41 



outside llie wcvd patches, they are never present in any num- 

 bers. It is probable that this growth serves to keep the bottom 

 from shifting, and so protects the elanis. Allhouirh the chims 

 are by far more abundant at the southern »nd, whei-e they 

 extend out to nearly five feet of water, they arc by no means 

 Innited to that portion of the fiat, but extend northward 

 along almost the entire eastern sTiore. This bed covers an area 

 of about one square mile, and clams are very abundant on it. 

 The average size is very large (about five and a half inches) 

 no smaller ones having been seen. At the northern end, dead 

 shells piled up on tlie shore and scattered over the bottom for 

 some distance probably are the remains of some former bed 

 which was destroyed when the channel was cut through, as no 

 live clams in any numbers were seen at the point. 



At the lower point of the adjacent island belonging to this 

 group, a few live clams and many dead shells were seen scat- 

 tered over the flat, but no very great area .was covered by them. 



9. The western islands in the Freemason group are con- 

 nected by a shallow- bar of hard sand which covers about sixty 

 acres. On this bar many large clams are scattered about, the 

 majority in good condition. A few dead ones were found in 

 which the soft body had not entirely disappeared. 



10. The southern point of the lower island is con- 

 tinued into the long spit, on Avhich were many dead shells, but 

 no live ones could be found. Nearly all these shells were 

 with the hinge ligament intact, showing that they had died or 

 been killed but recently. This flat, if productive, would have 

 an area of about one hundred and sixty acres. 



11. Reference has been made to the sand flat near the 

 northern end of Errol Island. On this shallow spit, wiiich cov- 

 ers nearly 160 acres, dead shells were fairly abundant, the 

 majority wnth one valve broken across the middle, as if it had 

 been struck with a hammer or crushed *by some powerful force. 

 No live specimens were found on the small spits near the shore, 

 and a few live ones were occasionally seen on the edges of the 

 "eel" grass patches, but never in any abundance. These beds, 

 with a total of about three miles, by no means represent the 

 total of the available bottom. 



