there seem never to be any but 
 small clams. Food is sufficient for the existence of a 
 certain number, each apparently being able to get its 
 share, but none obtaining enough for growth. Such a 
 balance has often been observed. 
 
288 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 Experiments on such dense segregations of clams have 
 also revealed the fact that if numbers are reduced by dig- 
 ging, the remaining individuals begin to grow. The 
 conclusion is that the judicious and intelligent digging 
 of a clam bed is beneficial to it. All clammers will agree 
 with this statement. It is the same condition that all are 
 familiar with in a garden of vegetables. Lettuce plants 
 or radishes will fail to develop if too closely crowded. A 
 densely planted bed must be thinned in order to do well. 
 The real difficulty on our natural clam beds has been 
 that no one has cared to thin the garden and transplant 
 the superfluous individuals on barren ground for fear 
 he would receive no return for his labor; and this fear, of 
 course, has its justification. Such an improvement over 
 the process of nature would be effected if the clammer 
 were given the same lawful right to a bit of beach that 
 he has to his vegetable garden, or that the oysterman 
 has finally succeeded in obtaining in the deeper water 
 of many of the coast states for his oyster beds. It is a 
 short-sighted policy that denies such rights to citizens 
 who desire to make productive, tracts that are now waste 
 places. 
 
 It will be remembered that one of the most important 
 conditions governing the existence of the oyster is the 
 salinity of the water. The process of reproduction espe- 
 cially, depends on a proper degree of saltness, and its 
 range apparently is confined within rather narrow limits. 
 With Mya, these limits are very much wider. Clams 
 will grow and reproduce normally in water almost as salt 
 as that of the open sea, as well as in that which is nearly 
 fresh. The limits of salinity where this has been ob- 
 served are 1.024 ^^d 1.005, these being the averages of 
 several observations made during the summer while re- 
 
The Soft Clam 289 
 
 production was occurring. Not only is this true, but it 
 has been shown by experiment that clams may be trans- 
 planted from waters of one of these extremes to the other 
 apparently without being in the least affected by the 
 change. In this respect, as in others, the artificial culture 
 of clams will prove to be much simpler than the culture 
 of oysters. 
 
 Enemies of the adult clam are few. It is more dif- 
 ficult to gather a bushel of seed clams than of seed 
 oysters, but when the former have attained a lodgment 
 in the bottom they are safe from all foes, while the latter 
 are never entirely safe. On a few occasions, snail-like 
 mollusks have been observed to dig two or three inches 
 beneath the surface of a clam flat, and to devour im- 
 bedded clams, but not one shell in thousands dug 
 from clam beds will show the hole drilled by these ani- 
 mals. There is no reason to believe that any other ani- 
 mal ever attacks them in their burrows. The very 
 young, however, before they are able to cover themselves, 
 are preyed on by several forms. 
 
 It will therefore be necessary for the clam culturist to 
 give close attention to the character of the bottom and 
 to tide currents, when selecting grounds for his opera- 
 tions. In many cases the existence of proper conditions 
 will be proved by the presence of natural beds; but on 
 many tracts now barren all natural requirements are met, 
 and all that is needed is the planting of seed clams. To 
 be able to recognize such areas will, obviously, be of 
 great advantage. Unfavorable conditions on other bot- 
 toms also may be overcome. Even shifting sand might 
 perhaps be reclaimed by a covering of firmer soil. The 
 oyster culturist has several such achievements to his 
 credit. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE SOFT CLAM 
 
 N Mya, as in the oyster of our Atlantic coast, 
 the sexes are separate. South of Cape Cod 
 W/.-U the breeding season begins about the middle 
 of June, reaches its height during the last two 
 weeks of July, and continues until September. North 
 of Cape Cod the season begins somewhat later, probably 
 on account of the difference in temperature. 
 
 As in most other bivalves, male and female cells are 
 extruded into the water, where they unite. As might be 
 expected, the early stages of development are similar 
 to those of the oyster, resulting in the formation of a 
 swimming embryo that rotates spirally as it passes 
 through the water. When the embryonic shell appears, 
 the animal has a diameter of about one three-hundredth 
 of an inch. The entire swimming period covers from 
 three to six days, varying considerably with changes in 
 the temperature of the water. A fall of temperature 
 checks, and a rise to a certain optimum accelerates de- 
 velopment. The numbers over some flats during the 
 height of the reproductive season are very great. A 
 small surface net a foot in diameter, on being towed a 
 hundred yards through the water, has been observed to 
 capture from twenty-five to thirty thousand of the swim- 
 ming young. 
 
 At this time the young are undoubtedly destroyed in 
 
 290 
 
The Life History of the Soft Clam 291 
 
 great numbers by many swimming enemies, and Mr. D. 
 L. Belding, Biologist of the Massachusetts Fish and 
 Game Commission, has recently made observations 
 which show that cold rains are very fatal to them. 
 " During a long, cold rain," he writes, " counts were 
 made of the number of larvae in a certain amount of 
 water which passed through the plankton net : before 
 the rain, 30,000; after nine hours, 15,000; after fifteen 
 hours, 3,000. After the rain had ceased, the number of 
 larvae gradually increased until it was the same as at 
 the first count." This is interesting, because the varia- 
 tion in the " set " in different years seems, as in the case 
 of the oyster, to be best explained by these and other sud- 
 den lowerings of temperature during the swimming 
 period. 
 
 From this time on, the habits of the young clam be- 
 come very different from those of the young oyster of 
 the same age. While the latter settles and at once be- 
 comes fixed to some foreign object for the rest of its life, 
 the young My a must still expose itself to many dangers 
 before reaching a safe resting-place in the bottom. 
 
 During the later part of the swimming stage, a well 
 developed, muscular foot appears, extending along the 
 whole lower or ventral side of the body. It is now rela- 
 tively very large, as it is in the adult hard clam or little 
 neck, but later it will become proportionately much re- 
 duced in size. Siphon and gills, also, have made their 
 appearance. The velum, a projecting pad covered with 
 the swimming cilia, gradually disappears, and the small 
 clam settles to the bottom. 
 
 During the few days of the swimming period, the 
 young clam may have been carried some distance from its 
 starting-point, not only by its power of locomotion, but 
 
292 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 passively by tide currents; but because the young always 
 settle in considerable numbers on old natural beds, some 
 of those carried away by the retreating tide must be 
 brought back by the flood. But in selecting bottoms for 
 artificial beds, localities possibly might be found that are 
 favorable for planted clams, but on which there would 
 be little or no natural set of the young because of peculi- 
 arities of currents. 
 
 It is certain that the young clam makes no selection 
 whatever of bottoms on which to settle, though curious 
 segregations of minute clams that are often met with 
 might suggest some such power. Here and there it will 
 be found that sea-weeds bear newly settled clams in 
 great numbers. Certain strips of beach also have been 
 observed on which multitudes of small soft clams have 
 settled, the margins of the tracts being sharply limited. 
 On adjacent bottoms very few are to be found. Prob- 
 ably these great inecjualities in distribution are due en- 
 tirely to peculiarities of water currents. When a certain 
 stage of development is reached, the swimming form set- 
 tles, wherever it happens to be. More will fall where 
 large volumes of water pass in the form of sharply de- 
 fined currents than where tliere is little movement of 
 water. As so often happens in nature, the seed is sown 
 broadcast. While in this case it can usually live only on 
 certain restricted tracts between tide lines, it falls in 
 deep water and shallow alike, probably thousands of 
 times more often where death is inevitable than where 
 farther development is possible. 
 
 During the swimming period there has been formed 
 far back on the under side of the foot a gland for secret- 
 ing a transparent fluid which, on being ejected into the 
 water, hardens into a minute, tough thread known as the 
 
The Life History of the Soft Clam 293 
 
 byssus.. Immediately on settling, the young clam at- 
 taches itself by means of this thread to shells, sea-weeds, 
 pebbles, or even to sand. It is now not much larger than 
 many of the sand grains, and its body is so light that 
 if it were not anchored in some way, it would be rolled 
 along by the action of the water. When water move- 
 ments cease, as at slack tide, it often casts off the byssus 
 
 Fig. 56. — Very small long neck clam 
 (.4 millimeter), b, byssus; f, foot; 
 s, siphon. Drawn from living speci- 
 men, 
 
 and begins to creep by means of its foot. What the ob- 
 ject of this habit may be it is difficult to imagine, for the 
 little creature, even if in search of a more favorable lo- 
 cality, is able to move only very short distances. After 
 a little exercise of this sort, it rapidly secretes and fast- 
 ens another thread, but sometimes continues to creep 
 about to the length of its tether. 
 
 The general appearance of this newly settled clam 
 is illustrated in Figure 56. Foot (/) and siphon (s) 
 Sire shown extended, and the byssus thread (b) with its 
 
294 O'^r Food MoUusks 
 
 terminal branches, is represented. The outhne of the 
 shell is very different from that of the adult, being nearly 
 round. The umbones also are very prominent. 
 
 Probably not even the swimming stage is more crit- 
 ical for Mya than this period of creeping, which is of 
 longer duration. If on a beach, where it has a chance 
 of continuing its existence, it may be washed away by 
 stormy waters ; and everywhere on the bottom it is ex- 
 posed to numerous enemies and has little defense against 
 them, for its transparent shell is still very thin and brittle. 
 Perhaps to this stage at least the line from Saxe's '' Ode 
 to a Clam " might apply, " Thy valves are sure no safety- 
 valves to thee." 
 
 Crabs and small fishes probably take many of them for 
 food, but the most destructive of the clam's enemies are 
 young starfish. These are produced in the early summer 
 when the young clams are making their appearance, and 
 after a short swimming period, also settle to the bottom 
 in company with them. Even before their rays are 
 formed, these pests develop an almost incredible voracity. 
 They embrace their infant companions with all the gen- 
 tleness displayed by their parents in their relations with 
 adult bivalves, and to equal purpose. 
 
 This tragedy in miniature is illustrated in Figure 57, 
 v/hich represents a starfish about two days old devouring 
 a young clam that it has found on the surface of the bot- 
 tom. The drawing is not fanciful, but was made from 
 the living subjects — or, more properly, perhaps, the liv- 
 ing and dead. The actual length of the clam's shell was 
 one and seven-tenths millimeters — about one-sixteenth of 
 an inch. Some of the sucker feet are seen to be attached 
 to the shell of the clam, while others are extended later- 
 ally. The faint outline of the stomach of the starfish 
 
The Life History of the Soft Clam 295 
 
 may be discerned through the transparent shell of its 
 victim. 
 
 Escaping its enemies and becoming larger, the diminu- 
 tive clam begins to exhibit the digging habit, for now 
 and then it attempts to thrust the sharp point of its 
 foot down among the sand grains. At first, even when 
 
 
 Fig. 57. — Very small starfish devouring a j'oung long 
 neck clam. /, sucker feet ; s, everted stomach of 
 starfish seen through the transparent shell of the 
 clam. Drawn from the specimen. 
 
 the sand is fine, it is unable to accomplish anything 
 because of the lightness of its body. Soon, how- 
 ever, when the shell has become about two millimeters 
 long, it is able to push and worm the foot into the bottom, 
 and the shell is then gradually worked in after it. Clams 
 six or seven millimeters long are able to burrow into very 
 stiff bottoms. 
 
 Having thus completely covered itself, the young Mya 
 
296 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 once more spins a byssus, attaching it to several sand 
 grains or pebbles in the wall of its burrow. The bur- 
 row at this time is very shallow, and there is safety in 
 thus anchoring, for a storm that might disturb the bot- 
 tom even slightly, would expose the creature. Newly 
 
 Fig. 58. — Long neck clam, Mya, with a byssus (b) attached 
 to sand grains (sg). Drawn from living specimen, on 
 a smaller scale than Fig. 56. 
 
 buried clams have the habit of casting the byssus off at 
 the point of its attachment to the body, of coming out 
 of the burrow and creeping for short distances, and then 
 of burrowing once more. 
 
 Figure 58, drawn on a much smaller scale than Figure 
 56, represents a soft clam two and three-tenths milli- 
 
The Life History of the Soft Clam 297 
 
 meters in length removed from one of its earliest bur- 
 rows. The outline of the shell is now quite as different 
 from that of an earlier period as from that of the adult 
 condition. An idea of the actual size of the clam may be 
 had by comparing it with the bodies s g, which represent 
 sand grains of average size. Byssus threads continue to 
 be secreted until the clam is at least half an inch long. 
 It is probably at about this time that a final descent is 
 made. The byssus gland then atrophies and entirely dis- 
 appears, and the animal never comes to the surface again 
 through its own effort. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE GROWTH OF THE SOFT CLAM AND 
 SOME NOTES ON CLAM CULTURE 
 
 T has not been many years since it was the 
 habit of some to complain at the expenditure 
 of pnbhc money in the maintenance of 
 scientific departments by the federal govern- 
 ment. There was also much prejudice against state 
 agricultural schools. Scientific farming was scorned by 
 those who regarded themselves as practical farmers, and 
 no one else was much interested in experiments looking 
 toward the preservation of soils, the production of new 
 varieties of corn or wheat, and the warfare against in- 
 sect pests. A thousand problems, the solution of which 
 has now added untold wealth and comfort to the nation, 
 were once regarded as foolish speculations. Prejudice 
 has now been completely overcome, and every one is 
 familiar with the great practical achievements of 
 scientific workers in the U. S. Bureau of Agriculture, 
 and in the state experiment stations and schools. 
 
 It has come to be understood also that fish commis- 
 sions, instead of existing merely to stock streams for 
 wealthy sportsmen, have worked wonders in the arti- 
 ficial propagation of fishes, and in saving many of them 
 from extermination. They have given their attention 
 also to other aquatic food animals. The aid which has 
 been given by the federal Bureau of Fisheries to various 
 
 298 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 299 
 
 states interested in the oyster industry alone, in surveys 
 and in experiment, has been great, and is now sincerely 
 appreciated. Now that the nation has been wakened in a 
 wonderful manner to the necessity of saving what re- 
 mains of its natural resources, and of increasing them 
 when possible, it is an encouraging and stimulating thing 
 to possess so many demonstrations of the ease with 
 which vast material results may be obtained by working 
 intelligently with nature instead of against her. 
 
 What may be a relatively unimportant example of the 
 nature of such work, is afforded by the clam problem 
 that effects the north Atlantic shore. When it became 
 evident that the soft clam industry was rapidly becom- 
 ing ruined, a study of the subject was begun by the 
 writer in 1898 at the suggestion of Dr. H. C. Bumpus, 
 with a view of determining the conditions governing the 
 life of Mya, the rapidity of its growth, and other facts 
 that might lead to the development of a practical method 
 of clam culture. This result was arrived at, and has 
 been thoroughly tried and proved by state commissions, 
 especially in Massachusetts. All that is now necessary 
 for the rapid regeneration and improvement of the soft 
 clam industry is the formulation of state laws giving 
 titles to bottoms where it may be carried on. 
 
 Most of the early experiments were made on beaches 
 where conditions were recognized as being unfavorable, 
 because facilities for the work were not to be had else- 
 where. Tide currents especially were sluggish on some 
 of the ground, and on many of the beds that were con- 
 structed there was little more than a cjuiet rise and fall 
 of water. These facts make the results all the more re- 
 markable. 
 
