BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 359 



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others were in a damaged condition. Some of those purchased had been 

 handled too roughly for transportation alive. I found by experiment 

 that the geoduck, carefully dug and handled, would, with proper change 

 of water aud cool weather, keep alive ten days packed in rock- weed, first 

 being protected by winding and 

 tying a band of brown sheeting 

 cloth, an inch and a half in 

 width, to support the animal 

 and take the place of the nat- 

 ural support which the mud 

 furnishes when the mollusk is 

 in its native bed. The coinci- 

 dent occurrence of the extreme 

 low tides necessary to collect 

 living specimens, and of warm 

 weather, as usual here and 

 along the coast at the time when 

 these low tides occur, is unfor- 

 tunate, as heat is the principal 

 source of danger. The inten- 

 tion of packing in mud in the 

 tanks had to be abandoned, as §. 

 I found the means for handling « 

 the loaded tanks were wanting, | 

 the boats being too small, and ~ 

 a certain amount of tackle being % f 

 required for the purpose; so £ I 

 rock- weed was used instead, g q 

 I found, also, that Schizothwrus I £ 

 was the least tenacious of life, % 

 and survived removal from the 

 clam-beds but about three days, 

 at farthest, even when carefully 

 attended to, water changed, &c. 

 This clam occurs in quanti- 

 ties sufficient, quality consid- 

 ered, to warrant packing in 

 cans. The clams now canned, 

 while perhaps meeting a limited 

 sale on the Pacific coast, cannot 

 compete with the clams {My a 

 arenaria) and quahaugs (Mer- 

 cenaria violacea) of the Atlantic 

 packers in the markets of the 

 world, though Saxidomus, which is not yet canned, is really of most ex- 

 cellent quality. Schizothcurus, after removing the neck or siphons, 



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