23 



These rays moreover are only found in places east of the Mis- 

 sissippi river and around the delta region. 



The stone crab, so called from its extremely hard shell and 

 powerful claw, is guilty of helping himself to oysters. These 

 crabs break off bits of the outer thin shells with their claws 

 and then with the small pinchers located on small, narrow feet, 

 pick out the oyster piece-meal and eat it. The younger oysters 

 most often fall prey to these forms, and in fact it is not likely 

 that a three-year-old will be attacked unless it has fresh growth 

 on the rim of the shell. No doubt these crabs would prove a 

 menace, if they but occurred in sufScient numbers. However, 

 ^they are found in scattering numbers and are not abundant 

 enough in any one locality to prove detrimental. 



It is not so difficult as it is nervy to capture these crabs in 

 their burrows. They are delicious eating. The flesh is as fine 

 as that of any other of our shell fish. It might be suggested, 

 therefore, that where the oysterman are troubled with these, they 

 might make a raid and thus doubly benefit themselves by saving 

 the oysters and obtaining food. 



The Oyster Drill, Purpura, and the clam drill, Lunatia, com- 

 inonly called Perrywinkle, or Pennywinkle, conch and borer, are 

 very annoying in some localities. Their ravages are, however, 

 restricted to bedding grounds in the salter waters, and very 

 seldom are they found in the brackish waters, where the best 

 raising bottoms are located. The clam drill, is further restricted, 

 in that it can only bore through a very thin shell, and conse- 

 quently, it can only attack oysters under four months of age. 

 The boring can at once be detected as being done by one or 

 the other; in that the oyster drill produces a clean-cut straight 

 hole, while the other makes a decided bevel on the outside. It 

 is the popular opinion that the drill always bores through 

 the shell where the eye or muscle is attached, thus destroying 

 the muscle and killing the oyster. On the contrary, the Purpura 

 may drill through the shell at any point, and it kills the oyster 

 by pouring around it its own digestive fluids onto it. 



It is the popular opinion among many oystermen that the 

 Purpura or oyster drill, bores the hole through the shell by using 

 the apex of its shell as an auger. This is absurd, the mere shape 

 of the hole ought to remove any idea of this. The shell is actually 