 The plan followed was to select bottoms for the ex- 
 
300 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 perimental beds where differences in soil, time of ex- 
 posure, salinity, and especially variations in the exchange 
 of water over them, should be as great as possible. 
 When the areas chosen had been staked out, the ground 
 was carefully dug over and all clams found were re- 
 moved. Seed clams were gathered sometimes from the 
 same locality, and sometimes at distant points, where the 
 temperature and salinity of the water were very different. 
 Clams to be planted were of different sizes, and some 
 were planted quickly in beds prepared for them, while 
 others were exposed to the air for varying periods be- 
 fore planting. Records of these facts were kept, and 
 results noted when the beds were subsequently dug. In 
 order to determine accurately the amount of growth, the 
 length of each individual clam — and altogether there 
 were many thousands of them — was measured, and those 
 of a size were planted together. Beds were subdivided 
 by measurement, and diagrams in a note-book showed 
 exactly what clams were placed in each square foot, and 
 gave their number. Planting was done during the 
 months of July and August, and the beds were dug a 
 year later. 
 
 Some of the results of these first clam experiments, 
 made on the south side of Cape Cod, may be given 
 briefly. 
 
 The most important fact brought to light was that 
 growth, as compared with that of the oyster, was very 
 rapid. As already stated, the length of each clam was 
 determined just before planting, and again after a year 
 of growth, to determine the amount of increase. But a 
 statement of the increase in length gives no adequate 
 idea of the amount of growth. That is best accom- 
 plished by obtaining the actual increase in volume, and 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 301 
 
 may be expressed in weight or in cubic contents. The 
 latter plan was chosen, and the determination made by 
 displacement in water. A clam one inch long displaces 
 approximately 1.6 cubic centimeters of water; one two 
 inches long displaces about 1 1 cc, or nearly seven times as 
 much ; while an individual measuring three inches dis- 
 places 43 cc, and is about twenty-seven times as large as 
 the first. With a table of such facts, inches were trans- 
 formed to cubic centimeters, and the increase in volume 
 expressed in percentages. 
 
 Again, clams all of the same length when planted will 
 vary somewhat in size after a year's growth. When 
 these were dug and measured, they were segregated into 
 sets according to size. The number in each set was 
 counted, the sets arranged in a series, and the arith- 
 metical mean of the series calculated. Then the volume 
 of the mean of the series was compared with the volume 
 of the clams when planted, and the percentage of in- 
 crease in volume determined. 
 
 Perhaps a specific example of the employment of this 
 method will be less opaque than the foregoing statement. 
 In a bed planted on July 13, 1899, the planted clams 
 were one and one-half inches long. They were removed 
 on July 4, 1900, the length of each obtained, and all 
 were arranged in sets, and the sets in a series. The 
 mean length of the series, expressed in eighths of an inch, 
 was 20.952, or nearly two and five-eighths inches. The 
 volume of a clam one and a half inches long is 4.5 cc. 
 That of an individual two and five-eighths inches in 
 length is 32 cc. Therefore the increase in volume in this 
 case is about 688 per cent. 
 
 Many thousand clams were placed in beds in a locality 
 in which there was practically no current, the only ex- 
 
302 
 
 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 change of water being in the rising and falling tide. In 
 July, pebbles and stones on the surface became coated 
 with a dense growth of sea-weed. Masses of dead eel- 
 grass, which were barely floated at high tide, also re- 
 mained on the beds for days at a time during the 
 summer. All of this must have interfered greatly with 
 the feeding of the clams, but in spite of the unfavorable 
 condition, the increase in volume was great, as is shown 
 in the following table : — 
 
 Size when planted. 
 
 Approximate 
 
 percentage 
 
 of increase 
 
 in I year. 
 
 Size when planted. 
 
 Approximate 
 
 percentage 
 
 of increase 
 
 in I year. 
 
 if inches 
 
 Per cent. 
 556 
 422 
 
 347 
 284 
 210 
 190 
 
 2^ inches 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 139 
 
 109 
 
 78 
 
 38 
 
 28 
 
 i# inches 
 
 2| inches 
 
 if inches 
 
 2f inches 
 
 i| inches 
 
 2^ inches 
 
 i| inches 
 
 2| inches 
 
 2 inches 
 
 
 
 
 
 In order to present some tangible idea of this growth. 
 Figure 60 was prepared. The jar to the left contains 
 seventy-five individuals, each one and five-eighths inches 
 long. The other holds an equal number of the size of 
 the mean after a year of growth — two and a half inches. 
 The increase in volume is 347 per cent. If clams much 
 smaller when planted had been chosen, the illustration 
 would have been much more striking. 
 
 The following table shows the growth of several thou- 
 sand clams on a bed where the exchange of water was 
 much better than on the first, though not so good as on 
 some flats. Unfortunately most of the clams planted 
 here were smaller than those on the first beds, so that the 
 percentage of increase cannot be compared. Small 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 303 
 
 clams increase more rapidly than large ones under 
 identical conditions. One series of the same size — 
 that in which clams were one and three-eighths inches 
 long — was planted in each locality. On the first beds, 
 where there was little current, the increase was 556 per 
 cent., on the second 711 per cent. 
 
 Size when planted. 
 
 Approximate 
 
 percentage 
 
 of increase 
 
 in I year. 
 
 Size when planted. 
 
 Approximate 
 
 peicentage 
 
 of increase 
 
 in I year. 
 
 I inch. 7 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 II50 
 
 802 
 
 i| inches 
 
 i| inches 
 
 Per cent. 
 768 
 711 
 
 I5 inches 
 
 
 
 It will be noticed that the increase of one inch clams 
 was 1,150 per cent. The mean length of these clams 
 when dug was nearly three inches, that is, they had 
 grown from a length of one inch to marketable size in 
 one year. Most of this growth took place during the 
 summer and fall. 
 
 It is usually possible to obtain large numbers of clams 
 of this size for planting. When spread on a beach, they 
 are able to burrow into it readily, and when established, 
 will remain. In order to be certain of the growth of in- 
 dividuals of this size, another bed, with which great care 
 was taken, was selected for them, this time where the 
 current was a little more marked, and where they were 
 immersed each day for a somewhat longer time. The 
 increase in this bed was 1,337 P^'* cent. The relative 
 sizes of the clams at the beginning and end of the year 
 are shown in Figure 59. 
 
 These experiments with Mya were subsequently re- 
 peated on a much larger scale, both above and below 
 Cape Cod, by the Massachusetts Fish and Game Com- 
 
304 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 mission. The work was done with extreme care, and 
 by expert observers, beds being constructed at many 
 points on the coast and in ail sorts of localities. The re- 
 sults of the earlier experiments were completely verified, 
 and as most of the work was done on flats instead of on 
 beaches, were even more favorable. 
 
 The following quotation from the commission's re- 
 port for 1907 gives a general summary of results in the 
 case of a one inch clam : — 
 
 " A I -inch clam will grow in one year to a size between 
 2 and 3 inches. Under fairly favorable conditions, with 
 a moderate current, a i-inch clam will increase to 25^ 
 inches, or a gain of 900 per cent, in volume. For every 
 quart planted, the yield in one year will be 9 quarts. 
 For beds without current, i-inch clams average about 
 2 inches, or a gain of 500 per cent. ; i.e., five quarts for 
 every quart planted. Beds under exceptionally fine con- 
 ditions have shown the amazing return of 15 quarts for 
 every quart of i-inch clams planted. Clams increased 
 in these beds from i to 3 inches in length. Therefore, 
 by planting clams i inch or over, under favorable condi- 
 tions a marketable clam can be produced in one year." 
 
 The growth of Mya has been studied in much more de- 
 tail than that of the oyster. It is, of course, the point of 
 greatest importance to the culturist, and the possibilities 
 of increase under good conditions, as here illustrated, 
 certainly are not overstated. 
 
 Though some practical clammers have seen the value, 
 and more recently the coming necessity, of clam culture, 
 there have been few attempts to practise it, and almost 
 none that have been thoroughgoing. The chief reason 
 for this is that it has been impossible to obtain rights to 
 clam bottoms that would be respected. 
 
^^^^HI^H^^H^H 
 
 
 ^■VH 
 
 ^BP^ 
 
 ^^E^^^^ 
 
 ^fl 
 
 ^^B^^, ^^ 
 
 
 
 Wf^ ' --M 
 
 iff \ \ ^^^1 
 
 ■ 
 
 wKt ,'^>"'- ^ '^j^^"-!^ 
 
 
 ^^^^^1 
 
 Hn ' -^^^"^""-ir^ittHSBfi!?^^^^^ 
 
 pf .jli^H 
 
 ^^^^^1 
 
 HHk "i iiiiilffym>iii|Si r '' 
 
 ^."^^f^fll^^^l 
 
 ^^^^^1 
 
 H^^.. ;>* 'l^T^-^'.^'- 
 
 • ,iM^^^^^^^ 
 
 ^^^^^1 
 
 ^HH^^ ' '1^ 
 
 i^^^^^^^^^^^^H 
 
 ^^^^H 
 
 ^^^^■HH 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 Fig. 59. Increase in size in one year of clam one inch lonc^ 
 when planted. * 
 
 Fig. 6o. Increase in volume in one year of clams in an ex- 
 perimental heel with slight current. J. L. Kellogg, Special 
 Shell-hsh Commission. U. S. F. C. 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 305 
 
 In a U. S. Fish Commission report published in 1887, 
 reference is made to an attempt at clam farming at 
 Bridgeport, Conn. It is stated that a beach right was 
 secured under a general state law, but that there was 
 " immense opposition from the shore people of the sub- 
 urbs, who, as usual, bitterly and blindly opposed any 
 cultivation of marine products." 
 
 Small clams were planted by being placed in holes 
 made in sand, but this was found to be slow, and an at- 
 tempt was made, by the use of all sorts of plows and cul- 
 tivators, to plow the seed in. Finally a light plow was 
 invented that was said to do the work satisfactorily. 
 The bed, which was about half an acre in extent, was in- 
 spected three years after the first planting, and showed 
 an immense number of clams. As they were apparently 
 too thickly set, the owner was engaged in thinning and 
 transplanting them, and believed that he '' must wait 
 four or five years for his first crop." Even at that, the 
 writer of the report declared, " I know of no branch of 
 mollusk culture likely to prove more remunerative than 
 this, so long as it is not overdone." Nevertheless, for 
 some reason the attempt at Bridgeport was discontinued. 
 
 Laws of New England shore states allow towns to 
 rent their flats to citizens for the purpose of planting 
 clams. At one time or another several towns have done 
 this, but all attempts at clam culture have proved to be 
 dismal failures, not because of adverse natural condi- 
 tions, but from rivalries and ill feeling among those who 
 were most interested, and from the difficulty in punish- 
 ing trespassers. 
 
 Perhaps the nearest approach to success was made by 
 the town of Essex in Massachusetts. In 1888 its select- 
 men were authorized to rent lots of one acre or less, to 
 
3o6 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 any citizen of the town, on the flats along the Essex 
 River; but it was not until 1891 that any applications 
 were made for them. In that and in the following year, 
 nearly forty acres are said to have been rented. At that 
 lime the flats were practically barren from excessive dig- 
 ging, though formerly they had been extremely pro- 
 ductive. In most cases planting was desultory, each 
 renter waiting to see what his neighbor might be able to 
 accomplish in his experiment, before he gave his own 
 time to it. A few diligent ones succeeded in demonstrat- 
 ing the feasibility of the method, but as no person lived 
 within sight of the majority of the beds, the property was 
 not guarded, and no planter received any benefit from 
 his work. There were no reapplications for leases when 
 the first had expired. 
 
 Again and again it has been proved that the way to 
 meet an increased demand for living natural products 
 is not to limit the supply, but to increase it, and almost 
 invariably this can be done. Undoubtedly state laws will 
 ultimately be modified so as to make clam culture pos- 
 sible, and many will engage in it. A few general sug- 
 gestions may be of value to those who shall be able to ac- 
 quire protection in rights to shore property, and who de- 
 sire to engage in clam culture. 
 
 The prospective culturist will look about for favorable 
 bottoms. As already stated, he should avoid a shifting- 
 surface or one in which there is much decaying organic 
 matter. It will be safe to select one on which clams are 
 growing if it is available, but many that are quite bar- 
 ren, having been made so by excessive digging, are quite 
 as good. It may sometimes be good policy to construct 
 small experimental beds. 
 
 Free exchange of water, though not enough to disturb 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 307 
 
 the bottom, is best. As the oyster cnhiirist chooses cer- 
 tain bottoms on wliich oysters grow rapidly, so the clam 
 ciilturist may sometimes advantageously plant seed from 
 one and a half to two inches long in a current even- 
 strong enough to disturb the bottom. Growth is often 
 very rapid in such localities, but small clams planted in 
 them would be washed out or smothered. The rate of 
 growth depends directly on the amount of food that 
 the clam obtains, but the amount of food does not al- 
 ways depend on swiftness of current. There must be 
 some movement of water, but in some localities there 
 are so many food organisms in it that growth is rapid 
 when currents are sluggish. Such points must be proved 
 by trial in each locality. 
 
 The idea of obtaining seed clams from artificially fer- 
 tilized eggs should be dismissed at the beginning. Arti- 
 ficial fertilization of oysters eggs is easily accomplished, 
 but no one has yet been able to make any practical use 
 of it. With the eggs of Mya it is very difficult, and no 
 one is likely ever to make a success of rearing the young 
 from the egg. Furthermore, it would seldom be of value 
 in either case to be able to do so, for the natural supply 
 is sufficient. 
 
 The set will always vary as the oyster set does. In 
 any locality it will be heavy one year and light another. 
 On one flat it may be a failure, usually from a local ad- 
 verse condition like a cold rain when the water is full of 
 swimming embryos. Several days of low temperature 
 may cause it to be more widespread. There seems, 
 however, seldom to be a failure over much of the shore 
 at one time. If necessary, it should be possible to pur- 
 chase seed at no great distance from any point where a 
 failure occurs. 
 
3o8 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 Sometimes the set is quite evenly spread over a flat. 
 Most often it is very irregular, being generally thin, 
 but very dense in a few spots. These dense segrega- 
 tions, that every clammer knows, are caused by sharply 
 defined currents that have passed near spawning clams. 
 Every day during the breeding season some swimming 
 individuals reach the stage of development in which they 
 sink to the bottom, and a more or less steady shower of 
 them continues to fall for several weeks. More swim- 
 ming forms w\\\ pass over the bottom that underlies a 
 current than elsewhere, and this will receive an unusually 
 large number of the settling individuals. Some modi- 
 fication of a current, as an eddy on its margin, may 
 sweep together astonishingly great accumulations. Such 
 segregations are common, and the fate of the young 
 clams comprising them has been studied and described. 
 
 Two such areas, for example, lying under parallel and 
 sharply defined currents that were separated by a dense 
 mat of eel-grass, were nearly two hundred yards long 
 (Figure 6i). Each was but two or three yards wide. 
 In the middle of the breeding season they were as densely 
 packed as it was possible for them to be. Before the 
 end of the summer all had died from overcrowding. 
 
