3. r >8 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



roasted, geoduck would prove highly satisfactory to the daintiest epicure. 

 Mr. Hemphill thought the taste like that of poached eggs. If fresh and 



well cooked, it is suitable food for 

 very good men of scientific proclivi- 

 ties. 



While the other clams are obtain- 



S able duriug the recession of the ordi- 



nary tides, during the year, Glyci- 



wem can only be secured during the 

 extreme tides which occur in this 

 region from the middle of May to 

 i he later part of June, when the 

 difference between high and low 



_. water is about 20 feet ; that is to 



" say, with rare exceptions. It bur- 



g rows in muddy sand, or apparently 



■a prefers such a place, and the depth 



, of its luii row is from two and a half 



| £ to three feet. To take one out unin- 



? jured requires careful digging and 



I the removal of at least a barrel of 



| mud. Mr. Hemphill remarks: "It 



I 2 is very rare at San Diego. I have 



1 e; not found a dozen specimens during 



'S — 



§ the several years I have collected 

 I here, while at Olympia three men 

 | could secure a dozen at one low tide 

 £ or in one day." To this I would add, 

 % provided that the exact site of each 



1 individual had previously been as- 

 I certained and marked with a stake. 

 | As many as three men would be re- 

 * quired to work economically. 



By the 23d of June, the "long-run 

 g outs," as these extreme low tides 

 ~ are called, had ceased, and the 

 | weather for several days had been 

 | quite warm. The Indians whom I 

 I had sent out a day or two before, 

 > and one white man also, returned 

 in the morning with some of the 

 common species, but none of the 

 geoducks. I had previously col- 

 lected nine or ten specimens, and hoped to get more, as some of the 

 others had died. While in Olympia, only one lot had been brought 

 into town during a fortnight — about a dozen; of these I bought six, the 



