1888.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 331 



es of bladder-wrack, Fucus vesiciilosus ; the latter often attached to 

 a horse mussel, on which the plant grew. Frequently attached to 

 the plants are various animals, especialh^ Bugida turrita, Obelia 

 covimissuralis, Perophora viridis, Lepas fascicular is, etc. Occasion- 

 ally there ai'e thrown ashore a live beach-clam, Mactra solidissima, 

 a dead shell of the same with attached branches of Sertu/aria argen- 

 tea, the collar-like sand egg-cases of Natica and the chaplet ones of 

 Fulgur. In the experience of two summers medusae were rarely 

 wafted ashore, and these were in fragments and pertained to Cyanea 

 arctica and apparently Aurelia flavidula. 



Goose barnacles, iyepws /ascKU(/aris occasionally are not infrequent; 

 and more rarely L. anatifera, attached to fragments of timber, is 

 thrown on the sands. High up on the beach, at the base of the 

 sand-hills and often extending iuto the valleys between them are 

 multitudes of bleaching shells, the remains of occasional severe 

 storms. Most of the shells are those of the beach clam, Mactra sol- 

 idissima, which, everywhere on the open coast of New Jersey, ap- 

 pears to be the most common lamellibranch, except the little Donax 

 fossor. The younger shells of the Mactra are often observed along 

 shore, with a circular hole through the umbo, made by Natica. 

 Some years since, at Atlantic City, I observed a number of beach 

 clams, in the sand between tides, which were in possession of Natica 

 heros in the act of boring the shell. 



Among the occasional shells on the beach, fragments of large ones 

 of Pholas costata are not infrequent, and yet an experienced clam 

 catcher, who is familiar with the ordinary animals of the locality 

 informed me that he had never found a living one. 



My friend Joseph Willcox and I made several attempts at dredg- 

 ing in Little Egg Harbor, but with very little result of interest. 

 Near the mouth of the bay, Ave drew u}) great quantities of Jlytil- 

 us edulis, less than half grown, accom2:)anied by many star-fishes, 

 Asterias arenicola. In some positions we took numerous dead shells 

 of the oyster and clam, Venus mercenaria, preyed upon by the sul- 

 phur colored boring sponge, Cliona sidphurea. This, after drilling 

 and tunneling the shells in all directions, continues to gi'ow into 

 masses from the size of one's fist to that of the head, in which condi- 

 tion it is known to the clam-catchers as the " bay pumpkin." The 

 skeleton of this sponge is constructed of calcareous pin-like spicules. 

 It also attacks and preys on the shell of the living oyster, but ap- 

 pears not to do so on the living clam. The sedentary habit of the 

 former, no doubt, facilitates its attacks. The shells of the oyster 

 and clam, Venus, bored in a sieve-like manner, and freed fi-om the 

 sponge, are frequently thrown on the ocean beach, and with them 

 rarely the shell of a Mactra bored in the same manner, but I could 

 not ascertain whether the Cliona lived on the shore of the open 

 ocean. 



Another sponge frequently observed growing on living oysters 

 and on dead shells of the same and of the clam, Venus, is called by 

 the catchers the " red beard, " Microciona prolifera. It is bright 