 A similar segregation, occurring on the flats near Ips- 
 wich, in Massachusetts, the fate of which, however, was 
 not witnessed, has been well described by Mr. J. R. 
 Stevenson. " Often," he writes, " they are so numerous 
 that only a small portion can burrow, the rest being but 
 half in the sand, or merely resting upon its surface, the 
 sport of every storm. Such an area I found during No- 
 vember, 1906, in Plum Island Sound, upon the east side 
 of Rowley Reef. The narrow channel here washes the 
 eastern thatch bank. Upon the west side of this channel 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 309 
 
 a long reef has grown up, on which lay the prodigiously 
 abundant set. Several clamniers have told me that fre- 
 quently such sets occur here. Upon an area of 600 to 
 700 feet long, tapering at the ends, and about 150 feet 
 wide in the center, I found a set of young clams from 
 1,000 to 5,000 per square foot. From an average square 
 
 Fig. 61. — Position of dense set of 
 young of Mya in a small bay. 
 Dotted line marks the low-tide 
 level. J. L. Kellogg. Report of 
 Special Shell Fish Commission, U. 
 S. F. C. 
 
 foot of sand in which every clam was burrowed out of 
 sight, and in which I counted roughly 1,000 holes, I dug 
 T,937 clams, averaging about half an inch in length. 
 From a square foot of sand into which the clams had not 
 completely burrowed I sifted 2,486 clams. Roughly 
 
3IO Our Food Mollusks 
 
 estimating this area at 50,000 square feet set with clams 
 at least 1,000 per square foot, we have the enormous 
 total of 50,000,000 young clams. Averaging, as I found, 
 about 3,000 per quart, there are about 17,000 quarts, 
 which is over 500 bushels of young clams. The produc- 
 ing power after two years' time, of these 500 bushels we 
 may scarcely estimate. From certain productive flats 
 less than 500 two-year-old clams filled a bushel basket. 
 This young set on Rowley Reef goes 100,000 per bushel. 
 If all were thriving after two years, we would find a 
 gain in volume of 160; i.e., if to-day we were to plant i 
 bushel of this set, within two years we would be able 
 to dig over 160 bushels of fair-sized, marketable clams. 
 Many of these clams, even if carefully transplanted, 
 would die; yet, if but a half survive, the gain in volume 
 of even 80 bushels is enormous. 
 
 " Near the center of the most thickly set area I found 
 a tidal pool, roughly 12 feet long by 6 feet wide, and 
 about 15 inches deep. At first sight it seemed but an 
 inch or two deep, but upon wading into it I sank to my 
 knees. Imagine my surprise when I found it was not 
 rnud into which I sank, but a mass of living clams. 
 Here were more than 60 cubic feet of solid clams. 
 
 " The first day I visited the reef I dug a short trench, 
 about 15 feet long, across a portion of this thickly set 
 fiat. The day following I found several pailfuls of 
 young clams gathered by th.e force of the water into clean 
 heaps. When such natural tide pools fail in their sup- 
 ply, it is possible to dig others, and, by turning over the 
 thickly seeded flat, to let the tides and waves fill the new 
 pools with the dislodged clams." 
 
 Very little attention has been paid to these collections 
 by clammers, but they are well worth careful observa- 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 311 
 
 tion. They afford a good illustration of the wasteful- 
 ness and destructiveness of nature, and at the same time 
 present an excellent opportunity to retrieve what usually 
 would be a total loss, for when left to themselves, these 
 vast communities of infants commonly perish. In the 
 case of most organisms seed is scattered beyond recov- 
 ery, but here it is collected by the tides in such a manner 
 that it may easily be gathered. While there is great 
 variation in the size and position of these segregations 
 in successive years, they occur on large f^ats with suffi- 
 cient regularity to insure a source of seed for planting. 
 
 A careful examination of an extensive clam bottom 
 will also reveal areas here and there on which are clams 
 of all sizes up to two inches in length. These are 
 crowded, but not often densely packed. Here there 
 seems to be a balance, the greatest number possible, with 
 the supply of food brought by the currents, continuing 
 to exist, but growing very little, if at all. Year after 
 year the numbers and sizes of clams in such places have 
 been observed to remain about the same. Such collec- 
 tions also afford seed, and the rate of growth under more 
 favorable circumstances that may be expected of in- 
 dividuals between one and tvv'o inches in length has been 
 indicated. 
 
 The planting of very small clams is as" simple a matter 
 as can be imagined. If the bottom is not too hard, and 
 if the water does not come upon it or leave it too rap- 
 idly, they may be sown broadcast like grain. Those less 
 than half an inch long will, when covered by water, bur- 
 row in the course of five or ten minutes. Most clams an 
 inch long will also cover themselves, though the process 
 requires a somewhat longer time. It has been shown 
 that this might be made easier if the bottom were previ- 
 
312 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 otisly plowed or raked in order to loosen its surface. 
 Ordinarily this would not be necessary. 
 
 Larger seed might perhaps be successfully plowed un- 
 der, but no experiment besides that at Bridgeport has 
 been made to test it. In the U. S. Fish Commission ex- 
 periments, clams were dropped into holes made with 
 stakes. On a pebbly beach where the making of the hole 
 was very difficult, four men at one time thus planted three 
 thousand clams in two hours. Subsequently on a sandy 
 bottom the work was accomplished three or four times 
 as rapidly. It would not be difficult to construct wheels 
 with pegs on the rims that would make rows of de- 
 pressions as rapidly as desired. Such a method of plant- 
 ing clams would ensure their lodgment and their proper 
 distribution, and the labor required ordinarily would not 
 be great. 
 
 After attaining a length of more than two inches, the 
 soft clam is soon injured by exposure in summer. Tem- 
 perature, however, and not merely exposure, is the im- 
 portant factor. For several days the animal is able to 
 withstand temperatures near the freezing point appar- 
 ently without injury, but it lives only a short time out of 
 the water in warm weather. Experiments show that an 
 exposure of forty-eight hours during the hottest part of 
 the summer will lead to the death of the majority, even if 
 they are then planted, but few perished on being exposed 
 twenty-four hours under the same conditions. 
 
 Clams to be planted, however, should ordinarily be 
 much smaller than this, and the power to resist heat in- 
 creases as size diminishes. When kept in aquaria sup- 
 plied with running water, large clams live only a few 
 days when the weather is warm; but those less than half 
 an inch long have been kept alive in a hot room, barely 
 
Fig. 62. Box suspended from a raft near a clam flat from 
 May 15 until October 15 of the same year. The long-neck 
 clams shown below had all settled from the swimming con- 
 dition into the sand that it contained during this period. 
 
 Fig. 63. Growth of Mya in two years on i-ioo of an acre of 
 a barren flat. The small pile at the right represents the 
 size and volume of the seed clams planted. The larger 
 pile is eight times the volume of the smaller. Experiments 
 by D. L. Belding, Mass. Fish and Game Com. 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 313 
 
 covered with stagnant water, until, after many days, a 
 scum of bacteria had formed over them. Seed for 
 planting could be kept in good condition out of water for 
 several days in a comparatively low temperature. 
 
 Great numbers of soft clams have been dug from local- 
 ities where the water contained very little salt, and 
 planted where the salinity was very high, apparently be- 
 ing not at all affected by the transfer. Great changes in 
 salinity have a markedly bad effect on oysters, interfer- 
 ing especially with reproduction; but soft clams breed 
 well in either extreme. This condition, that requires so 
 much attention from the oysterman, may probably be 
 entirely disregarded by the clam culturist. 
 
 No rule can be formulated to govern the volume of 
 seed to be sown on a specified area, for one part of the 
 bottom will support several times as many clams as an- 
 other, and a bushel of very small seed clams should be 
 spread over a larger space than if they were of greater 
 size. In a report on the Essex experiment it was stated 
 that about five hundred bushels of seed were required 
 properly to plant an acre. This is an excessive number 
 for the most favorable parts of any flat, even if the clams 
 to be planted were relatively large. Very few — perhaps 
 four or five — bushels of half-inch clams would be re- 
 quired to fill the best acre that could be selected, and the 
 best acre would support many times the number that 
 could exist on some of the poorer ones. Only experi- 
 ence will indicate the quantity of seed of a certain size 
 that will produce the best results on a specified area. 
 
 The recent extensive experiments of the Massachusetts 
 Fish and Game Commission show that, on a flat of 
 ordinary fertility, ten or fifteen clams to the square foot 
 are as many as can maintain a maximum rate of growth. 
 
314 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 But the difficulty of defining the conditions on a flat of 
 ordinary fertility is naturally great. All that may be 
 said is that, usually, it would not be safe to plant a 
 greater number than this. With experience one may 
 estimate with some confidence the possibilities of an un- 
 tried bottom after examining it, and. becoming familiar 
 with the flow of water over it; but certainty in all cases 
 is to be had only by trial. 
 
 Extensive experiments are numerous enough to make 
 it certain that on many of our flats now almost entirely 
 barren, it would be possible to produce each year at 
 least four hundred bushels of marketable clams to the 
 acre. These should be made to return a net profit of at 
 least seventy-five cents a bushel, and probably more, for 
 the labor involved is not great. It has been estimated, 
 after a careful examination of the coast of Massachusetts 
 by trained biologists, that there are now in that state six 
 thousand acres of barren bottoms capable of producing 
 clams. The available territory in the other northern 
 states is not so great, but in some it is very extensive, 
 and all of it together might be made to produce a vast 
 amount of food. It now lies as it has lain for many 
 years, almost entirely barren and useless. 
 
 In the newer parts of our country it has not been dif- 
 ficult for a few individuals to obtain control of natural 
 resources. Such a state of affairs is unjust and detri- 
 mental to the best interests of the nation, and has re- 
 sulted in a wanton and appalling waste of wealth, all of 
 which properly belongs to the many and not to the very 
 few. But on our eastern shore the fisheries, which the 
 courts have decided include the mollusk fisheries, theo- 
 retically belong to all the people, and it is interesting to 
 observe that by exercising these rights that they hold in 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 315 
 
 common, they have succeeded in wasting and destroying 
 and exterminating quite as successfully as have the mo- 
 nopolistic owners of natural oil, anthracite coal, or timber 
 resources. 
 
 There is a middle course between these extremes. It 
 has been explained that the oystermen, after a long 
 struggle, have forced the public to take that course, and 
 it has been generally recognized in the Atlantic states as 
 a just one. bringing hardship to no one, and developing 
 for the benefit of all a great industry that otherwise 
 could not have existed. Apparently no citizen who has 
 desired to taken an active part in oyster culture has been 
 prevented from doing so, either from lack of shore room 
 or from pressure brought to bear on him by strong com- 
 petitors ; and there are now many times as many oysters 
 growing in some waters than ever existed in them under 
 a state of nature. 
 
 There is every reason for taking the same middle 
 course in the disposition of the extensive area that might 
 yield an abundance of clams — soft and hard clams alike. 
 There seems to be no reason to doubt that the result 
 would be as beneficial to the public in general as it has 
 been in the disposal of the oyster territory. The case as 
 it exists in New England is very clearly put by Dr. G. 
 W. Field, Chairman of the Massachusetts Fish and Game 
 Commission, who says : — 
 
 " The parallelism between the shellfisheries and agri- 
 cultural conditions, both historical and biological, is very 
 close. In each, the original inhabitants depended en- 
 tirely upon the natural products, and public ownership 
 of land and all natural utilities was universal. Later 
 tliere developed the advantage, and even the necessity, of 
 private ownership of land and its products, if prosperity 
 
3i6 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 in its widest sense, or even the actual subsistence of the 
 increasing population, was to be maintained. The 
 acquisition of titles to land areas was the first logical step. 
 The fixing of permanent bounds was simple. The land 
 then furnished a more readily accessible and certain 
 source of food, which not only could be produced with 
 relatively little labor and capital, but which from its very 
 nature would be readily and compactly stored in barns, 
 cellars and granaries, where its cjuality did not deter- 
 iorate and where it was quickly available in stress and 
 storm. The chance which brought the first settlers to 
 Plymouth rather than to another section of our coast was 
 responsible for the present law, that the owners of land 
 bordering tide water own the tidal flats for a distance of 
 I GO rods (approximately the conditions at Plymouth), 
 or to mean low-water mark if less than loo rods from 
 the high-water mark. In accordance with the early 
 English law, the ' fisheries,' which the courts have since 
 decided included the mollusk fisheries, were declared to 
 be forever the property of the whole people, i.e., the 
 State; and these fisheries were for a long period open to 
 any inhabitant of the State who might need to dig the 
 shellfish for food for his family or for bait. From 
 time to time, however, special grants have been made to 
 certain towns, carrying control of the shellfisheries ; spe- 
 cial acts of the General Court of Massachusetts delegat- 
 ing to certain towns practically all the rights of the 
 State in the shellfisheries within the limits of that town. 
 " The present laws have essentially in a marked de- 
 gree converted the shellfisheries, the undivided property 
 of all the inhabitants of the State, into holdings of the 
 shore towns and cities. In many instances there has re- 
 sulted up to the present time merely legalized plundering 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 317 
 
 of the flats, local jealousies prohibiting the digging of 
 clams by ' outsiders,' and little or no care given to main- 
 taining the normal yield of the flats. The regulations 
 made by the selectmen or the mayor and aldermen are 
 usually but distinct attempts at checking the demand, by 
 prohibiting digging for certain periods, by limiting the 
 number legally to be dug by any one person, etc. It 
 would be quite as logical for a town or city to prohibit by 
 by-laws the use or digging of potatoes or any other food 
 crop, when the supply was short, rather than to attempt 
 to increase the supply. As a result, the unsystematic 
 methods of marketing have led to the premature destruc- 
 tion of far more clams than ever go to market; a similar 
 condition would exist if the farmer should dig over his 
 growing potato field before the crop matured, either in 
 the hope of finding a few marketable tubers, or to pre- 
 vent the possibility of his neighbor digging up the pota- 
 toes at that time or later. 
 
 "... The owners of the land adjacent to the flats, 
 are under the present laws often subjected to annoyance 
 or loss by inability to safeguard their proper rights to a 
 certain degree of freedom from intruders and from 
 damage to bathing or boating facilities, which constitute 
 a definite portion of the value of shore property. 
 
 '■ . . . That any one class should claim exclusive 
 ' natural valid rights,' over any other class, to the shell- 
 fish products of the shores, wiiich the law states ex- 
 pressly are the property of ' the people,' is as absurd as to 
 claim that any class had exclusive natural rights to wild 
 strawberries, raspberries, cranberries or other wild fruits, 
 and that therefore the land upon which these grew could 
 not be used for the purpose of increasing the yield of 
 these fruits. This becomes the more absurd from the 
 
3i8 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 fact that the wild fruits pass to the owner of the title 
 of the land, while the shellfish are specifically exempted, 
 and remain the property of the public.'' 
 
 In time these antiquated laws will be changed. Clam 
 bottoms will be leased to individuals by the state, and 
 not by the towns, if, indeed, they are not eventually sold 
 as they should be, and the harvests they bear will belong 
 to the owners. But the demand for the change should 
 come from the public and not alone from the few who 
 would engage directly in the clam industry. 
 
 With the formulation of new laws to establish the in- 
 dustry, there should not be omitted those safeguarding 
 the public health, by requiring cities and towns near 
 clam flats to make a proper and safe disposal of sewage. 
 Oystermen are able to establish growing grounds far 
 from shore, where oysters will be safe from contamina- 
 tion by disease-producing micro-organisms, and many of 
 them are doing so; but soft clams can be dug only on the 
 shore between tide lines. 
 
