20 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



or examining a place from which the fish have gone to find out the reason 

 of their departure. 



There is no reason that I can see why, if the fish banks of the Gulf 

 were as well marked out and the habits of the fishes as well understood 

 as they are on the Newfoundland banks, the fishing interests of the Gulf 

 should not develope enormously. By the refrigerator-car plan— both 

 afloat and ashore — every city and town of the United States would be- 

 come a ready market for a moderate snpply of fresh fish. Such a plan 

 would require the attention of capitalists to be drawn to its advantages, 

 and these advantages would only show themselves when the sources of 

 the supply have been accurately determined, and the conditions affect- 

 ing the supply well enough investigated. This would require the loca- 

 tion and the limits of each "snapper" bank to be practically determined, 

 so that steamers fitted for refrigerating could make the rounds of a cer- 

 tain number of banks, and lose no time hunting a very indefinite spot, 

 such as most of the snapper banks of the Gulf are at present. 



U. S. S. Gedney, 



Navy Yard, Neic York, May 17, 1882. 



SUGGESTIONS FOB TRANSPLANTING CLAMS FROM THE PACIFIC 



OCEAN TO THE ATLANTIC. 



By R. E. C. STEARINS. 

 (Letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.) 



In relation to the transplanting of the West American clams, Ghj- 

 cimeris gcnerosa, Saxklomus aratus, and SchizotJucrns nuttallii, to the 

 Atlantic seaboard of the United States, I have to submit the following: 



Immediately after the receipt of your letter of the Gth February, re- 

 ferring to the first species, and Mr. Hemphill's recommendation thereof 

 as a valuable edible, I took the necessary steps to inform myself as to 

 the best locality from which to obtain a supply, and subsequently made 

 arrangements, which are now pending, for a supply to be sent me 

 promptly by express as soon as the tides are low enough to permit the 

 same to be obtained, and gave particular and explicit instructions as to 

 the manner of packing, so that no lack of care need occur to prevent 

 the successful transmission as far as San Francisco. Transmission is 

 much more direct, and less time is lost, by forwarding from Olympia on 

 Budd's Inlet (which appears, everything considered, to be the best place 

 to obtain them), via Portland, Oreg. ; Portland and Olympia being con- 

 nected by rail, and the steamer communication between Portland and 

 San Francisco being more frequent than by the Paget Sound steamers 

 to San Francisco. The Portland market is supplied with Glycimcris 

 from Budd's Inlet. 



