The first record of drill distribution in this state was given by DeKay 

 in. 1843 . He found Urosalpinx very common on the eastern coast and very 

 destructive to oysters, Ingersoll (1881) wrote that in 1878 the drill proved a 

 great nuisance about past Point, injuring many oyster beds beyond repair , He 

 was told that in Great South Bay, JLohg Island, where formerly no drills were 

 reported, oyster grounds were currently overrun with them "Rathbun (1888) 

 found the drill very persistent and destructive in New York waters J Nelson 

 (1893) observed that drills were more abundant m Long Island Sound than in New 

 Jersey, and thought that this might be explained by the fact that in Long Island 

 Sound oyster seed had been raised by "shelling" for some years So far as the 

 writer knows this is the first recorded suggestion that Urosalpinx is benefited 

 'by oyster management practices; a fact so well substantiated in the years to 

 follow. A Gardner (1896) dreding in various parts of Long Island Sound found 

 drills abundant along the shores of Port Chester Harbor, and less numerous in 

 Oyster Bay and Lloyds Harbor , Moore (1898a) observed that the deep water 

 beds of Long Island Sound were suffering increasingly from the drill, and 

 supposed that it might be accounted for by the use of oyster seed from the drill 

 infested beds in the less saline inshore grounds In 1902 drills v/ere particularly 

 plentiful about the waters of Staten Island Sound (Bureau of Statistics New Jersey, 

 1902). Weeks M907) found the drill common at Northport., Long Island Galtsoff 

 et aL (.1937) found them very abundant on oyster bottoms of Great South Bay.. 

 Long Island; and Engle (1953) states that they are widespread throughout Long 

 Island Sound . 



New Jersey , The earliest record of the presence of Urosalpinx in. this 

 state is that bv Sa.v m 1822 who frequently found it along the coast. This record, 

 though lacking in detail, suggests that the drill existed in New Jersey before the 

 importation, of oysters and the possible introduction of drills from other areas. 



The principal enemy of the oyster in the Delaware Bay estuary in 

 1881 according to Ingersoll was the oyster drill which overran oyster bottoms 

 on which it was not reported formerly. It was again mentioned as a serious 

 pest in 1887 (Stauber, 1943). Many oysters were imported annually from 

 Chesapeake Bay to the west shore of Delaware Bay for planting (Ingersoll, 1881) 

 and probably introduced Urosalpinx from these waters. In the summer of 1910 

 Urosalpinx was sard to be very destructive on the puhiic oyster beds (Pope, 1910- 

 11; Moore, 1911). In the next decade T. C. Nelson (1923) estimated the loss to 

 New Jersey due to this pest in excess of one million dollars annually. The 

 seriousness of the depredations stimulated considerable research on Urosalpinx 

 between 1930 and 1942, This research was begun by J. R. Nelson ; who was 

 followed by I . W, Sizer, and he by J. B. Engle. and was greatly extended by 

 LA, Stauber , In 1937 Galtsoff et al., as a result of some of these studies.. 