 The facts should be recognized that the present soft 
 clam industry, that depends entirely on natural condi- 
 tions, is far on the way to destruction; that nature at best 
 is extremely wasteful in her methods; and that the hand 
 of man can easily compel her to produce great wealth on 
 desert places. The establishment of the new industry 
 should be accomplished with much less effort than was 
 the existing oyster industry. Very much less labor need 
 be expended in the collection of seed. There need be no 
 spreading of collectors. Some thinning and equalizing 
 of the distribution may be necessary on areas seeded 
 naturally, but without boats or expensive implements, 
 barren ground may easily be planted. Once in the 
 ground, the clams are safe from all natural enemies. 
 
 .1 
 
The Growth of the Soft Clam 319 
 
 They will be ready for market in half the time required 
 for oyster growth. For several years the demand has 
 been steadily growing. There is room for an indefinite 
 extension of the market, and when production becomes 
 certain, a fair and steady price may be depended on. 
 The man with small capital may profitably engage in the 
 new enterprise. The culture of the soft clam in some of 
 the northern states should be as successful as that of any 
 other marine food organism, and the culture of the hard 
 clam, or little neck, on southern shores as well as in parts 
 of New England, should also become of great import- 
 ance. 
 
 The time may come when the matter of the artificial 
 culture of Mya will be of interest to the states of Cali- 
 fornia and Washington, for the creature has established 
 itself on the Pacific coast and is slowly finding favor in 
 the markets. Mya was introduced into California 
 waters by accident or design about 1870, and being a 
 cold water form, found conditions suited to its needs, 
 and at once multiplied rapidly and spread over a large 
 territory in San Francisco Bay and elsewhere, occupying 
 beaches between tide lines, as at home in the Atlantic. 
 
 The " eastern clam," as it is known on our western 
 coast, appeared in Willapa Bay, Washington, about 1880, 
 and is supposed to have come directly from California. 
 From this point a few years later a small number was 
 transported to Puget Sound, near Tacoma. Since that 
 time they have spread, appearing at many points on the 
 shores of the sound, and in some places are very abun- 
 dant. To have attained so wide a distribution in so short 
 a time, proves that the conditions in the new waters are 
 very favorable for the propagation of the soft clam. 
 
 The Pacific states possess half a dozen fine edible 
 
320 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 clams of their own. Among them are the " giant clam " 
 or " geodnck " (Glycimeris generosa), that sometimes 
 attains a weight of more than six pounds; the great 
 "Washington clam" or "gaper clam" (Schizotheriis 
 nuttalli), formerly abundant, but now so much reduced 
 in numbers that it is seldom found in the market ; the 
 "little neck," "hard shell," or "rock clam" (Tapes 
 staminea — not the little neck of the Atlantic coast), 
 which is found in the markets of Bellingham, Seattle, 
 Tacoma, and elsewhere; and the "butter clam" (Saxi- 
 domus nuttalli), now extensively canned. 
 
 But the virtues of Mya are such that it will probably 
 commend itself to the western public, especially as most 
 of the native species are becoming much less abundant. 
 Even if Mya could be had in numbers great enough 
 eventually to take their places in the markets, it would be 
 a great pity to see these wonderful western forms ma- 
 terially decrease. Unfortunately, practically nothing is 
 now known of their development, their life histories, or 
 their rates of growth, and it is idle to speculate on 
 their possible fate, or on what their cultivation in the 
 bays of Washington and California might mean com- 
 mercially to those states. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE HARD CLAM 
 
 EXT in commercial importance to Ostrea and 
 Mya arenaria in New England, is the hard 
 clam. It is a warm water form, and its dis- 
 tribution extends from the southern side of 
 Cape Cod to Texas. Small isolated beds exist in warmer 
 bays above Cape Cod, but they are very few. The ranges 
 of hard and soft clams overlap from Cape Cod to the 
 Chesapeake, but from New York southward the hard 
 clam becomes " the clam." 
 
 Venus mercenaria is so called because a portion of the 
 inner surface of its shell is often stained a beautiful bluish 
 purple, and this was used by the Indians of the eastern 
 shore in the manufacture of wampum beads. Wampum 
 was used not only for dress ornamentation, and symbolic 
 belts exchanged to seal intertribal transactions, but also 
 as a currency medium even in trading with the early 
 white settlers. 
 
 A common name for Venus in New England is " qua- 
 haug " or " quahog," and is probably derived from an 
 Lndian name which signified " tightly closed " — a better 
 name for the genus than that given to it by the naturalists 
 — thus distinguishing the shell from that of Mya. The 
 term " little neck clam '' is also used, for the siphon or 
 " neck " is much shorter than in Mya, and the origin of 
 
 321 
 
322 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 the name " hard clam " is readily understood when one 
 examines the thick, heavy shell. 
 
 Though often found between tide lines, the hard clam 
 occurs in greater numbers in deeper water, where it is 
 continually submerged. In many localities in which con- 
 ditions are favorable, it grows at a depth of at least 
 fifty feet, and the outer limit of its distribution is prob- 
 ably considerably farther. It burrows into the bottom, 
 but only deep enough to cover tlie shell. It is found in 
 sand, but more often where there is considerable mud. 
 
 A primitive method of finding these clams w^as " tread- 
 ing " or feeling in the mud for them with bare feet. It is 
 very slow work, unless clams are numerous and the water 
 shallow. The fishing is usually done from boats. In- 
 frequently oyster tongs or dredges with long teeth are 
 used, but the implement commonly employed is a large 
 rake with long steel tines. The handles of these rakes 
 are sometimes sixty feet long for use in forty or fifty feet 
 of water. To operate such a rake requires immense 
 muscular strength, but on many parts of the New Eng- 
 land coast, where the fishing is done, irregularities of the 
 bottom prevent the use of dredges. 
 
 For many years quahaugs have been cooked and mar- 
 keted in cans, and there is a large demand for them in 
 the form of canned chowder. At one time an effort was 
 made to market their dried and granulated flesh. It was 
 said that this material, convenient in form for soups and 
 chowders, had much merit, but it failed to find favor. 
 During the last few years there has been a rapidly in- 
 creasing demand for small individuals to be eaten, with- 
 out cooking, from the half-shell. In restaurants and 
 hotels these are called " little necks." 
 . Venus will live out of water very much longer than 
 
The Hard Clam 323 
 
 Mya. The edges of its shell form a joint that is al- 
 most air-tight. It is safely shipped far inland, even in 
 the hottest part of the summer, and consequently is the 
 form most commonly used in fresh water clam-bakes — a 
 rather poor imitation all through, of the genuine New 
 England institution, but an enjoyable affair for all 
 that. 
 
 The hard clam, like Mya, has suffered a marked de- 
 crease in numbers during the last few years. In 1898 
 a single company that had been marketing ten thousand 
 cans of hard clams daily for years, was compelled to 
 abandon the Great South Bay of Long Island for the 
 Carolina sounds, because of an almost complete failure 
 in the supply. Most other bottoms wiiere hard clams 
 were formerly abundant have failed because of ex- 
 cessive digging. 
 
 There are still great beds of these clams in the South 
 that have never been disturbed. South of the Chesa- 
 peake they are very little used as food. In 1904 great 
 numbers of them were discovered by the writer on the 
 muddy west shore of the Chandeleur Islands, near the 
 delta of the Mississippi. Oystermen and fishermen along 
 that coast stated that they were never dug even for bait. 
 New Orleans possesses a great supply of fine oysters, 
 but should also become acquainted with New England 
 clam chowder, that she might so conveniently make her 
 own. 
 
 The chief features of the development of Venus have 
 recently been determined by Mr. D. L. Belding, who 
 finds that, after being fertilized in the water (from 
 early June to the middle of August in New England), the 
 eggs segment or divide in much the same manner as in 
 the oyster, and produce a swimming form. Before the 
 
324 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 swimming organ, or velum, disappears, a large foot is 
 developed. Soon afterward the creature settles to the 
 bottom. It was found that for some time the habits of 
 the young Venus were almost precisely similar to those 
 of Mya of the same age. A byssus gland is present at 
 the beginning of the creeping period, and the young qua- 
 haug attaches itself to objects on the bottom by a byssus 
 thread. This is cast off at will, the creature creeps about 
 for short distances, and then reattaches itself. Finally 
 it is large enough to burrow, and immediately, on cov- 
 ering itself, spins a byssus which it attaches to sand 
 grains or pebbles in the burrow walls. As in Mya, the 
 object of this is to prevent the animal from being washed 
 away from the point where it is lodged. The byssus 
 gland remains as a functional organ until the quahaug at- 
 tains a length of at least nine millimeters. In larger in- 
 dividuals it seems to have disappeared. 
 
 The first experiments made on the growth of Venus 
 were conducted in 1901 on the north shore of Long 
 Island. In order to obtain as much security as possible 
 against trespassers, permission was obtained from an 
 oysterman to use a portion of an oyster bed that could be 
 watched. Though growing oysters were thickly planted 
 on the surrounding bottoms, there appeared to be an 
 abundance of food, and the rate of growth obtained 
 probably represents fairly the powers of increase pos- 
 sessed by the quahaug" on ordinary bottoms near a beach 
 line. 
 
 As many and as diverse conditions as circumstances al- 
 lowed were selected in placing the beds. Some were made 
 on the beacli between tide lines, and others where they 
 would be continually submerged. Several observations 
 have made it seem probable that, as might be expected, 
 
The Hard Clam 325 
 
 bivalves obtaining food continually will grow more rap- 
 idly than those that are exposed at low tide. It proved 
 to be true in this case. The currents were strong, but 
 much the same on all beds. 
 
 The belief prevails among clammers that the fully 
 grown quahaug sometimes leaves its shallow burrow and 
 creeps for some distance before burrowing again, and 
 that in this way it may effect a considerable migration. 
 At least one account of this supposed habit has been pub- 
 lished. " On these bottoms of sand and mud," it runs, 
 " the clam spends most of its time in crawling about with 
 the shell upright and partly exposed. It can travel pretty 
 fast, and leaves behind it a well-plowed furrow." This 
 might be assumed to be true from the fact that it pos- 
 sesses so large and powerful a foot. Some fresh water 
 clams have this habit well developed, but hundreds of 
 f[uahaugs used in this experiment remained for six 
 months where they were planted. The fact that they 
 move about very little if at all was later A-erified by ex- 
 tensive experiments in which the creatures were under 
 observation at all times of the year. It seems certain 
 from the many observations that have now been made on 
 this point that the future culturist need have no fear that 
 his planted quahaugs will leave him of their own ac- 
 cord. 
 
 But at the time of the first experiment such a result 
 was feared, and in order to forestall it beds below low 
 tide were covered and walled in with wire netting. The 
 small quahaugs were planted during the first week in 
 July, and when the beds were dug in the last week in De- 
 cember, the netting showed no signs of having been dis- 
 turbed. Beds between tide lines were not thus screened 
 and none of the clams had moved beyond their limits, 
 
326 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 which had been marked by tagged staples driven into the 
 ground. 
 
 The results of six months of growth during the 
 warmer part of the year may briefly be stated as fol- 
 lows: — Continually submerged, quahaugs one and a 
 quarter inches long when planted, increased in volume 
 in one bed two hundred and twenty-two per cent, in six 
 months. It is possible that the increase might have been 
 somewhat greater here if the bed had not been almost 
 entirely surrounded by great numbers of oysters that con- 
 sume the same food. 
 
 The increase was less in other beds in the same local- 
 ity. For example, clams one and three-eighths inches 
 long increased only seventy-eight per cent, in volume. 
 Here, however, the wire netting exposed above the bot- 
 tom had become the lodging-place of an abundant growth 
 of sea-lettuce (Ulva), which flattens down in a current 
 so as to prevent free access of the food-bearing stream. 
 The effect of this mat of sea-weed in preventing the 
 growth of hard and soft clams alike has been noted care- 
 fully in many cases. It should, however, cause little 
 trouble to the culturist, for it may easily be removed by 
 a little raking. 
 
 Where everything seemed to have been favorable on 
 the beds between tide lines, quahaugs varying from one 
 and a half to one and a quarter inches in length showed 
 an increase in volume ranging from one hundred and 
 fifty-five to two hundred and fifty-five per cent. 
 
 In 1904 extensive experiments on the growth of Venus 
 were begun by Mr. Belding for the Massachusetts Fish 
 and Game Commission, and these were carefully and con- 
 tinuously pursued for several years following. 
 
 Mr. Belding has found that growth nearly ceases 
 
The Hard Clam 327 
 
 about the first of November, and does not begin again 
 until about the first of May, reaching its maximum in 
 August. The precise time when growth ceases in the 
 cold waters of the northern coast varies with the weather. 
 When November is unusually mild and warm, there is 
 some growth, but it is not extensive. There appears to 
 be no growth after the first of December in any year. 
 There is every reason to believe, however, that farther 
 south the growing season is longer than in New Eng- 
 land, and that where it never becomes cold, as in the 
 Gulf of Mexico, it is continuous. 
 
 Few figures showing the percentage of increase in 
 volume in these experiments are yet available, but it has 
 been found that under very favorable conditions the size 
 of the " little neck " — which is about two inches in 
 length — is attained in a little more than two years after 
 the egg is fertilized, but on some of the- less favorable 
 beds where eel-grass had prex'ented the flow of water, 
 it was estimated that as many as eight years would be re- 
 quired to produce a two inch little neck. It is believed, 
 also, that quahaugs more than three inches long are at 
 least four years old, and in cases where conditions have 
 not been favorable, more than that. Thus it is not pos- 
 sible to make a statement concerning the growth of 
 Venus that will apply in all cases, because so much de- 
 pends on local conditions. In a general way it may be 
 stated that the average rate of growth is not so rapid as 
 that of Mya, but more so than that of the oyster in cold 
 northern waters. 
 
 As in all previous clam experiments, the most im- 
 portant condition governing growth was shown to be 
 the advantage of a current of considerable strength. 
 Doubtless this is true whh all bivalves. In certain fa- 
 
328 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 vored places, shallow boxes or racks, containing three or 
 four inches of sand, were suspended one above another, 
 and clam? planted in them grew very rapidly, many gain- 
 ing an inch in length in five months. It was found pos- 
 sible to obtain good results in a strong current even 
 when young clams were placed close together in these 
 boxes. This " intensive farming " possesses many ob- 
 vious advantages. By selecting a locality in which a 
 strong current carries much food, a maximum growth 
 could be attained with large numbers of clams, for much 
 water above the bottom could be utilized. Such clams 
 could easily be examined, and a market demand for a 
 definite size could be met with little labor. On the other 
 hand, there might be practical difficulties in handling 
 continually submerged racks, and the expense of the 
 method might be prohibitive. But interesting results 
 might come of rack culture if it were practised on a com- 
 mercial scale, and it is worth an extensive trial in more 
 than one locality. 
 
 The hard clam is apparently as little affected by dif- 
 ferences in the salinity of water as is Mya. It was found 
 to reproduce normally and to grow in waters in which 
 salinity varied from 1.009 ^o i-0-5- The oyster is much 
 more sensitive to these variations. Outside much nar- 
 rower limits than these, its general condition, and espe- 
 cially its power of reproduction, are seriously affected. 
 
