possible that the island-like areas of distribution of Uro salpinx in both Maine 

 and Canada represent marine relicts, isolated survivors of a former widely 

 distributed population of drills existing under more favorable conditions of 

 temperature . 



Massachusetts . A review of the rate of importation of living oysters 

 into this state, as reported by Gould (1841) and by Ingersoll (1881), illustrates 

 the degree to which U cmerea was probably introduced from southern waters. 

 Shortly after 1780 when the local supply of oysters was exhausted the supply for 

 the markets of all the large towns was obtained from the south. By 1820, 12, 000 

 to 14, 000 bushels were brought annually to Wellfleet, Cape Cod, at first from 

 Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay, later from Connecticut, and finally from 

 New York and New Jersey. By 1841 some 40, 000 bushels were being imported 

 annually from New York, New Jersey, and to a lesser extent from Delaware Bay 

 and Chesapeake Bay , The oysters were planted principally in Wellfleet, and in 

 small quantities in Boston Harbor and other seaports, where they were left in 

 the water to grow 7 to 9 months . 



The distribution of the drill in the state is given imperfectly by a number 

 of investigators in the last century, but the relationship between the exotic and 

 the native drills, if any, and the influence of the former on the distribution of 

 the species is unknown. In 1841 <Gould collected Uro salpinx in the bays and 

 inlets about Nantucket, New Bedford, and occasionally in Boston Harbor. In 

 1870 he extended the range to Vineyard Sound, Lynn Harbor, St. Simons Island, 

 and Georgia. In 1874 Verrill and Smith noted that the drill was abundant in 

 Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay and that its range then extended northward to 

 Massachusetts Bay. Ingersoll in 1881 wrote that the most destructive enemy of 

 the oyster was the drill, and that some beds, particularly those on hard bottom 

 in Wareham, were completely destroyed by them . He reported that in Taunton 

 River the drill was becoming more numerous and troublesome and destroyed 

 9/10 of the oyster seed between Somerset and AsBonet. In 1884 Goode observed 

 that the drill was present in such natural haunts as the rocky shores of Buzzards 

 Bay and was hard to eradicate, C. Johnson in 1915 collected them in Lynn, 

 Cohasset, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, and Nantucket. 



Galtsoff (pers. com.) reports that in the Cape Cod region at the present 

 time Uro salpinx are extremely abundant on the rocks in Woods Hole Harbor and 

 in the adjacent portions of Buzzards Bay. They can also be found widely dis- 

 tributed in the inshore waters of the Cape and are abundant in the tidal streams 

 and inlets -in the upper part of Buzzards Bay, especially in Onset and Wareham 

 regions, in Oyster River near Chatham and in Wellfleet Harbor . Oyster River 

 is a small tidal stream where the oyster industry of Cape Cod is being continued 

 by a group of oystermen, but against considerable odds Because of the abundance 



