BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 169 



dealers who often do not receive the maximum market price because of 

 poor grading. 



Future scientific studies are necessary before recommendations can be 

 made concerning clams and procedures in clam farming. The hard clam 

 resources of North Carolina represent perhaps the most promising field 

 for immediate development if a steady market could be established. Clams 

 are abundant in many localities but are not harvested because of the lack 

 in market demand and often because rigorous labor is involved. Potential 

 clam dealers should be encouraged to engage in the industry and progres- 

 sive individuals could readily overcome such a problem as uncertain labor. 



THE SCALLOPS 



Pecten species 



INTRODUCTION 



The scallop has been said to rival the oyster in historical interest. The 

 beauty of the shell has probably attracted more attention than the edible 

 portions contained within, for the shell has been copied for ornamental 

 purposes since medieval times. The shells found in kitchen middens show 

 that the edibility of the scallop was known to the early American Indians. 



Throughout the world there are a number of different kinds of scallops. 

 Some of the European species are distinct from those along our Atlantic 

 seaboard and on our west coast. Seven species have been reported from the 

 waters of North Carolina (Dall, 1889). The two species gathered for com- 

 mercial use along the Atlantic coast are commonly distinguished as the bay 

 scallop {Pecten irradians, Lamarck) and the giant or sea scallop {Pecten 

 grandis, Solander.) The distribution or location of these two forms is indi- 

 cated by the common names, one being found in the shoal waters of protected 

 bays and estuaries while the other is found in the deep waters overlying the 

 continental shelf off the coast. This review is concerned primarily with the 

 bay scallop, the only species that has been of commercial importance to 

 North Carolina. 



The bay scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk with roughly rounded shells 

 containing a series of ridges spreading fanlike from the long, straight hinge. 

 The shells are secured at the hinge by a flexible ligament and a small cartilage 

 which tend to keep the shells open. This action is antagonistic to the adductor 

 muscle, located nearly in the central region of the shell, which when con- 

 tracted keeps the shells closed in the living animal. The adductor muscle 

 comprises the scallop meats marketed for consumption. This is often the only 

 portion of the scallop with which the average person is familiar. 



The range of the bay scallop is from Nova Scotia to Texas (Dall, 1889; 

 Kellogg, 1905). Commercially, the northern limit of the scallop is at Cape 