 Natural enemies of the adult are few, and do little 
 damage. Starfish destroy some, and a few are killed by 
 one or two boring inollusks (Figure 64). Probably 
 there are heavy losses among the young before they are 
 able to burrow, but once in the bottom, they are secure. 
 
 Sufficient preliminary biological work has been done 
 to make it certain that the quahaug industry, the newest 
 
The Hard Clam 
 
 329 
 
 of the shell-fish industries, but already fast declining, 
 might be firmly established and greatly developed by arti- 
 ficial culture. The demand for the adult clams is grow- 
 ing rapidly, and there seems to be no danger that the 
 " little neck '' will lose its popularity and again become 
 only a young quahaug. Present prices for this baby 
 clam are high, the clammer sometimes receiving four dol- 
 
 FiG. 64. — Shell of a " little neck " 
 clam, Venus, showing a hole 
 bored over the visceral mass region 
 by an oyster drill, Urosalpinx. 
 
 lars a bushel for his catch, while one who orders them on 
 the half-shell at a Boston or New York restaurant, pays 
 for them at the rate of fifty dollars a bushel. If their 
 production were to increase, the price received by the 
 clammer might be lowered, but because of the merits of 
 this form of food, the demand for it must continue to be 
 greater. 
 
 The control of the present quahaug industry in New 
 England is very generally placed in the hands of the 
 selectmen of shore towns. Too often the responsibility 
 of supervising and intelligently regulating the raking of 
 natural beds is entirely neglected. In no case, appar- 
 
330 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 ently, has artificial production been encouraged, and the 
 only effort to conserve the supply has been to declare a 
 close season now and then. There are no provisions for 
 forcing negligent towns to care for their shell-fisheries, 
 and losses from such negligence fall on the public. The 
 rights of citizens of the states, so far as the clam in- 
 dustries are concerned, have been given to the few liv- 
 ing on the shore. Not only have they in most cases 
 failed to take advantage of these great and special priv- 
 ileges, but they have, with almost perfect unanimity, de- 
 clared that " outsiders " shall be allowed no privileges 
 whatever on their shores. 
 
 It thus appears that laws are urgently needed in the 
 north Atlantic states that will permit of the artificial cul- 
 ture of the quahaug by any citizen of the commonwealth 
 formulating such laws. It would be better for each 
 state possessing bottoms suitable for quahaug culture to 
 make them accessible by lease or sale to non-residents. 
 This has proved to be good policy in the management of 
 the oyster industry. Unfortunately the time seems not 
 to be near when such a condition may be attained in New 
 England. 
 
 When quahaug culture is attempted on a large scale, 
 there will be some disadvantages as compared with soft 
 clam or oyster culture. Chief among these will be the 
 difficulty of obtaining large cjuantities of seed. The set 
 seems usually to be scattered. One often finds on an ex- 
 posed beach or flat great accumulations of very small bi- 
 valves having a superficial resemblance to young qua- 
 haugs, and which the natives of the shore usually con- 
 fuse with them. Dense segregations of the young of 
 Venus seem not to be so common as those of Mya, though 
 why this should be so is difficult to explain, for the habit 
 
The Hard Clam 331 
 
 of settling from tlie swininiing condition seems to be 
 identical in the two cases. There are certain isolated 
 coves and bays on the New England shore, however, 
 wliere young quahaugs are sometimes raked up in vast 
 numbers — usually to be sold for plantin,g in Long Island, 
 a practice that has recently been begun there. Thus the 
 price of seed may be high, though the clam is abundant 
 enough in its scattered distribution. 
 
 It will probably be found, however, that the few dis- 
 advantages are more than counterbalanced by peculiar 
 advantages. Venus, for example, is one of the hardiest 
 of bivalves. It is not only peculiarly insensible to 
 changes in temperature and salinity, but it withstands 
 long exposure to the air, even in hot weather, without 
 apparent injury. Shipments to distant markets or plant- 
 ing grounds may thus be effected without loss. Again, 
 there is a market during the entire year, and on the 
 greater part of the Atlantic coast, and in the Gulf of 
 Mexico, weather conditions would not interfere seriously 
 with raking. 
 
 The territory available for cjuahaug culture also is 
 greater than for that of the soft clam. The only labor 
 involved wnll be that of taking the seed and marketable 
 individuals from their shallow burrows in the bottom. 
 Planting in all cases may be accomplished as easily as in 
 oyster culture, for quahaugs of all sizes are able to bur- 
 row when thrown on the bottom. 
 
 It may be of interest to speculate on the actual returns 
 that should be expected by an energetic and reasonably 
 cautious planter, who might now be able to lay out his 
 quahaug or little neck beds in New England waters. 
 When ordinarily favorable conditions obtain, he would 
 plant on an acre at least one hundred and twenty bushels 
 
332 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 of seed clams averaging one and three-quarters inches in 
 length. For this seed he might have to pay five dollars 
 a bushel, though often he would be able to obtain it for 
 less. These young clams, for which he has paid six hun- 
 dred dollars, he plants in early May. By the first of No- 
 vember following they should average two and a half 
 inches in length, and would have increased in volume to 
 six hundred bushels. These he should be able to sell for 
 at least three dollars a bushel, or eighteen hundred dol- 
 lars. After deducting the amount spent in raking, 
 which would vary according to the depth of water and 
 the character of the bottom, he would in any case receive 
 a relatively large profit from his investment. The pro- 
 duction on some bottoms would not be so great as this, 
 but on many others it would be considerably greater. 
 
 The hard clam is widely and favorably known in the 
 northern states, while in the South, in the warm waters 
 of which it is much more at home, it is rarely seen in 
 the markets, and in many regions is entirely unknown. 
 Where it is now consumed, the demand for it is rapidly 
 increasing, and when it has made its way into southern 
 and far interior markets, a new and extensive industry 
 will without doubt appear on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts 
 over an area that is now practically unproductive. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 THE SCALLOPS 
 
 MONO the most beautiful objects to be found 
 on the sea shore are the shells of scallops that 
 are often thrown above the reach of the water 
 by the waves of storms. Many species are 
 found in temperate and warm parts of the world, and 
 the rounded outline, the radiating grooves, or the ex- 
 quisitely varied coloration of the shell, have attracted at- 
 tention since the earliest times. It was often worn to 
 indicate that the bearer had visited the shores of distant 
 countries. The holy Palmer, brought before Lord Mar- 
 mion, had come 
 
 " From Salem first and last from Rome ; 
 One that hath kissed the blessed tomb, 
 And visited each holy shrine, 
 In Araby and Palestine " 
 
 " He shows St. James' cockle shell " 
 
 "The scallop shell liis cap did deck." 
 
 And after an adventurous and tempestuous life, when 
 the time had arrived for his celestial pilgrimage, Raleigh 
 sang 
 
 " Give me my scallop shell of quiet, 
 My staff of faith to walk upon." 
 333 
 
334 O'^r Food MoUusks 
 
 Lovers of the beautiful are not confined to civilized 
 peoples, and we find that even ancient savages in various 
 parts of the world employed the shells of scallops in many 
 of their rites and ceremonies. 
 
 Every one is familiar with these shells, which are used 
 in many kinds of decorations, and are figured in dec- 
 orative drawings and paintings; but comparatively few, 
 perhaps, are aware that the animals that form them are 
 eagerly sought in many countries for a more utilitarian, 
 and — in the minds of those who may be inclined to agree 
 with a modern French neurasthenic who has declared 
 eating to be one of the most disgusting of human 
 functions — less noble purpose, that of being used for 
 food. However one may regard the function of eating, 
 he has found it to be necessary, and has developed a 
 taste that esteems one thing above another; and some of 
 those who have come to regard this particular power of 
 discrimination in themselves as an art, have assured us 
 that the scallop is the daintiest of all the foods that the 
 waters produce. 
 
 The reason that so many are unfamiliar with the scal- 
 lop as a food animal is that until recently it has been kept 
 fresh with so great difficulty that it has been shipped only 
 short distances from the shore. The secret of its seem- 
 ingly perishable nature lies in the fact that four and a 
 half quarts of small, yellowish scallop " meats," if soaked 
 in fresh water for a few hours, will emerge plump and 
 white — so greatly bloated, in fact, that they now fill a 
 seven quart measure. Most consumers apparently desire 
 to pay for plumpness and whiteness ; but freshened scal- 
 lops are very perishable, while in a more natural state 
 their keeping properties at the low temperatures of mod- 
 ern refrigeration are nearly if not quite as good as those 
 
The Scallops 335 
 
 of un freshened shucked oysters. If they feel that the 
 bloating of scallops is necessary to the trade, it would 
 seem that dealers might ship them in a normal state, al- 
 lowing agents to bring about the required pathological 
 condition after they had reached their destination. But 
 the fact is that the market near the shore is sufficient for 
 the present scanty supply, prices are ah-eady high, at 
 times reaching five dollars a gallon at wholesale, and if 
 scallops were to be sold un freshened, a still greater sum 
 would have to be asked for them. The scallop dredger 
 has a good reason for continuing to freshen his product, 
 and the consumer may continue to live in ignorance of 
 tlie nature of the unspoiled article. 
 
 Those who are familiar with the scallop as it is ex- 
 posed for sale in cities near the coast, have seen only 
 small, white cylinders of flesh, for the part that is eaten 
 is the single adductor muscle, the remainder of the body, 
 tender and of fine flavor, being thrown aw^ay, or at best 
 used as a fertilizer. That this is a great sacrifice appears 
 from the fact that a bushel of scallops yields but two and 
 a half or three quarts of " meats." 
 
 Among the common names applied to the form in 
 America are " scallop," '' scollop," and " escallop," while 
 on the Gulf of Mexico, where, however, it is not known 
 as a food molkisk, it is called a clam. In England such 
 names as " queens," " frills," and " fan-shells " are 
 heard. 
 
 Two species, Pecten irradians and Pecten tenuicos- 
 tatus, the one found from Cape Cod to Texas, the other 
 north of the cape, are captured on our eastern and 
 southern coasts. The warm water scallop is the smaller, 
 its shell attaining a maximum diameter of about three 
 and a half inches. It is marked by radiating grooves, 
 
33^ Our Food MoUusks 
 
 and in young individuals is often variously and beauti- 
 fully colored. This form is much the most common in 
 the market. The northern scallop when full grown pos- 
 sesses a shell about seven inches in diameter, that is with- 
 out radiating grooves or pigment. It is now so difficult 
 to find that it is seen in few markets outside the state 
 of Maine. 
 
 Pecten irradians inhabits shallow waters near the shore 
 line, and is usually found where eel-grass is abundant. 
 The reason for this will presently appear. Like the other 
 members of the genus, it is in many respects a very 
 highly specialized form among bivalves. Along its 
 mantle edge, for example, are many complex eyes that 
 are visual organs of surprising acuteness. The creature 
 has the habit of lying, at times, on the surface of matted 
 eel-grass, and on being approached, becomes alarmed, 
 flaps itself off of its support, and sinks to the bottom. 
 Like a few other bivalves, the adults are able to swim, but 
 in a very peculiar manner. 
 
 Lying on the bottom, they sometimes may be observed 
 to snap the valves of the shell together, and water being 
 thus ejected from the mantle chamber, the body is forced 
 in the opposite direction. It might be assumed from the 
 examination of an individual held in the hand that the 
 animal must move in swimming with the hinge edge of 
 the shell forward, but quite the reverse usually is true. 
 It may be puzzling to understand why the expelled water 
 should not all escape from the edges of the shell opposite 
 the hinge where the gape is widest ; but when the mantle 
 folds are examined, a very wide and thick flap is found 
 on the edge of each, which, when the water in the cham- 
 ber is put under pressure by the closing of the shell, is 
 thrown inward in such a manner as to prevent its escape 
 
The Scallops 
 
 337 
 
 (Figure 65, / and Figure 67, m /). But these folds are 
 muscular, and on the closure of the shell they bend out- 
 ward near one of the lobes or " ears " of the shell on the 
 hinge side, so as to form a short tube-like aperture. 
 Tiirough this tube the jet is driven, and 
 the body, rotating somewhat, is propelled 
 in the opposite direction. Immediately the 
 shell again opens and closes, and another 
 jet is driven out, but this time near the 
 opposite ear of the shell. Again the body 
 is slightly rotated and driven onward at 
 an angle to the first course. Alternately 
 the jets are discharged from near one ear 
 and then the other in rapid succession, and 
 the creature rises from the bottom in a 
 zigzag course until it reaches the surface. 
 This is represented in Figure 66. Con- 
 tractions then ceasing, it settles to the 
 bottom, usually several feet from the 
 starting point. If this performance were 
 repeated many times, a considerable dis- 
 tance might be covered, and it has been 
 assumed that scallops make periodical 
 and concerted migrations from shallow 
 to deep water and back again. 
 
 This, however, almost certainly is not true, though 
 it is commonly believed. No reliable observer has ever 
 asserted that he has seen these migrations. On the other 
 hand, Mr. Belding, who for several years has watched 
 them closely at all seasons where they grow naturally, 
 and who has had the matter of their supposed migrations 
 in mind, writes that they have remained in the same 
 places the year around. The more intelligent of the scal- 
 
 FiG. 65. — Cross 
 section, edge 
 of shell (s) 
 and mantle 
 
 (m) of Pec- 
 ten, e, eye ; 
 /, flap or fold 
 
 extending 
 inward from 
 the edge of 
 the mantle. 
 
338 
 
 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 Fig. 66. — Course taken by Pecten in rising from the bottom by 
 successive closures of the shell. 
 
 lop dredgers hold the same view of the matter. It does 
 sometimes happen that scallops in shallow water are 
 
The Scallops 339 
 
 segregated near the shore line, or even thrown on a beach, 
 being rolled by dragging waves in a gale, but such a 
 movement is not what is meant by migration. 
 
 The small Pecten irradians is marketed in the fall and 
 early winter, and in very shallow water is taken by 
 means of an implement known as a " pusher," a rectan- 
 gular iron frame about three feet wide with a bag at the 
 back, which is pushed over the bottom by a handle. In 
 water too deep for wading it is secured by means of light 
 dredges towed in ten or fifteen feet of water by cat- 
 boats, or more frequently, perhaps, by small gasoline 
 launches. 
 
 South of Cape Cod this small scallop is found at Nan- 
 tucket, all along the south side of the cape, in Buzzards 
 and Narragansett bays, and in some of the bays on the 
 shores of Long Island. It was formerly abundant on 
 both shores of Long Island Sound, but now is rarely 
 found. Everywhere in northern waters it has been 
 greatly reduced in numbers, like the clams. In the Caro- 
 lina sounds it is taken for a few of the local markets, but 
 is seldom disturbed in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1904 
 great numbers were discovered by the writer on the eel- 
 grass covered bottoms west of the Chandeleur Islands — 
 enough of them, probably, to support an industry of con- 
 siderable magnitude. They are not at all known, how- 
 ever, in the neighboring markets. 
 
 The northern scallop inhabits deep waters, most of the 
 best known beds lying at a depth of from forty to sixty 
 fathoms, and is dredged with difficulty, owing to the 
 rocky nature of the bottom. 
 
