THE CLAM FISHERIES. 583 



yon may not take many Clatnpes," these inollusks are very numerous. More than a hundred, of 

 different sizes, are said to be sometimes dug from a single square foot of ground in Boston Harbor. 



On such beaches as I have mentioned, the young clam, as soon as old enough, turns his head 

 dowii, and pushing out his foot, which he can fold into various shapes, " now a dibble or spade, a 

 trepan or pointed graving tool, a hook, a sharp wedge," he digs his way straight down, C or 8 

 inches into the sand, leaving stretched behind him his siphonal tubes, to keep up his communica- 

 tion with the surface. When the water over him is deep, the siphons are thrust well out; when 

 shallow, as in some tide pool, only the fringe of short tentacles is visible above the closely 

 impacted mud, and when, as happens most of the time, in the case of those clams whose home is 

 near high-tide mark, there is no water over him at all, his tubes are withdrawn wholly into the 

 sand. 



Confined in his burrow deep in the earth, the clam cannot roam in search of food. It is, there- 

 fore, to bring sustenance to it that the tubes are pushed up into the sea and the cilia set in motion. 

 A current of water is sucked in, bearing microscopic particles, as aliment for the stomach, and 

 bringing oxygen to revivify the blood brought into contact with it in the gills. Its burden 

 unloaded, the available residue of the water flows out through the discharging siphon, carrying 

 with it all excrementitious matter, and a continuous current is thus kept up. It is never " long 

 between drinks" with this bivalve, which may, perhaps, account for the origin of the adage 

 "happy as a clam." 



The spawning season, according to the fishermen, occurs in June and July. The eggs, issuing 

 from the ovaries of the female, find their way into the cavities of the outer gills, where they are 

 fructified. There they develop until the eggs are furnished with triangular, vellum-like shells 

 just large enough to be seen, which are discharged by thousands into the water and left to take 

 care of themselves. How long it is before they reach a sufficient size to settle down in life and 

 construct a burrow for themselves is unknown probably not a great while. It is doubtful indeed 

 whether one in a hundred ever fulfills that domestic ambition before being swallowed by some one 

 of the numberless aquatic birds, fishes, and crabs, that are on the lookout for just such tidbits. 

 Nevertheless the little clams do their " level best," anchoring themselves by a slender thread to 

 the bottom, and holding on against the currents with all their might. 



Beds of soft clams are sometimes of vast extent, and are usually found in sheltered parts of 

 the coast, where the action of the waves is not sufficiently strong seriously to disturb the beach. 

 The inside of the long sandy neck connecting Nahant with Lynn, for example, is filled with them, 

 while on the outside, where the surf pounds, not one is to be found. They are sought at low tide, 

 betraying their hiding places by squirting water up when the sand is shaken or pressed. That is 

 the spot to drive in your spade. Since the days of the Mayflower, hogs have had sagacity enough 

 to discover the situation of the buried bivalves at low water, and to root them out and devour 

 them, for no less than 250 years ago old Thomas Morton recorded that this diet " makes the swine 

 prove exceedingly," and Wood, in his " New England Prospect " (1634), remarks: 



"These fishes be in great plenty in most parts of the country, which is a great commodity for 

 the feeding of swine both in winter and summer, for, being once used to those places, they will 

 repair to them as duly every ebb as if they were driven to them by keepers." 



Long Island farmers and their swine are of the same opinion and practice still. 



Such clams as have been unlucky eough to be washed out and cast high up by some rude 

 breaker, and yet escape the pigs, are quickly seized upon by gulls, cormorants, crows, and other 

 large birds that frequent the shore. During the winter months when ice is often piled high 

 upon the northern beaches, the clams bury themselves more deeply than ordinary, and get along 



