REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 51 



Wickford. In the interval of shore between high and low tide 

 levels they might have been taken in great numbers at any time 

 since August. When the tide is out, they rest normally under a 

 thin layer of soil, and seem to have a peculiar affinity for anything 

 that will serve as a support. While they do not limit themselves 

 to this special kind of environment, it is nevertheless noticeable 

 that in any particular area of shore they are more numerous in the 

 immediate vicinity of stones, clumps of sea-weed and eel-grass, 

 large shells, or any object that has become fixed in the dirt. They 

 cluster around almost every stone of any size, imbed themselves 

 in the spaces between the roots of the eel-grass, and, if a larger 

 quahaug has fixed itself for a shorter or longer time, the smaller 

 ones frequently gather around it. In warm weather they seldom 

 move around on the portion of shore from which the tide has re- 

 ceded, but in cold weather many of them come to the surface. 



Digging was carried on during late August and early September 

 at Eumstick, Nayatt, Sheep Pen, and Coggshall's Coves, Ports- 

 mouth, the Bonnet, and the northern end of Conanicut, but of all 

 places surveyed, Mill Cove showed them in greatest abundance. 

 Here they were so numerous that on September 5, 1902, 1 gathered 

 425 within a radius of three feet. As late as January 17, 1903, I 

 found that they had not appreciably decreased in numbers. 



In order to determine the breeding season I have closely fol- 

 lowed the methods employed for the soft-shell clam. (Described 

 more fully in report of 1899, pp. 43 etc.). There have been three 

 lines of experimentation : First, the examination during the year of 

 large numbers of adult quahaugs, to see whether these contain ripe 

 eggs and sperm at any particular time ; second, the skimming- of 

 the surface of the water with a silk tow-net, which will take in 

 any free-swimming larvae that may be present in the water ; and 

 third, the endeavor to catch such larvae in a car, where they may 

 grow and develop under artificial conditions. 



It will be necessary to continue these experiments through at 

 least one year, in order to interpret them, for they have given, as 

 yet, mainly negative results. 