 Until recently little was known of the life histories of 
 either of our Atlantic Pectens, though in the case of the 
 shallow water form the fishermen had made some ac- 
 
340 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 curate guesses as to the time of breeding and the length 
 of life. We now possess a thorough study of the 
 anatomy and development of the giant scallop by Pro- 
 fessor G. A. Drew, and an interesting investigation of 
 the development and habits of the shallow water form 
 has been made by Mr. D. L. Belding. 
 
 In the giant scallop the sexes are separate, but the 
 shallow water form is hermaphroditic. In both cases 
 the ovaries are easily recognized without dissection dur- 
 ing the breeding season by their bright salmon-pink color. 
 
 The spawning- season of Pectan irradians begins about 
 the first of June in New England, and ends in early 
 August, weather causing some variation. Probably it 
 begins earlier in warm southern waters. The ripe eggs 
 of this form, one four-hundredth of an inch in diameter, 
 are extruded into the water, and there meet the male 
 cells. Usually in hermaphroditic animals one set of sex- 
 ual cells is matured and discharged before the other, ap- 
 parently in order that self-fertilization may be prevented. 
 But in an aquarium a scallop sometimes discharges ova 
 and spermatozoa together, and these unite with each 
 other. ■ More frequently one set is discharged, and then, 
 after an interval, the other, and under natural conditions 
 cross-fertilization would most often occur. 
 
 The segmentation of the fertilized egg is of the same 
 general character as that of oyster and clam eggs. It 
 also, from fifteen to twenty hours after fertilization, be- 
 comes a swimming embryo or veliger and, suspended by 
 the activities of its cilia, is carried about by water cur- 
 rents. The velum or prominence bearing swimming cilia 
 has made its appearance, and a shell is secreted that is 
 soon large enough to cover the entire body. The velum 
 is extended out beyond the shell margin when in func- 
 
The Scallops 341 
 
 tional activity. Whenever the creature is disturbed, it, 
 like the veligers of other bivalves, immediately with- 
 draws the velum within the shell, which closes, and sinks. 
 Sometimes it resumes its course before settling far, but 
 even if it reaches the bottom it may soon rise. 
 
 During the last three days of the short swimming or 
 veliger period, a foot begins to develop on the under side 
 of the body. It becomes relatively very large, and its 
 first function is a curious one. Being extended from be- 
 tween the valves of the shell to a distance equal to that 
 of two-thirds of the body, its end is seen to be covered 
 with cilia, the movements of which begin to aid in swim- 
 ming, and thus supplement the work performed by the 
 velum. The latter organ soon atrophies and disappears, 
 and the creature ceases to spend the greater part of the 
 time afloat. But it is still able to swim, and frequently 
 rises from the bottom — not yet, however, by the flapping 
 movement of the shell valves that characterizes the swim- 
 ming of the adult, nor by the action of the foot cilia 
 alone, for the body soon becomes too heavy to be moved 
 by them unaided — but by a paddling motion of the foot. 
 Swimming by a paddle-like foot action is sometimes prac- 
 tised by adults of other species of bivalves (Mactra, 
 Ensis, Solenomia, Yoldia), and the habit is retained by 
 the young Pecten for some time. Gradually it begins 
 to swim by the shell, being aided for a time by the foot, 
 but as the animal grows, the latter organ becomes rela- 
 tively small and ceases to have a part in the performance 
 of this function. 
 
 Thus in early life the foot aids in swimming in two 
 ways — by the action of its cilia and by paddling: but in 
 addition to this, it performs two functions — that of spin- 
 ning the byssus for attachment, and of creeping. Prob- 
 
342 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 ably even in the late embryonic swimming stage a byssus 
 gland is developed at its base and becomes functional, for 
 very small individuals hardly more developed than the 
 late swimming forms, have been found attached to float- 
 ing objects, and Mr. Belding has witnessed somewhat 
 older individuals, about one millimeter in diameter, 
 swimming at the surface of the water with foot ex- 
 tended, and has seen them attach by the sucker-like end 
 of the foot on coming in contact with the sides of the 
 aquarium. A moment later they were seen to be at- 
 tached by byssus threads. 
 
 By a groove on its under surface, the foot forms this 
 thread from the byssus secretion, and attaches its end. 
 While at first the thread is single, the number of strands 
 in the organ increases as the animal grows, and it be- 
 comes a firm tether. Figure 67 shows its appearance 
 and relative size in an individual about half an inch in 
 diameter. The deep notch shown in the shell where its 
 lobe-like wing joins the main body, is for the accom- 
 modation of the attached byssus. This bundle of threads 
 is cast off at will from its proximal end, and new 
 threads are formed when needed. From time to time 
 attachment occurs during the greater part of the scallop's 
 life, though infrequently in full-grown individuals. 
 
 It should be observed that the habit of very early 
 byssus attachment seems to have a direct bearing on the 
 distribution of scallops, for it accounts for the fact that 
 they are so frequently found in grass-covered bottoms. 
 Usually in the early summer great numbers appear at- 
 tached to the blades of eel-grass with which they may 
 have come in contact while swimming, and to which they 
 have fastened, as to the glass of the aquarium. The long 
 blades of this plant, rooted in the bottom, seem to be both 
 
The Scallops 
 
 343 
 
 detrimental and useful to the scallops, detrimental be- 
 cause their mass checks the food-bearing currents, and 
 useful because they undoubtedly offer great protection 
 by preventing the washing away of these light bodies in 
 
 Fig. 67. — Pecten one-half inch in diameter, a in, adductor 
 muscle ; b, byssus ; c, eye on mantle edge ; /, foot ; g, gill ; It, 
 heart ; /, shell ligament ; m, mantle ; in f, mantle fold ; p, 
 striated inner surfaces of the palps. 
 
 Storms. Pectens that have had only scanty protection 
 of this kind are often thrown up by waves to die on 
 beaches. This probably is the explanation of the fact 
 that the best scalloping grounds are on eel-grass covered 
 bottoms. They also attach in deeper water, though in 
 smaller numbers, to stones, shells, and other bodies. 
 Long after they have passed the embryonic stage, they 
 
344 Our Food MoUusks 
 
 may reach the grass blades above the bottom, for they 
 stiU continue to swim from time to time by the padclHng 
 motion of the foot, and then by the shell, and during 
 these short journeys they may attach on striking any 
 solid body. They may perhaps also attain a lodgment 
 above the bottom by creeping up the grass blades, and 
 this is a function of the foot not yet described. 
 
 When the small scallop settles, on the disappearance of 
 the velum, the foot is relatively of great size, covering the 
 entire ventral surface of the body. Frequently the ani- 
 mal extends it, attaching the end by a sucker-like action ; 
 then by a contraction of the foot, the body is drawn 
 toward this point, and by a repetition of the process the 
 young Pecten creeps and often climbs up vertical sur- 
 faces. This habit is continued for some time, and dur- 
 ing the creeping period, of course, swimming and byssus 
 attachment are also practised. 
 
 It is interesting to observe that Pecten as well as Mya 
 and Venus, and probably other bivalves, possess what 
 may be called the creeping stage, a definite period during 
 which they employ a part of the time in creeping on 
 the ventral surface of the foot, and for the remainder lie 
 attached to various objects by means of a byssus, which 
 they may cast off and reform at will, and also, in the case 
 of Pecten, in swimming. In 1891 incidental mention 
 in papers published by two German biologists was made 
 of the fact that the young of the bivalve Dreissensia ex- 
 hibited the habit, after the swimming stage and before 
 attachment, of creeping on the bottom. Details of this 
 curious habit, however, were first published by the writer 
 from observations made on the soft clam Mya, and re- 
 cently it has been studied more thoroughly in Pectin 
 and Venus by Mr. Belding. As the habit of creeping 
 
The Scallops 345 
 
 seems to be of little or no value to any of these forms, 
 except possibly to Pecten, and as the foot in all of them 
 is at this stage proportionately a very large organ, 
 though later becoming greatly reduced in Mya and Pec- 
 ten, it may be assumed that the adult ancestral form of 
 each possessed a large foot capable of effecting relatively 
 long journeys, and that the creeping habit here exhibited 
 by the young of their modern descendants is merely a 
 memory of that ancient practice. Venus still retains the 
 large foot in the adult condition, but in the light of the 
 experiments mentioned in the previous chapter, seems, 
 after it has begun to burrow, to make little or perhaps 
 no use of it in locomotion. 
 
 On account of the depth of water in which it lives, the 
 early period in the life of the giant scallop is unknown. 
 The adult seems not to be able to attach itself, though 
 there is a byssus gland in the foot ; but there are no rea- 
 sons for doubting that the young has the same habits of 
 creeping and attachment that are found in its smaller 
 relative. 
 
 Some of the facts concerning the growth of Pecten ir- 
 radians are of great interest and economic importance. 
 Increase in size, after the scallop has settled from its em- 
 bryonic swimming state, is fast or slow according as 
 food-bearing currents are favorable or not ; but growth is 
 most rapid in August and September, and decreases 
 steadily as the water becomes colder. When, about the 
 first of December, in New England south of Cape Cod, it 
 has reached 50° F., growth ceases altogether. It is only 
 resumed when, about the first of May, the temperature 
 again rises above that point. It thus appears that in New 
 England there are five months in the year when the scal- 
 lop does not grow. The same is true of the hard clam, 
 
34^ Our Food Mollusks 
 
 and it would be interesting to know if these forms grow 
 continuously in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 
 During May growth is rapid, but in June or July, when 
 the scallop is one year old, it begins to mature and dis- 
 charge its sexual products. So great is the tax on the 
 creature's energy during the period in which it is per- 
 forming this function, that its growth is about half what 
 it had been in May. When the reproductive period is 
 passed, rapid growth is resumed. 
 
 Actual increases in volume during known periods have 
 not been calculated, but some idea of the rate of growth 
 may be had from measurements of the longer axis of the 
 shell in successive periods. Many growth experiments, 
 carried on under varying conditions, have been made in 
 Massachusetts. They show the average length of the 
 axis of scallops spawned on July i to be about one and a 
 half inches on December i, and that on December i a 
 year later these scallops will possess a shell about two and 
 a quarter inches across. 
 
 There have been various speculations on the normal 
 length of life of bivalves, but only in the warm water 
 scallop have we any positive knowledge of it. While 
 both of the edible Atlantic clams are known to live four 
 or five years, and probably may live longer under favor- 
 able circumstances, fishermen have generally held the be- 
 lief that the scallop's life was limited to two years, and 
 very careful observations have proved this to be true. 
 The fact was ascertained in part by observing great 
 numbers of individuals kept under normal conditions in 
 large inclosures. Many observations were also made on 
 those living among entirely natural surroundings, and 
 altogether the data conclusively indicate a natural life 
 period of from eighteen to twenty-six months. 
 
p 
 
 The Scallops 347 
 
 Life begins in June, July, or early August. One year 
 from its beginning the scallop normally spawns. It lives 
 on until about the first of the following March, beyond 
 which time there are very few chances of its survival. 
 Some members of its generation perish earlier, the great 
 majority die with it, when there begin to be some promises 
 of spring, while a very few companions, undiscouraged 
 even by a New England winter, are able to reach a sec- 
 ond spawning season, soon after which they also perish. 
 
 All this has an important economic bearing, briefly put 
 by Mr. Belding as follows : — " All scallops less than one 
 year old must be protected [by law], for these furnish 
 practically all the spawn for the following year. Only 
 scallops under this age need protection. ... It does 
 no harm to capture scallops more than one year old; in 
 fact, it would be an economic loss if they were not taken, 
 as nearly all die before a second [dredging] season." 
 
 It is an interesting biological fact that in Pecten ir- 
 radians we have an instance of an invertebrate animal 
 the existence of which beyond its breeding time is of no 
 value to Its offspring, yet continuing to live nearly half 
 its life after that period. If, from the fact that a few 
 live to breed a second time, it may be supposed that all 
 formerly performed the reproductive function more than 
 once, there still remains to be explained the abbreviation 
 of the life period, and the fact that it now ends just be- 
 fore instead of just after the reproductive act, a condition 
 that might possibly be detrimental because of so large a 
 food consumption, and at any rate certainly is not useful 
 to the species. 
 
 Paley undoubtedly would have seen in this an evidence 
 of the benevolence of nature in allowing this highly or- 
 ganized creature to live on into a placid old age to enjoy 
 
34^ Our Food Mollusks 
 
 the pleasures of life after its responsibilities had passed. 
 The convenience of an older method of interpreting 
 natural phenomena is sometimes wistfully recalled. 
 
 If laws protecting " seed " scallops, or those less than 
 a year old, and allowing the capture of those above that 
 age, should be passed and enforced in the scallop ter- 
 ritory, how would it be possible for the dredger to deter- 
 mine the age of individuals in his catch? For it fre- 
 quently happens that seed scallops that have had abun- 
 dant food are larger than the older ones. 
 
 There is a very interesting way in which this may be 
 done in the majority of cases. When the growth of the 
 shell is resumed in May, a line is made around its margin 
 where the new shell is added (Figure 66) . This is usually 
 distinct and remains unaltered, so that when dredging be- 
 gins in the fall, the fisherman may know that all scallops 
 so marked have passed through a spawning season. In the 
 few that live through a second May, another line is added. 
 In some individuals, it is true, the line is indistinct, and in 
 a few others additional lines are formed from some tem- 
 porary check in the growth at various seasons, but usu- 
 ally the line clearly records the resumption of growth in 
 May. Probably the declining scallop fishery would be 
 much improved if laws protecting the young, which have 
 not spawned, were strictly enforced. 
 
 The enemies of Pecten irradians are not numerous or 
 very destructive. Scallops are occasionally eaten by 
 ducks and geese, and some are destroyed by bottom- 
 feeding fishes. They are attacked by the oyster drill, a 
 spiral-shelled mollusk that files a hole through the shell 
 and consumes the pulpy mass of the body. These drills, 
 however, appear readily to be shaken off by the vigorous 
 movements of the scallop, for partially drilled shells are 
 
m The Scallops 349 
 
 frequently found. The most dangerous enemy is per- 
 haps the starfish, which is quite numerous at times on 
 some scallop beds. 
 
 What might reasonably be hoped for in scallop culture 
 is still difficult to state. Great numbers have been kept, 
 the year through, confined in pens, and have grown rap- 
 idly; but when free, their wanderings apparently are not 
 extensive, so that it might not be necessary to plant them 
 in inclosures. Like oysters and clams, they require a 
 good circulation of water. It is an encouraging fact 
 that young scallops for planting are extremely abundant 
 in certain spots, where circumstances favor their collec- 
 tion. If these were removed and deposited on other bot- 
 toms, where they might be less exposed to ice or waves, 
 it might sometimes prove to be profitable to the planter; 
 but usually there would be little advantage in this, and 
 at the present time it does not appear that any method 
 of artificial culture other than the replanting of ex- 
 hausted areas would be worth the labor involved in it. 
 
