318 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



•when employed to explore the bottom of the sea, if the statements of 

 the American fishermen are to be relied upon. 



Eouud clams are the object of an especial industry designed to im- 

 prove them and to promote the rapidity of their growth. Like the 

 " pa'ires doubles " [ Venus verrucosa] or clams of the Mediterranean, they 

 are never as delicate in flavor as when freshly caught. Still, in many 

 places depots are formed for these mollusks in sheltered coves or 

 creeks, in order to be ready to supply the exigencies of commerce.* 



The fishermen generally supply the dealer directly from the banks, 

 taking care to proportion the supply, as nearly as possible, to the de- 

 maud. Clams are so hardy, however, that they will at any season live 

 for several days out of the water if placed in the shade. In cool weather 

 they will survive for as many as fifteen days, and may be sent by rail 

 to distant localities in the interior of the continent. 



In summer, the consumption of clams in the cities of New Yorkt and 

 Philadelphia is very considerable, much greater than that of the Mya 

 arenaria. Like the latter, sold in their natural condition, or out of the 

 shell, they furnish many excellent dishes, the most esteemed of which 

 is clam chowder. Many persons eat the smaller specimens raw, and 

 when flavored with a few drops of lemon-juice they seem to me as palat- 

 able as the clovisses [Tapes virginea and Tapes decussata,] and the pa'ires 

 doubles, [ Venus verrucosa,] which are the especial favorites of the people 

 of Marseilles. 



The acclimation of round clams upon the shores of France offers, I 

 believe, as many chances of success as that of the oysters from Virginia, 

 of which the specimens I brought to France, numbering five or six 

 thousand, are now living on our coast, without appearing to suffer in 

 the least from the change of their native beds. It may be laid down as 

 a principle, that wherever the "pa'ires doubles" [Venus verrucosa], the 

 cockles [Cardium edule], or the "palourds"or hen-clams [Tapes decus- 

 sata] are found, the Venus mercenaria will be equally sure to prosper; 

 success will be only a question of time. 



RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTRODUCTION. 



Before closing this exposition of the shell-fisheries of the United 

 States, I must insist upon the utility of propagating the Mya arenaria 

 on our sea-coasts. Since my return from the United States, M. Four- 

 nier, commissioner of maritime inscription at Dunkirk, has furnished 

 me with some valuable information regarding the same species found 

 in the northern seas, bearing upon this question. This bivalve is 



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*At New London the ship-merchants build, in addition to their establishments, upon 

 piles at the edge of the sea, special structures for the preservation of round clama. 

 These consist sometimes of floating tanks, which contain several thousands ; some- 

 times of wooden paddocks or pens, shaded from the sun and placed between the piles in 

 6uch a way as to be covered by the tide several hours every day. The mollusks live 

 for a long time in these reservations, provided too many are not crowded into them. 



t At the Wasbington and Fulton markets, in New York, clams sell for $3.50 a thousand. 



