THE NAUTILUS. 



VOL. XII. NOVEMBER, 1898. No. 7. 



SHELL COLLECTING AT MT. DESERT, MAINE. 



BY JOHN B. HENDERSON, JR. 



The coast of Maine has been thoroughly explored by biologists for 

 many years, and has, indeed, become a classic ground in the annals 

 of American conchology. Frenchman's Bay and the waters imme- 

 diately about Mt. Desert seem to have been less exploited than other 

 localities in Maine. Collectors of marine invertebrates going " down 

 East" generally take their dredges and trawls to Casco Bay, or, 

 if more ambitious, they hurry on to the famous old collecting region 

 about Eastport and Grand Menan. A few notes from the shores of 

 Mt. Desert Island may, however, prove acceptable. 



Frenchman's Bay is a large body of water with a wide pass out 

 to sea which is somewhat obstructed with bold, rocky islands. 

 Through the openings between these islands the twelve and fourteen 

 feet tides flow with great swiftness, scouring out the channels to a 

 depth of from forty to fifty fathoms. In these deep places a tough 

 form of algae clings tenaciously to the rocky bottom, and harbors 

 within its tangle of branches and stems a vast multitude of small 

 crustaceans (often phosphorescent), many curious star-fishes, and a 

 wen 1th of molluscan life. Margarita cinerea, an occasional Scala 

 groenlandica, abundant Trophon clathratus, Bela turricula and de- 

 cusxata, Cemoria noachina, young Sipho, and the lively little Nassa 

 trivittata were observed. Dredging in these deep, rocky places is 

 attended with many difficulties, but often yields satisfactory results. 



The general average depth of the bay is twenty to thirty fathoms. 

 The bottom is mud, with patches here and there of hard, pebbly 