 It has been said that one of the characteristics of the 
 American poor is that they must have the best and most 
 expensive of everything, and that more good food is 
 wasted in the United States than in any other country on 
 the globe. Certainly there are many edible marine mol- 
 lusks, some of them occurring in great abundance on our 
 shores, that are not found in our markets. In Europe, 
 small gasteropods are cooked and marketed on the streets 
 in paper bags as popcorn or roasted peanuts are here. 
 The common black mussel (Mytilus edulis) is reared 
 artificially all along the European coast. It grows rap- 
 idly, and immense quantities are consumed. It occurs 
 
350 Our Food Mollusks 
 
 on our shallow bottoms and tidal areas in enormous num- 
 bers, and is a great pest on oyster and clam beds. Yet it 
 is marketed in but one or two of our Atlantic cities, and 
 is eaten for the most part by foreigners. A near rela- 
 tive of the black mussel, Modiola, is quite as good for 
 fcod. The large sea clam (Mactra), and the razor 
 clam (Ensis) of the Atlantic, Gnathodon and Pholas 
 of the Gulf, sometimes used locally for food, are rarely 
 found in any market. Of the last mentioned, only 
 Gnathodon is very abundant, however. It is true that 
 most of these forms have a sweetish taste that is not 
 agreeable to many persons, and intestinal troubles in rare 
 instances result from eating the black mussel. 
 
 Among fishes there are many of fine flavor that are not 
 esteemed, and others perhaps equally good that are never 
 eaten because it is not the custom. One of the best ex- 
 amples of wastefulness in the matter of food is afforded 
 by the dogfish, a small shark some four feet in length so 
 destructive to other fishes, and so numerous that it has 
 come to be regarded as the most serious menace con- 
 fronting our marine fisheries. It has been estimated that 
 thirty-seven million dogfish, equal in weight to half the 
 total catch of Massachusetts fishermen, were taken by 
 them in 1905. These pests are liberated after being 
 caught, because at present they are of no value. They 
 are almost equally numerous everywhere on the Atlantic 
 coast, and are exceedingly abundant on the Pacific as 
 well. And yet the flesh of the dogfish is firm, snow- 
 white, and of very good flavor — not by any means to be 
 regarded as inferior when one is unacquainted with its 
 source — and the fact that such enormous numbers of 
 them are each year actually taken from the water and 
 cast back again, is a sad one to contemplate in view of 
 
The Scallops 351 
 
 the struggle that many are compelled to make for 
 food. 
 
 It would be fortunate if the nation might wake to the 
 fact that there are in the seas immense quantities of 
 palatable and wholesome food not yet utilized. Custom 
 interferes with the introduction of such food in many 
 cases, but custom in this matter has been changed many 
 times in the past, and it is easier now than it has been 
 to consider all matters on their merits. 
 
 The natural supply of many of the best of marine 
 foods has been misused and dissipated. So it has been 
 with useful terrestrial animals and plants. To have di- 
 rected nature so that these were improved for human 
 use and increased almost without limit, is one of man's 
 greatest achievements. Many of the inhabitants of the 
 ocean also are within his control, as he has already 
 demonstrated in oyster culture and in the artificial prop- 
 agation of many fishes. There is no reason to doubt, 
 that the harvest of many other marine forms will eventu- 
 ally become many times more abundant than the most 
 bountiful that nature ever produced unaided. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Acclimatization of eastern 
 oysters on the Pacific 
 coast, 2T2, 
 
 Acephala, meaning of the term, 
 
 21 
 
 Adductor muscles of the oyster 
 embryo, 47 
 contraction of, to clear the 
 mantle chamber, 58 
 Agricultural schools in the U. S., 
 
 purposes of, 76, 298 
 Albemarle Sound, marine life 
 
 absent from, 230 
 Alabama, oyster fields of, 254 
 Algae, growth of, on clam beds, 
 
 286 
 Appalachicola Bay, natural oyster 
 beds of, 253 
 survey of, 253 
 Area available for clam culture 
 
 in Massachusetts, 314 
 Area devoted to oyster culture 
 in Connecticut, 200 
 in Louisiana, 266 
 in New York, 200 
 in Rhode Island, 200 
 in Washington, 271 
 Argument from design, 49 
 Artificial fertilization of the 
 egg. 109 
 experiments on, 112 
 in clams, 116, 307 
 failure of, 115 
 Atlantic coast the greatest 
 ovster nursery in the world, 
 
 inside waterways on, 269 
 Attachment of the oyster, 48 
 
 Bamboo, its use in Japanese 
 
 oyster culture, 87 
 Barnegat Bay, character of, 204 
 
 natural oyster beds in, 178 
 Bass, black, common names of, 
 280 _ 
 striped, introduction of, into 
 the Pacific, 270 
 
 Bay of Fundy, oysters in, 177 
 Bayou Cook, rate of oyster 
 growth in, 262 
 
 Coquette, rate of oyster 
 growth in, 262 
 
 Schofield, rate of oyster 
 growth in, 262 
 Beaches, rights to, 181 
 Belding, Mr. D. L., on the de- 
 struction of young clams, 
 291 
 
 on the development of the 
 hard clam, 323 
 
 on the development of the 
 scallop, 2>Z7 
 
 on the growth of the hard 
 clam, 326 
 
 on the supposed migrations of 
 the scallop, ZZ7 
 
 on the reproduction of the 
 scallop, 347 
 Blue Points, 188 
 Boats, capacities of, 139 
 
 gasoline, 140 
 
 history of the use of, in the 
 northern field, 137 
 
 modern steam, 136, 199 
 
 sail, 134 
 
 sizes of, 138 
 
 tonging, 135 
 
 used in oyster culture, 134 
 Boston Harbor, clam flats of, 
 
 277 
 Bottoms, barren, for oyster cul- 
 ture, lOI 
 
 barren clam, in Massachu- 
 setts, 314 
 
 character of, on the Atlantic 
 shore, 94 
 
 favorable for the soft clam, 
 282 
 
 nature of, in Louisiana, 260 
 
 paving of, 95 
 
 of ponds in France, 83 
 
 reclaiming of, 84 
 
 softness of, on European 
 shores, 82 
 
 353 
 
354 
 
 Index 
 
 " Breeders," use of, 125 
 Breeding season of bivalves, 25 
 
 of oysters in France, 80 
 Bridgeport, experiments on 
 
 clam culture at, 305 
 Brooks, Professor W. K., chair- 
 man of the Maryland oyster 
 commission, 212 
 experiments of, on artificial 
 
 fertilization, no 
 on the oyster production -of 
 
 Chesapeake Bay, 212 
 oyster investigations of, 213 
 quotation from, 16 
 Bucephalus, an oyster parasite, 
 
 163 
 Bumpus, Dr. H. C, suggestion 
 
 by, 299 
 Buoys, oyster, in Long Island 
 
 Sound, 197 
 Burrowing habits of bivalves, 
 
 28, 284 
 Butter clam of Puget Sound, 
 
 320 
 Buzzards Bay, oysters in, 178 
 
 scallops in, 339 
 Byssus and the attachment of 
 bivalves, 28 
 of the hard clam, 324 
 of the scallop, 342 
 of the soft clam, 293 
 
 Cape Cod, absence of oysters 
 
 north of, 177 
 Cascades, water power in, 3 
 Chandeleur Islands, form of, 
 258 
 occurrence of the little neck 
 on the west shore of, 9, 323 
 Sound, oyster bottoms of, 259 
 Chesapeake Bay, decline of nat- 
 ural oyster beds in, 214 
 fragmentary record of the 
 
 oyster industry in, 208 
 insecurity of title in, 223 
 most prolific of oyster waters, 
 
 206 
 natural oyster beds of, 207 
 oyster production of, 212 
 shell heaps of, 176 
 size of, 207 
 soft clams in, 278 
 
 Cilia on the body of the oyster, 
 62 
 on the mantle of the hard 
 
 clam, 56 
 movement and function of, 
 on gill and palp, 2,1, 50, 54 
 Civil War, effect of, on the 
 Virginia oyster industry, 
 211 
 and the seed industry, 189 
 Clam (see Soft clam and Hard 
 clam) 
 as a carrier of disease, 166 
 fork, 282, 283 
 
 term, applied to many forms, 
 280 
 Clay, use of, in reclaiming bot- 
 toms, 84 
 useful on clam flats, 286 
 Cleanliness in packing oysters, 
 
 203 
 Cloaca, 30, 2>7 
 
 Close season, absence of, in 
 Louisiana, 266 
 futility of, 182 
 in Maine, 278 
 Clutches, positive and friction, 
 
 140 
 Coal, waste of, 3 
 Collectors, advantages of, 119 
 in America, 118 
 brush, 121 
 crushed rock, 121 
 in France, 78. 79, 80 
 season for planting, 122 
 slime collection on, 122 
 small shells for, in Louisiana, 
 
 261 
 of tin, gypsum, cement, etc., 
 122 
 Colonial charters and beach 
 
 rights, 181 
 Colonists, records of, 177 
 Common ownership of beaches, 
 
 314 
 Connecticut the leader in oyster 
 
 culture. 191 
 natural oyster beds of, 179 
 old and new plans of state 
 
 control of oyster industry 
 
 in, 191 
 oyster commission of, 194 
 oyster laws of, 193, 195, 196 
 
Index 
 
 355 
 
 Connecticut : 
 as a source of seed oysters, 
 190 
 Containers for the shipping of 
 
 oysters, 141, 145 
 Coon oysters, description of, 
 238 
 possible improvement in form 
 
 of, 239 
 in Florida, 252 
 as seed producers, 240 
 " Coppery " oysters, 252 
 Corn meal, supposed fattening 
 
 of bivalves on, 63 
 Corporations in the northern 
 oyster field, 201 
 fear of, in Florida, 253 
 Coste, M., French naturalist, 69 
 successes and failures of, in 
 oyster culture, 76 
 Crabs as oyster enemies, 160 
 Creeping habits of bivalves, 27, 
 
 344 
 of the scallop, 344 
 of the soft clam, 293 
 Culling, beneficial effects of, 242 
 laws governing, 140 
 in Louisiana, 257 
 Cultch (see Collectors) 
 Currents and dense segregations 
 of soft clams, 292, 308 
 and food distribution, 95 
 influence of, on the growth of 
 
 the hard clam, 327 
 determining the rate of 
 growth, 287 
 
 Damariscotta River shell heap, 
 
 176 
 DeBon, M., and French oyster 
 
 culture, jz 
 Delaware Bay, deep oyster beds 
 in. 198 
 natural oyster beds in, 178 
 Density (see Salinity) 
 Depth of water over oyster 
 
 fields, 198 
 Diatoms, capture of, 53 
 distribution of, 95 
 as food organisms consumed 
 
 by bivalves. 51, 287 
 growth of, 96 
 Digestive tract of bivalves, 20 
 
 Dogfish, as a food animal, 350 
 Dredge, oyster, 131 
 
 capacity of, 134 
 
 form of, 133 
 
 operation of. 134, 135 
 
 use of, forbidden in Virginia, 
 
 215 
 Drew, Professor G. A., on the 
 
 development of the giant 
 
 scallop, 340 
 Drumfish as an oyster enemy, 
 
 158 
 presence of in the Gulf of 
 
 Mexico, 263 
 Duxbury clam flats, 278 
 
 East River, natural oyster beds 
 in, 178 
 oystermen originators of oys- 
 ter culture in America, 179 
 
 Eel-grass at Chandeleur Islands, 
 259 
 destructive to the soft clam, 
 
 285, 302 
 why scallops appear in, 342 
 
 Eggs, number of, in the oyster, 
 24 
 
 Essex clam culture experiment, 
 305 
 
 European oyster, 69 
 
 Excretory system of bivalves. 
 
 Female cell (see Ovum) 
 Field, Dr. G. W., on beach 
 
 rights, 315 
 Flavor of oysters, 143 
 Flies and typhoid fever, 167 
 Florida, fish commission of, 253 
 
 law enforcement in, 253 
 
 shell heaps in. 252 
 Food organisms consumed by 
 
 bivalves, 51 
 Foot of bivalves, 27 
 
 embryonic, of oyster, 47 
 
 of young soft clam, 291 
 
 swimming by, in group of bi- 
 valves, 341 
 Freight charges on eastern oys- 
 ter seed, 272 
 French oyster culture, 71 
 
 history of, JZ 
 
 modern methods of, 78 
 
356 
 
 Index 
 
 Freshening of oysters, 141 
 
 and typhoid fever, 171 
 Frost, dangers from, in oyster 
 culture, 81 
 
 Gas, waste of, 3 
 Gills, automatic selection of 
 food by, in Pecten, 64 
 
 ciliation of, 59 
 
 as collecting organs, 29 
 
 filaments and lamellae of, 30 
 
 functions of, 36 
 
 movements of, 65 
 Gloucester clam flats, 277 
 Great South Bay, hard clams of, 
 
 Green oysters, 86 
 Growth of bivalves suspended 
 in winter in the north At- 
 lantic, 54 
 of eastern oyster in San Fran- 
 cisco Bay, 270 
 of oysters in low tempera- 
 tures, 96 
 of oysters, time required for, 
 
 in Louisiana, 262 
 rate of, in Puget Sound, 271 
 of the scallop. 345 
 of the soft clam, 300-304 
 time necessary for, 103 
 Gulls dropping clams to break 
 
 the shells, 284 
 Gulf of Mexico, coast of, in 
 Texas, 267 
 rapidity of oyster growth in, 
 
 264 
 salinity of water in, 54, 265 
 spits and islands of, 269 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, oysters 
 in, 175 
 
 Habituation of marine food 
 organisms to new localities, 
 8 
 " Harbor plants," 127 
 Hard clam (Venus mercenaria), 
 age attained by, 327 
 box culture of, 328 
 burrowing of, 322 
 ciliation of mantle of, 56 
 ciliation of visceral mass of, 
 59 
 
 Hard clam : 
 at the Chandeleur Islands, 323 
 common names of, 280 
 creeping habit of, 324 
 culture, area available for, 
 
 331 
 decrease of, 323 
 development of, 324 
 digestive tract of, 20 
 distribution of, 321, 322 
 excretory organs of, 23 
 foot of, 27 
 gills of, 30 
 growth experiments on, 324, 
 
 326 
 no growth of, in winter in 
 
 the North, 327 
 industry, possible returns 
 
 from, 332 
 present condition of, 330 
 insensibility of, to extremes 
 
 of temperature, 331 
 mantle of, 19 
 marketing of, 322 
 names given to, 321 
 natural enemies of, 328 
 nervous system of, 26 
 raking of, 322 
 seed, 330 
 
 sexual organs of, 24 
 shell of, 13 
 siphon tubes of, 20 
 in the South, 323 
 transplanted in Louisiana, 9 
 vascular system of, 22 
 wandering habit of the, 325 
 Hermaphroditism, 24, no 
 Hudson River, natural oyster 
 
 beds in, 178 
 Hydroid growth on oysters, 163 
 
 Ice, action of, on oyster beds, 
 
 241 
 Indian feasts, 176 
 Ingersoll, Mr. Ernest, on the 
 
 futility of a close season, 
 
 182 
 Islands formed by oyster 
 
 growth, 232 
 
 Japanese oysters, 87 
 
 introduction of, into America, 
 275 
 
Ind 
 
 ex 
 
 357 
 
 Lake Borgne, freshness of, 258 
 Pontchartrain, freshness of, 
 
 258 
 Lease of bottoms, objections to, 
 181 
 of clam beaches and flats, 305 
 in Connecticut, 182 
 in Louisiana, 266 
 Little neck clam (see Hard 
 
 clam ) 
 
