REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 39 



The Sea Snail {Neverita dwplicata). Often along (Uir shore clam 

 shells are found \\\\\\ holes neatly bored through them, usually near 

 the hinge, which resemble those frequently found in quahaug shells. 

 The latter are easily traced to the "cockle," or sea snail (Neverita). 

 It would be natural, judging from the similarity of the perforations 

 in the shell of the clam and the quahaug, to assign them both to the 

 same cause, except for the fact that clams lie buried in from six to 

 twelve inches of soil, while the Neverita and quahaug are usually 

 found near the surface. The Neverita, however, actually burrows 

 after the clams, and a specimen was found at Wickford six inches 

 deep in the firm soil in the act of boring a clam. The hole had been 

 drilled about half way through the shell. Following this discovery 

 some experiments were made to test the matter further. A Neverita, 

 placed in an inverted orange box over one of our clam beds, bored 

 and devoured seven good sized clams in two weeks, and, at the end 

 of the experiment, was found five inches deep, in the soil. , 



The Neverita are not, perhaps, numerous enough in our bay to be 

 a very serious injury to the clam product, but in Plymouth, Mass., 

 they are excedingly abundant and are collected and sold for bait. 

 In the vear 1901, 8,000 buckets of these animals, which go there 

 by the name of cachels, were collected and sold at Plymouth. They 

 bring from sixty to seventy-five cents a bucket, and the catch, there- 

 fore, amounted to nearly 6,000 dollars. During the past year about 

 4,000 bushels were "picked." 



There are other gasteropods which drill holes in the shells of clams, 

 especially in the young ones; for example, the oyster drill (Urosal- 

 pinx). Those clams which have come to the surface of the ground 

 or have been forced out of their burrows are especially attacked 

 by these animals, and often the shores are strewn with the bored 

 shells. The holes can easily be distinguished from those bored by 

 the Neverita on account of their small diameter. Fig. 7 is from a 

 life size photograph showing a series of bored clams, the work both 

 of the oyster drill and of the Neverita. 



Man as an Enemy of the Clam. — After all has been said concern- 