 Long Island Sound, natural 
 
 oyster beds in, 178 
 
 protection of property in, 186 
 
 rate of oyster growth in, 262 
 
 Long neck clam (see Soft 
 
 clam) 
 Louisiana, achievements of, in 
 oyster culture, 266 
 history of oyster industry in, 
 
 265 
 legislature of, 265 
 oyster commission of, 265 
 publishes oyster laws in of- 
 ficial journal, 267 
 reserves bottoms for scientific 
 experiment, 267 
 Lugger used in Louisiana, 135 
 Luggermen, first oyster planters 
 
 in Louisiana, 260 
 Lynnhaven oysters, 188 
 
 Mactra solidissima, the " sea 
 
 clam," 29 
 Maine shore, clams of, 278 
 
 oysters on, 175 
 Malthus on population, 2 
 Mangrove, oysters attached to 
 
 roots of, 252 
 Manhattan Island, natural oyster 
 
 beds about, 178 
 Male cell (see Spermatozoon) 
 Mantle, ciliation of, 56 
 origin of, 47 
 
 structure of, in bivalves, 19 
 Maryland, oyster laws of, 213, 
 225, 227 
 definition of a natural oyster 
 
 bed, 194 
 early oyster industry in, 210 
 oyster commission of 1882, 
 
 208 
 shell-fish commission of, 225 
 
 Market, preparation of oysters 
 
 for, in France, 87 
 Market, oyster, 141 
 at Baltimore, 209 
 at Biloxi, 254 
 at Mobile, 254 
 at New Haven, 203 
 at New York, 203 
 at Philadelphia, 204 
 Massachusetts, General Court 
 of, 316 
 Fish and Game Commission, 
 
 experiments by, 303, 313 
 present shell-fish laws of, 315 
 Bay, oyster beds of, in the 
 17th century, 178 
 Matagorda Bay, oyster industry 
 
 of, 267 
 Maturation of the ovum, 43 
 Middens, kitchen, 176 
 Mississippi, oyster territory of, 
 
 254 
 
 Mississippi River, crevasses in 
 
 levees of. 263 
 
 waterways, improvement of, 
 
 affecting oyster culture, 264 
 
 Mobius on water currents, 287 
 
 Monopolies, fear of, 181, 224, 
 
 266 
 
 Moore, Mr. H. F., statement of, 
 
 concerning oyster growth, 
 
 262 
 
 Mop for removing starfish, 156 
 
 Mt. Desert Island, ovsters of, 
 
 Mucus, of gill, use of, 53 
 
 of other surfaces. 56 
 Mud and the destruction of 
 oysters north of Cape Cod, 
 
 experiments on the paving of, 
 
 in Louisiana, 260 
 on the Florida coast, 253 
 on the French coast, 78 
 preventing the feeding of bi- 
 valves, 55 
 and the starvation of oysters, 
 
 234 
 Mussel, black, as a food mol- 
 
 lusk, 349 
 gills of, 31 
 as an oyster enemy, 161 
 
358 
 
 Index 
 
 Mussel : 
 
 ribbed, as a food mollusk, 349 
 Mustard plant, descendants of, 
 
 5 
 Mya arenaria (see Soft clam) 
 Mytilus edulis (see Mussel, 
 
 black) 
 
 Narragansett Bay, natural 
 oyster beds in, 178 
 as a producer of seed oysters, 
 
 202 
 rental of bottoms in, 200 
 scallops of, 339 
 Natural oyster beds, definition 
 of, 194 
 destruction of, in Europe, 71 
 disappearance of, in the 
 
 North, 184 
 extension of, 241 
 Natural resources, destruction 
 
 of, 3 
 
 Navy, oyster, of Maryland, 217 
 
 inadequacy of, in Virginia, 
 
 223 
 
 Nervous system of bivalves, 26 
 
 New Haven, oyster market at, 
 
 203 
 New York, oyster market at, 
 
 203 
 Nippers, 131 
 Nita crevasse, 263 
 Nomenclature used in biology, 
 
 280 
 North Carolina, decline of nat- 
 ural oyster beds of, 245 
 hard clams of, 323 
 oyster field of, 231 
 November gale of i8g8, 258 
 
 Ohio, decrease in farm values 
 
 of, 3 
 Oosperm, 44 
 
 Ostrea virginica (see Oyster) 
 Ovum, structure and function 
 
 of, 40 
 Oyster, absence of foot in adult 
 of, 29 
 beds, natural, between tide 
 
 lines, 234 
 a brackish water form. 230 
 clusters, culling of, 102, 134, 
 140 
 
 Oyster : 
 
 clusters, formation of, 126, 
 261, 236 
 
 as a disease carrier, 166 
 
 drill, 157 
 
 eastern, in San Francisco 
 Bay, 270, 271 
 
 European, 69 
 
 fattening of, 127 
 
 gills of, 34 
 
 growth and the formation of 
 islands, 232 
 
 growth in muddy waters, 235 
 
 heart of, 23 
 
 mantle of, 19 
 
 navy, 217 
 
 number of eggs produced by, 
 24 
 
 of the Pacific, 269 
 
 planting, 100 
 
 in politics, 216 
 
 Portuguese, 69 
 
 for seed, size of, lOl 
 
 segmentation of the egg of, 45 
 
 shell of, 17 
 
 size of, 188 
 
 tongs, 129 
 Oyster culture, adverse condi- 
 tions of, in Europe, 81 
 
 in America, 82 
 
 on barren bottoms, loi 
 
 beginnings of, in Maryland 
 and Virginia, 223 
 
 in deep water, 198 
 
 definition of, 100, 118 
 
 early attempts at, in North 
 Carolina, 248 
 
 expense connected with, 129 
 
 European methods of, not 
 possible in America, 92 
 
 local variations of method in, 
 124 
 
 origin of, in America, 179 
 
 not practised in North Caro- 
 lina, 248 
 
 far from shore, 198 
 
 transplanting in, 125 
 
 in Washington, 270 
 
 in winter, 139 
 
 Pacific coast line, 269 
 
 native oysters of, 269 
 Packing industry, origin of, in 
 Maryland, 209 
 
Index 
 
 359 
 
 Packing industry : 
 
 origin of, in Virginia, 211 
 Paley's Natural Theology, 49 
 Palps, ciliation of, 60 
 as organs for the selection of 
 food and the rejection of 
 objectionable material, 61 
 of the oyster, 21 
 Pamlico Sound, depth of, 243 
 efifect of storms on, 247 
 history of the oyster industry 
 
 on, 243 
 Maryland oyster dredges on, 
 
 244 
 oyster production of, 245 
 tides in, 231, 243 
 Paper shell clams, 282 
 Pearls, formation of, 15 
 Pecten irradians (see Scallop) 
 Pholas, ciliated membrane of, 
 
 66 
 Pirates, oyster, cruelties prac- 
 tised by, 221 
 recruiting of crews by, 221 
 depredations of, 220 
 of Maryland, 218 
 Pliny, reference by, to early 
 
 oyster culture, 69 
 Plymouth clam flats, 279, 316 
 Polar cells, 43 
 
 bear, soft clam eaten by, 278 
 Ponds, oyster, in France, 83 
 Potomac River. 207 
 Private ownership of beaches, 
 
 Puget Sound, plantmg of native 
 
 oysters in, 270 
 no reproduction of ('astern 
 
 oysters in, 272 
 the soft clam in, 319 
 
 Quahaug. derivation of name of, 
 321 (see Hard clam) 
 
 Racks, use of. in French oyster 
 culture, 84 
 
 Rappahannock River, illegal 
 dredging in, 219 
 
 Raritan Bay oyster field, 204 
 
 Reproduction of eastern oys- 
 ter not possible in Puget 
 Sound, 272 
 
 Revenue from Chesapeake Bay, 
 
 an object of laws in Maryland 
 
 and Virginia, 228 
 from oyster leases in Mary- 
 land, 218 
 Ripple marks on clam flats, 285 
 Ryder, Professor J. A., experi- 
 ments of, on artificial fer- 
 tilization of oyster eggs, 114 
 
 St. Bernard Parish, freshening' 
 of waters of, 263 
 natural oyster beds of, 256 
 shell accumulations of, 257 
 shore of, 256 
 tides in, 257 
 Sale of bottoms, objections to, 
 
 181 
 Salinity of water, determination 
 of, 97 
 affecting the soft clam, 288, 
 
 in the Gulf of Mexico, 54, 265 
 maximum and minimum, and 
 
 reproduction, 99 
 sudden changes of, 99 
 its variation in North Caro- 
 lina. 242 
 Sand, reclaiming bottoms by use 
 of, 84 
 shifting of, 127, 248 
 San Francisco Bay, eastern 
 
 oysters in, 270, 271 
 Scallops, Atlantic species of, 
 280, 336 
 attachment of, 342 
 breeding season of, 340 
 ciliation of the gills of, 64 
 common names of, 335 
 creeping habit of, 344 
 distribution of, 335, 339 
 dredging of, 339 
 enemies of, 348 
 eyes of, ZZ^ 
 foot of, 341 
 freshening of, 334 
 gills of, 32 
 growth of. 345 
 hermaphroditism in, 24 
 length of life of, 346, 348 
 life of, prolonged beyond the 
 reproductive period, 347 
 
360 
 
 Index 
 
 Scallops : 
 supposed migration of, 337 
 preparation of, for market, 
 
 335 
 high price of, 334 
 seed, 348 
 shell of, 333 
 swimming habit of adult of, 
 
 336 
 of embryo of, 341 
 Scientific experiment, bottoms 
 reserved for, in Louisiana, 
 267 
 Seaweeds, their effect on the 
 feeding of oysters, 127, 163 
 Seed oysters, care of, after 
 planting, 126 
 end of importation of, from 
 
 the South, 190 
 planting of, 104 
 sent from New York to the 
 
 Pacific, 272 
 size of, loi 
 source of, 105, 202 
 from the South to be used in 
 New England, 105, 189 
 Sex, change of, 189 
 Sexual organs of bivalves, 24 
 Shad, introduction of, into the 
 Pacific, 270 
 propagation of, 7 
 Shell accumulations in Louisi 
 ana, 261 
 appearance of, in the embryo, 
 
 47 
 destruction of, by decaying 
 
 organic matter, 282 
 as oyster collector, 261 
 thin, cause of, 189 
 Sheepshead as an oyster enemy, 
 
 159 
 Shipping of oysters, 145 
 Shucking of oysters, 144 
 Siphon, structure and function 
 
 of, 20, 57 
 Slime on collectors, 122 
 
 organisms, 123 
 Soft clam (Mya arenaria), beds, 
 digging of, beneficial, 288 
 breeding habits and develop- 
 ment, 290 
 breeding season of, 290 
 burrowing of, 284 
 
 Soft clam : 
 
 byssus attachment of, 293 
 
 creeping habit of, 293, 294 
 
 culture, 306, 307 
 
 dense segregations of, 288, 
 292, 308 
 
 disappearance of. 277, 318 
 
 distribution of, 278, 283 
 
 effect of varying salinity on, 
 288, 313 
 
 experiments on, culture, 299 
 
 former abundance of, in New 
 England, 277 
 
 growth of, 300, 301, 302 
 
 introduction of, into the Pa- 
 cific, 9, 270 
 
 " juice " of, 279 
 
 market for. 319 
 
 methods of planting, 311, 312 
 
 natural enemies of, 289, 294 
 
 New England Laws govern- 
 ing culture of, 305 
 
 nomenclature referring to, 
 280 
 
 position of, on the shore, 277, 
 282 
 
 seed, 300, 307, 313 
 
 settling of, 292, 308 
 
 shells of, in kitchen middens, 
 177 
 
 siphon tubes of. 281 
 
 yield per acre of, 314 
 " Sound stock," 127 
 Spat, constancy of the set of, 
 in the Gulf of Mexico, 46 
 
 set of, influenced by tempera- 
 ture, 46 
 
 in 1899, 106 
 Spawning season (see Breeding 
 
 season) 
 Species, structure indicating re- 
 lationship of, II 
 Spermatozoon, union of, with 
 ovum, 43 
 
 structure and function of, 40 
 Sponge as an oyster enemy, 162 
 Starfish, absence of in Louisiana, 
 263 
 
 distribution of, 149 
 
 as a clam enemy, 294 
 
 as an oyster enemy, 148 
 
 in European waters, 82 
 
 food of, 151 
 
Index 
 
 361 
 
 Starfish : 
 
 growth of, 154 
 method employed by, in de- 
 vouring bivalves, 152 
 in Puget Sound, 270 
 removal of, 155 
 structure of, 151 
 Steaming of oysters, 146, 209 
 Stevenson, Mr. J. R., on the 
 segregation of soft clams, 
 308 
 Struggle for existence, balance 
 
 in, 19 
 Surveys of natural oyster beds 
 in Virginia, 215 
 
 Tapes in Japan, 87 
 
 in Puget Sound, 320 
 
 Temperature, effect of. on the 
 
 segmentation of the ovum, 
 
 46 
 
 on the greening of oysters, 86 
 
 on the growth of the scallop, 
 
 345 
 changes on clam development, 
 
 290 
 on soft clams, 279, 312 
 low, effect of, on young oys- 
 ters, 97 
 on reproduction of the eastern 
 
 oyster, 272 
 of the Pacific coast, 272 
 maximum and minimum, in 
 
 reproduction, 97 
 variations affecting the hard 
 
 clam, 331 
 Terrebonne Bay, 259 
 
 rate of oyster growth in, 262 
 Texas, oyster field of, 267 
 
 laws of, 268 
 Thatch, soft clams growing in, 
 
 284, 286 
 Tonging boat, 135 
 
 ground in Maryland, 219 
 Tongs, oyster, 129 
 of Pamlico Sound oystermen, 
 
 244 
 patent, 131 
 
 Typhoid fever carriers, dangers 
 from, 168 
 
 convalescents, dangers from, 
 168 
 
 introduction of organism of, 
 into the human body, 167 
 
 absence of shell-fish laws pro- 
 tecting from, 197 
 
 and the freshening of bi- 
 valves, 171 
 
 sources of infection by or- 
 ganism of, 167 
 
 shell-fish as carriers of, 169 
 
 Vascular system of bivalves, 22 
 Velum of the oyster embryo, 47 
 of the scallop, 340 
 of the soft clam, 291 
 Venus mercenaria (see Hard 
 
 clam) 
 Virginia, excellence of oysters 
 from, 224 
 origin of oyster packing in, 
 
 211 
 oyster planting in, 190 
 shipping of seed from, 105 
 Visceral mass, 56 
 ciliation of, 59 
 
 Wampum, source of, 321 
 
 Washington, soft clam in, 319 
 oyster reserves of, 270 
 
 Wave action on oyster beds, 241 
 in Pamlico Sound, 243 
 
 Wellfleet, oysters at, 177, 179 
 and southern seed, 189 
 
 West Washington oyster market 
 in New York. 203 
 
 Wheat land, available, 6 
 
 Willapa Bay, planting of native 
 oysters in, 270 
 
 Windlass, use of, in oyster cul- 
 ture, 134 
 
 Winslow, Lieutenant, oyster 
 survey of, 244 
 
 Winter, oyster culture in, 139 
 
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